Archura (
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 ...
: 𐰀𐰺𐰲𐰆𐰺𐰀; ) is a
shapeshifting
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest existen ...
woodland spirit in
Turkic mythology
Turkic mythology refers to myths and legends told by the Turkic people. It features Tengrism, Tengrist and Shamanism in Central Asia, Shamanist strata of belief along with many other social and cultural constructs related to the nomadic and wa ...
who protects wild animals and forests.
Description
Archura usually appears as a man, but he is able to change his size from that of a blade of grass to a very tall tree. He has hair and a beard made from living grass, and is sometimes depicted with a tail, hooves, and horns. Archura has a close bond with the
gray wolf
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...
. Legend describes him as having a red scarf and his left shoe on his right foot.
[Türk Mitolojisi Ansiklopedik Sözlük, Celal Beydili, Yurt Yayınevi (Page - 67)] He also had no shadow.
Archura protects the animals and birds in the forest and tells them when to migrate. He can shapeshift into many different forms. As a human, he looks like a peasant with glowing eyes.
Archuras are terribly mischievous beings: they have horrible cries, and can imitate voices of people familiar to wanderers and lure them back to their caves, where the Archuras will tickle them to death; they also remove signs from their posts. They aren't evil: although they enjoy misguiding humans and kidnapping young women, they are also known to keep grazing cattle from wandering too far into the forests and getting lost. Sometimes more than one Archura inhabits a forest, and then they will fight for their territory, knocking down trees and scaring animals.
Chor / Chura
There are two different kinds of
Chura. The other is
Bichura, a household spirit and consort of
Ev iyesi.
See also
*
Shurala
*
Äbädä
Äbädä (Cyrillic: Әбәдә) is an innocent forest spirit in Turkic mythology. It looks like an old woman. Äbädä also is represented in mythologies of Siberian
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of N ...
References
External links
*
Türk Mitoloji Sözlüğü, Pınar Karaca(Arçurı)
*
Türk Mitolojisinde Ruhlar, Sadettin Buluç*
«Арзюри» М. ФёдороваЧуаш халык мифлары.
Bibliography
* Мифологический словарь/Гл. ред. Мелетинский Е.М. - М.: Советская энциклопедия, 1990 г.- 672 с.
* {{in lang, ru Мифы народов мира/под ред. Токарева С. А. - М., Советская энциклопедия, 1992 г. - т.2 - 719 с.
Turkic legendary creatures
Turkish folklore
Chuvash folklore
Forest spirits
Shapeshifting