Mahmud is the second of the two brothers, with Ledu, in the Talysh legend of deliverance. Together they save their sister and bear off from the enemy the symbol of the savior, and in this deed the pair become for the Talysh an image of the messiah and of hoped-for redemption. Like his brother he belongs to the folk-heroic stratum of Talysh narrative, where the deliverer takes the form of a named mortal champion rather than a god.