Kaltes
Khanty · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
The Ob-Ugric mother- and birth-goddess, classed as a deity. Khanty Kaltaś-aŋki ('Kaltaś the mother') and Kattaś-imi; the corpus also carries the Mansi form (mansi_kaltes_ekwa) per the tradition split. Wife of Num-Torum and, in some variants, the heavens' former ruler whom he defeats and casts down; on earth she becomes the giver of children and of each newborn's fate (the goddess Khanty women invoke at childbirth) and is linked with dawn, the moon and the hare. Mother of the World-Watching Man and of the other sons of Num-Torum. Documented for the Khanty by Karjalainen and in the modern Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies.
Children
Domains
- childbirth
- fate
- dawn
- moon
Powers
- grants children and fixes each newborn's lifespan
- appears as a hare or as a bird-woman
- rocks the seven heavenly cradles to make each soul
Epithets
- Kaltaś-aŋki Kaltas the motherK. F. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Völker (FFC, 1921-1927) (secondary)
Relations
- spouse: Sky FatherWife of the sky-father Num-Torum (in variants the heavens' former ruler), cast down by him to the earth.Holmberg [Harva], Finno-Ugric [and] Siberian Mythology (1927); Kulemzin et al., Khanty Mythology (2006) (secondary)
- mother of: World-Watching ManMother of the World-Watching Man, whom she bears after descending from heaven.Kulemzin et al., Khanty Mythology (2006); Holmberg [Harva] (1927): mother of the World-Surveying Man (secondary)
- mother of: Golden Old ManMother also of the other sons of Num-Torum, including the Fast/Golden Old Man.Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Völker II (1922): the sons of Num-Torum are the children of his wife Kaltes (secondary)
- lover: Lord of the UnderworldIn one variant of the expulsion myth her fall from heaven is caused by an illicit union with Kul-otyr, master of the lower world.Kulemzin et al., Khanty Mythology (2006): in one Ob-Ugric variant her expulsion from heaven follows an affair with the underworld lord Kul-otyr (secondary)
- equated with: Dawn and Birth GoddessSame Ob-Ugric goddess Kaltes/Kaltaś (dawn, birth, fate; consort of the sky-god and mother of Mir-Susne-Khum).Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies (Khanty & Mansi vols.), eds. Napolskikh, Siikala & Hoppál; Holmberg, Mythology of All Races vol. 4, 1927 (secondary)
Sources
- Kaltes (Khanty Kaltaś-aŋki / Kattaś-imi; Mansi Kaltaś-ekwa) is the Ob-Ugric mother- and birth-goddess, wife of the sky-father Num-Torum and mother of the World-Watching Man, who was cast down from heaven to the earth and there gives children, dawn, and fate to mankind; she is a shape-shifter manifesting as a hare.: K. F. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Völker (FF Communications 41/44/63), 1921–1927 (secondary); Uno Holmberg [Harva], Finno-Ugric [and] Siberian Mythology (The Mythology of All Races IV), 1927 (secondary); V. Kulemzin, N. Lukina, T. Moldanov, T. Moldanova, Khanty Mythology (Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies 2), 2006 (secondary)