Budalaal
Tsez · numen · Tsez traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
The Budalaal (variant Mudalaal) are the patron divinities of the mountains and of the chase among the Avar–Andi–Tsez highlanders, to whom the Dido and their Tsezic kin belong. Conceived as a collective of divine beings rather than a single figure, they own and shepherd the wild herds of the high country, and it is they who grant or withhold a hunter's quarry. Their name recurs across the neighbouring Avar and Andic communities, marking a shared stratum of hunting religion in which the game of the peaks is the property of unseen mountain lords whose goodwill must be secured.
Domains
- hunting wild game
- mountains
Powers
- grant or deny success to hunters
- keep and protect the wild animals of the high country
Sources
- The Budalaal (also Mudalaal) are the divinities of the mountains and of the hunt, patrons of wild animals, among the Avar–Andi–Tsez peoples.: 'Кавказско-иберийских народов мифология' (Avar–Andi–Tsez section), in Мифы народов мира, ed. S. A. Tokarev (Moscow, 1980–1982) (secondary); R. I. Seferbekov, 'Верховные боги (громовержцы) народов Дагестана' (Makhachkala, 2009) (secondary)