Zeňňi Baba
Turkmen · numen · Turkmen traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Zeňňi Baba is the patron spirit of cattle and cattle-breeders, a saint-cult shared by the Turkmen with the Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples of Central Asia and the Volga. Turkmen tradition remembers him as a righteous, dark-complexioned shepherd who lived and was buried in the north of the country; his best-known shrine stands at the settlement of Murche. Scholars read the cult as a Muslim reworking of an older pastoral guardian spirit: an Islamic saint who retains the functions of a pre-Islamic patron of livestock.
Domains
- livestock
Powers
- protect cattle and herds
Epithets
- sygyrlaryň piri — the patron of cattleBasilov, V. N. Kul't sviatykh v islame. Moscow: Mysl', 1970. (secondary)
Sources
- Zeňňi Baba is the patron of cattle-breeders venerated across the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, including the Turkmen, who remember him as a righteous shepherd buried in northern Turkmenistan; several mausolea, notably at Murche, are dedicated to him.: Basilov, V. N. Kul't sviatykh v islame (The Cult of Saints in Islam). Moscow: Mysl', 1970. (secondary); Basilov, V. N. 'Honour Groups in Traditional Turkmenian Society', in Islam in Tribal Societies, London: Routledge, 1984. (secondary)