Erlik Khan

Erlik Khan is the ruler of the Khakas underworld, judge and keeper of the dead, and one of the central figures of the pantheon. Though dreaded as the source of sickness and death and commander of the malevolent körmös spirits, he is not a defeated adversary but a necessary pole of a dualism of equilibrium: brother of the creator Ülgen, he animates with a soul the clay body the creator has shaped, and Khakas shamans addressed him in prayer as lord, father and creator of the human soul. He resides in the deepest underworld, in tradition a palace of dark metal on the bank of a river fed by human tears.

Domains

• death underworld
• human soul
• disease

Powers

• judges and rules the dead
• gives the human being its soul
• sends sickness and takes life

Epithets

• Ирлік хан — Erlik the SovereignV. A. Burnakov, 'Erlik Khan in the Traditional Worldview of the Khakas' (2011) (secondary)

Relations

• sibling: ÜlgenBrother of the upper-world creator Ülgen, his dark counterpart in the balanced cosmos.Wikipedia, 'Erlik': 'Erlik is a brother of Ülgen'; V. A. Burnakov (2011) (secondary)

Sources

• Erlik Khan is the Khakas lord of the underworld, judge of the dead and 'father and creator of the human soul', brother of Ülgen, dwelling in a palace in the deepest underworld.: V. A. Burnakov, 'Erlik Khan in the Traditional Worldview of the Khakas', Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 39/3 (2011): 107–116 (secondary); Encyclopedia.com, 'Erlik' (secondary)