Al Pab
Rutul · numen · Rutul traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Al Pab is the Rutul form of the female childbirth demon known across the Caucasus and the Turkic world as Al, Albasti or Almasty. She preys on women in labour and on their infants, and in Rutul belief takes a zoomorphic, cat-like shape, whereas Lezgin tradition places her along wooded riverbanks and beside springs and lakes. Defence against her follows the shared Daghestani pattern: millet is strewn on the floor of the birth-room, iron scissors or a knife are laid under the pillow, copper bowls are struck and guns discharged, so that iron and clamour together bar the demon from mother and child.
Domains
- childbirth peril
Powers
- harm women in labour and newborns
- appear as a cat
Sources
- Al Pab (also Albasti) is the Rutul female demon that menaces women in childbirth and newborns, imagined among the Rutuls as a cat-like being and repelled by iron, millet and noise.: Алиева А.И., Халилов Х.М. Ал // Мифы народов мира. Энциклопедия. М.: Советская энциклопедия, 1980–1982. (secondary); Сефербеков Р.И. Персонажи низшей мифологии народов Дагестана. Махачкала: ИИАЭ ДФИЦ РАН, 2019. (secondary)