Altyn-Aryg
Khakas · demigod · Khakas traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Altyn-Aryg, 'the Golden Pure', is the warrior-maiden heroine of one of the great Khakas alyptygh nymakh, the sung heroic epics, recorded from the singer S. P. Kadyshev and published in 1988. Born not of woman but miraculously from a white stone in the mountains, she is a deathless alyp of prodigious strength who overcomes every warrior sent against her and stands as protector of her people. Her epic belongs to the distinctive Khakas tradition of female alyp-khys protagonists, unusual among Turkic peoples, in which the heroine passes between the upper, middle and lower worlds of the tripartite cosmos.
Domains
- heroism
- protection of people
Powers
- is born miraculously from a white stone
- overcomes any warrior in single combat
Epithets
- Алтын Арығ — Golden PureV. E. Maynogasheva (ed.), Altyn-Aryg: Khakasskii geroicheskii epos (Moscow, 1988) (primary)
Sources
- Altyn-Aryg is the alyp-maiden heroine of the eponymous Khakas heroic epic, born miraculously from a white stone and endowed with superhuman strength.: V. E. Maynogasheva (ed.), Altyn-Aryg: Khakasskii geroicheskii epos (Moscow: Nauka, 1988) (primary); 'Motif of the hero's miraculous birth in the Khakas heroic epic', ResearchGate (2022) (secondary)