Lord of the Lower World

Spirit-class underworld lord (classed as deity). Mansi Xul'-otyr / Kul-otyr (Hungarian Hul-Ater); kuľ/xul' = evil/disease-spirit, otyr/āter = lord. The corpus also carries the Khanty form (khanty_kul_otyr) per the tradition split; this is the Vogul (Mansi) attestation, in which he is Numi-Torum's underworld brother-adversary, master of the disease-spirits, and the earth-diver of the creation. Documented in Munkácsi's Vogul corpus and by Karjalainen.

Domains

• underworld
• disease and death
• creation of the world

Powers

• commands the kuľ, the spirits of disease
• dives to bring up the first mud from beneath the water
• rules the dark lower world and the dead

Relations

• sibling: Upper Sky FatherBrother of the sky-father Numi-Torum in the Ob-Ugric upper/lower-world dualism — the dark twin to the bright sky-god.Munkácsi, Vogul Folklore Collection (1892–1921); Hungarian Ob-Ugric handbooks (Hul-Ater the brother of Numi-Tórem) (secondary)
• enemy: Upper Sky FatherStanding adversary of Numi-Torum: he corrupts the creation, rules the dead below and sends the disease-spirits up among the living.Munkácsi, Vogul Folklore Collection (1892–1921); Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Völker (1921–1927) (secondary)
• lover: Dawn and Birth GoddessIn one Ob-Ugric variant Kaltes-Ekwa's expulsion from the upper world follows an affair with Kul-otyr; the Khanty form of the same edge is recorded on khanty_kul_otyr.Kulemzin & Lukina et al., Ob-Ugric (Khanty/Mansi) mythology: Kaltes's fall from heaven follows an illicit union with Kul-otyr, master of the lower world (secondary)
• equated with: Lord of the UnderworldSame Ob-Ugric underworld lord Kul'/Khul' (Kul-Otyr ≈ Khul'-Ater).Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies (Khanty & Mansi vols.), eds. Napolskikh, Siikala & Hoppál; Holmberg, Mythology of All Races vol. 4, 1927 (secondary)

Sources

• Khul-Ater (Mansi Xul'-otyr / Kul-otyr) is the Vogul (Mansi) lord of the lower world, master of the kuľ (disease-spirits) and source of sickness and death, the brother and standing adversary of the sky-father Numi-Torum; in the earth-diver creation he fetches up the first mud from beneath the water.: Bernát Munkácsi, Vogul Népköltési Gyűjtemény (Vogul Folklore Collection), 1892–1921 (secondary); Bernát Munkácsi, A vogul nép ősi hitvilága, Nyelvtudományi Közlemények, 1900–1902 (secondary); K. F. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Völker (FF Communications 41/44/63), 1921–1927 (secondary)