Old Man of the Ob

River-lord son of Numi-Torum (classed as deity). Mansi As-iki / Ās-ōjka, 'old man of the Ob' (As/Ās = the Ob). Reckoned the eldest of the seven sons; lord of the great river and its fish, the divine patron of the riverine subsistence of the Ob-Ugrians. Documented for the Vogul by Munkácsi and Karjalainen.

Parentage

• father: Upper Sky FatherEldest son of the sky-father Numi-Torum, given the Ob basin as his portion.Munkácsi, Vogul Folklore Collection (1892–1921); Ob-Ugric handbooks: As-iki the eldest son of Numi-Torum (secondary)

Domains

• rivers and fishing
• fertility and fortune

Powers

• rules the whole Ob basin, its waters and its fish

Relations

• father: Upper Sky FatherEldest son of the sky-father Numi-Torum, given the Ob basin as his portion.Munkácsi, Vogul Folklore Collection (1892–1921); Ob-Ugric handbooks: As-iki the eldest son of Numi-Torum (secondary)
• mother: Dawn and Birth GoddessBorn of Kaltes-Ekwa, mother of the sons of Numi-Torum.Munkácsi, Vogul Folklore Collection (1892–1921): the sons of Numi-Torum are the children of Kaltes-Ekwa (secondary)
• sibling: World-Surveyor ManBrother of the World-Surveyor Man among the seven sons of Numi-Torum — the eldest (the Ob) beside the youngest (the World-watcher).Munkácsi, Vogul Folklore Collection (1892–1921): both reckoned sons of Numi-Torum among the seven brothers (secondary)
• sibling: Pelym GodBrother of the Pelym god Polum-Torum, a fellow river-lord among the sons of Numi-Torum.Munkácsi, Vogul Folklore Collection (1892–1921): the river-lords As-iki and Polum-Torum among the sons of Numi-Torum (secondary)

Sources

• As-iki ('the old man of the Ob', Mansi Ās-ōjka, As = the Ob) is in Vogul (Mansi) religion the eldest son of Numi-Torum and Kaltes-Ekwa, lord of the whole Ob basin and god of its water and fish.: K. F. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Völker (FF Communications 41/44/63), 1921–1927 (secondary); Bernát Munkácsi, Vogul Népköltési Gyűjtemény (Vogul Folklore Collection), 1892–1921 (secondary)