Upper Sky Father
Mansi · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Spirit-class sky-father (classed as deity). This is the Mansi (Vogul) form of the same Ob-Ugric high god authored under the Khanty label as Num-Torum; both are included with the proper tradition labels per the brief, sharing the num/numi 'upper' + torum 'sky/god' etymology and the Munkácsi (Mansi) vs Karjalainen (both) source base.
Children
Domains
- sky
- creation of the world
Powers
- orders the raising of the earth and the shaping of the world
- sends his sons down to govern and watch the earth
Epithets
- Numi-Torum The supreme sky-god of the upper world, who orders the cosmos from aboveB. Munkácsi, on Vogul (Mansi) religion (secondary)
Relations
- sibling: Lord of the Lower WorldBrother and standing adversary; Khul-Ater rules the Lower World against the sky-father.Munkácsi, Vogul Népköltési Gyűjtemény (1892-1921); Róheim, Hungarian and Vogul Mythology (1954) (secondary)
- enemy: Lord of the Lower WorldThe sky-father and the underworld lord are standing adversaries.Munkácsi, Vogul Népköltési Gyűjtemény (1892-1921) (secondary)
- spouse: Earth MotherConsort the Earth-Mother Joli-Torum-syan, who dwells on earth among people.Munkácsi, A vogul nép ősi hitvilága (1900-02); Róheim (1954) (secondary)
- equated with: Sky FatherOb-Ugric sky-father: both theonyms = num 'sky' + torum/torem 'god/heaven' (< Uralic *num 'sky, high').Uno Holmberg (Harva), Finno-Ugric and Siberian Mythology (Mythology of All Races, vol. 4), 1927 (secondary)
- equated with: Sky (Num)Mansi Numi- and Samoyedic Nenets Num share Uralic *num 'sky' as the supreme celestial deity."Num," Encyclopedia of Religion (citing Uno Holmberg, Mythology of All Races vol. 4, 1927) (secondary)
- equated with: Sky (Nom)Mansi Numi- and Selkup Nom are cognate reflexes of Uralic *num 'sky'."Num," Encyclopedia of Religion (citing Uno Holmberg, Mythology of All Races vol. 4, 1927) (secondary)
- spouse: Dawn and Birth GoddessKaltes-Ekwa is the wife (in variants the sister) of the upper sky-father, cast down from heaven; mother of the World-Surveyor Man.Uno Holmberg [Harva], Finno-Ugric, Siberian Mythology (The Mythology of All Races IV, 1927), Ob-Ugric chapters (secondary)
Sources
- Numi-Torum is the Mansi (Vogul) supreme sky-father, orderer of the earth-diver creation and father of the divine sons including Mir-susne-khum.: Bernát Munkácsi, Vogul Folklore Collection, 1892–1921 (secondary); K. F. Karjalainen, Die Religion der Jugra-Völker, 1921–1927 (secondary)