Ýel Baba
Turkmen · numen · Turkmen traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Ýel Baba, the 'Wind-Elder', is the master of the winds in Turkmen and wider Turkic folk belief. He is imagined as a tutelary lord who governs the gales of the steppe and desert: angered, he raises devastating storms; propitiated, he sends a favouring breeze. In Turkmen tale he aids heroes by carrying them aloft on the wind. He belongs to the class of elemental patron-spirits (eýe) that populate Turkmen cosmology alongside the pirs of rain, farming, and herds.
Domains
- wind
Powers
- command the winds
Epithets
- ýeliň eýesi — master of the windRoux, Jean-Paul. Faune et flore sacrées dans les sociétés altaïques. Paris: Maisonneuve, 1966. (secondary)
Sources
- Turkmen tradition speaks of Ýel Baba, the wind-lord who bears heroes upon the wind and who can raise devastating gales when angered or send a favourable breeze.: Roux, Jean-Paul. La religion des Turcs et des Mongols. Paris: Payot, 1984. (secondary); Roux, Jean-Paul. Faune et flore sacrées dans les sociétés altaïques. Paris: Maisonneuve, 1966. (secondary)