Bai-Ülgen or Ülgen (

Old Turkic Old Siberian Turkic, generally known as East Old Turkic and often shortened to Old Turkic, was a Siberian Turkic language spoken around East Turkistan and Mongolia. It was first discovered in inscriptions originating from the Second Turkic Kh ...

: 𐰈𐰞𐰏𐰅𐰣;

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

: Үлгэн) is a Turkic creator-deity, usually distinct from

Tengri Tengri (; Old Uyghur: ; Middle Turkic: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Proto-Turkic: / ; Mongolian script: , ; , ; , ) is the all-encompassing God of Heaven in the traditional Turkic, Yeniseian, Mongolic, and various other nomadic religious beliefs. So ...

but sometimes identified with him in the same manner as Helios and Apollo. His name is from Old Turkic ''bay'', "rich", and ''ülgen'', "magnificent". Ülgen is believed to be without either beginning or end.

Features

Tengrism Tengrism (also known as Tengriism, Tengerism, or Tengrianism) is a belief-system originating in the Eurasian steppes, based on shamanism and animism. It generally involves the titular sky god Tengri. According to some scholars, adherents of ...

, the Ulukayın, regarded as a cosmic axis between earth and sky, was regarded as sacred to him, as was the

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

(horse-sacrifice was a part of his worship). Ülgen symbolizes goodness, welfare, abundance, plentiness of food, water, etc. Furthermore, he created earth, heaven and all living beings. In addition, he controls the atmospheric events and movements of stars. He creates land for people to live on, the heads of both humans and animals and the rainbow. He was regarded as the patron god of

shamans Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of th ...

and the source of their knowledge. It is believed that Ülgen has been created from

Kayra Kayra or Kaira (Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰖𐰺𐰀) is the creator god in Turkic mythology. He is the god who planted the tree of life called Ulukayın. Kayra is described as both father and mother, and resides in the 17th layer of heaven. Kayra is ...

(Tengere Kayra Khan). He is the highest deity after Tengri in the pantheon. Often, Ülgen is compared with Tengri and at times they are thought to be on par, or even the same. In some sayings, the name/function of Ülgen may be (partially) interchangeable with that of Tengri. Ülgen is described as the enemy of Erlik who is the god of evil and darkness. Ülgen assumes the protectorship of humankind against him. Bai-Ülgen lives on the sixteenth floor of the sky above the stars, sun and moon in a golden house. Mere humans may never reach him, only shamans and kams who possess astral powers can. Animals are used for sacrifice in worship of him, especially horses. Once in every third, sixth, ninth, or twelfth year, a shaman may sacrifice a white horse as the first step of reaching Ülgen. Then he must ride its soul, penetrate through all the layers of heaven until he reaches Ülgen. Firstly, the kam (shaman) meets Yayık who is the servant of Ülgen. This entity informs the kam whether or not the offering has been accepted. If the sacrificial rite has been successful, the shaman is able to learn from the omniscient Ülgen of impending dangers, such as bad harvests.

Children of Ülgen

Ülgen has seven sons, the Ak oğlanlar (White Boys) or Kıyatlar: : Ülgen also has nine daughters, called Akkızlar or Kıyanlar, but no one knows their names. His daughters are source of inspiration for shamans.Türk Söylence Sözlüğü (Turkish Mythological Dictionary), Deniz Karakurt,

e-Book An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...

(OTRS: CC BY-SA 3.0)

References

Bibliography

* Çoban, Ramazan Volkan.
Türk Mitolojisinde İyilik Tanrısı Ülgen'in İnanıştaki Yeri, Tasviri ve Kökeni (Turkish)
' * Anokhin, "Materials on Shamanism of Altai", Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Leningrad 1924 * Tokarev, "Religion in the history of the world", Moscow 1986

External links

Merkez Simgeciliği, Salahaddin Bekki

{{Turkic Deities Creator gods Mongolian deities Sky and weather gods Turkic gods Horse deities