Ilmun Han, Lord of the Underworld
Manchu · deity · Manchu traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Ilmun Han ('King of the Underworld') is the ruler of the realm of the dead in Manchu religion and the chief antagonist of the Tale of the Nišan Shamaness, the central Manchu shamanic epic. In the tale the soul of the dead boy Sergudai Fiyanggo is carried into Ilmun Han's walled underworld city; the shamaness Nišan descends, outwits the lord's servant Monggoldai Nakcu and snatches the soul back to the living world against the will of the king of the dead. The figure corresponds to the Inner Asian and Buddhist lord of the dead (Yama / Erlik Khan) drawn into Manchu lore.
Domains
- underworld and the dead
- judgement of souls
Powers
- to rule the land of the dead and hold the souls of the departed
Epithets
- Ilmun HanMargaret Nowak and Stephen W. Durrant, The Tale of the Nišan Shamaness: A Manchu Folk Epic (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1977) (secondary)
Relations
- enemy: Nišan, the ShamanessThe shamaness Nišan invades Ilmun Han's underworld and, against the will of its lord and his servant Monggoldai Nakcu, wrests back the soul of the dead boy and bears it to the land of the living, defying the king of the dead.Margaret Nowak and Stephen W. Durrant, The Tale of the Nišan Shamaness: A Manchu Folk Epic (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1977) (secondary)
Sources
- Ilmun Han is the lord of the underworld in Manchu religion, the king of the land of the dead named in the Tale of the Nišan Shamaness.: Margaret Nowak and Stephen W. Durrant, The Tale of the Nišan Shamaness: A Manchu Folk Epic (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1977) (secondary); Giovanni Stary, Three Unedited Manuscripts of the Manchu Epic Tale 'Nišan saman-i bithe' (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1985) (secondary)