Erlik
Tengrist · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
First man and rebel; lord of darkness, opposite of Ülgen.
Domains
- underworld
- death
- disease and plague
Powers
- Rule the nine layers of the lower world
- Initiate and claim the black shamans (kara kam)
Epithets
- Erlik Khan Lord of the underworld and the dead; first-formed being who fell into darknessA. V. Anokhin / W. Radloff, on Altai-Turkic belief (secondary)
Relations
- sibling: ÜlgenReciprocal of turkic_ulgen.sibling — In Altai tellings the dark lord is Ulgen's brother; in other versions Erlik is the first man Ulgen made. Recorded per the brotherhood variant.Uno Holmberg [Harva], Finno-Ugric, Siberian Mythology (The Mythology of All Races IV, 1927), Altaic creation accounts (secondary)
- enemy: ÜlgenReciprocal of turkic_ulgen.enemy — Erlik rebelled at the creation, marred Ulgen's work and was cast down to rule the lower world; the pair embody the upper/lower dualism.W. Radloff, Aus Sibirien (1884), vol. II, Altai creation narrative (secondary)
- equated with: Erlig KhanReciprocal of mongol_erlig.equated-with — Same figure across the Turko-Mongol steppe: Erlik/Erleg, lord of the lower world. The Altai-Turkic version is also first man and Ülgen's rebel brother — a dualist creation role the Mongol death-lord largely lacks.Ágnes Birtalan, 'Die Mythologie der mongolischen Volksreligion', Wörterbuch der Mythologie (2001); Mircea Eliade, Shamanism (1964) on Altaic Erlik (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Altai creation song, in W. Radloff, Proben der Volkslitteratur (1866) (primary)