Buga is a creator god and omnipotent highest power in the mythology of the

Tungusic peoples Tungusic peoples are an ethnolinguistic group formed by the speakers of Tungusic languages (or Manchu–Tungus languages). They are native to Siberia, Mongolia and China. The Tungusic language family is divided into two main branches, Northern ...

Etymology and Ethnography

For the Tungus the term ''buga'' (also ''buya'', ''boya'', ''boga'') refers to the greatest, omnipotent, eternal being. The same word also means either "sky", "universe", and may also refer to terms corresponding to "world" or "locality". The word is not taboo and is used in common speech. According to Shirokogoroff the term is an old one, and was not introduced by Christian missionaries. For the eastern Tungus ''buga'' is a remote figure whom they have no description of, and nor do their shamans connect with it/him. The ''buga'' forms an exception in that it is one spirit than cannot be mastered by a shaman. Shirokogoroff states that all Tungus know how to pray/make sacrifices to ''buga'' and that activity is done without the intercession of shaman. Furthermore, ''bugady'' are a tribe's sacred places. Equivalent names for a supreme deity are ''Es'' (

Ket language The Ket ( ) language, or more specifically Imbak and formerly known as Yenisei Ostyak ( ), is a Siberian language long thought to be an isolate, the sole surviving language of a Yeniseian language family. It is spoken along the middle Yenise ...

), ''Nga'' (

Enets language Enets is a Samoyedic language of Northern Siberia spoken on the Lower Yenisei within the boundaries of the Taimyr Municipality District, a subdivision of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Federation. Enets belongs to the Northern branch of the Samoy ...

), and ''Turum'' or ''Torym'' (

Khanty language Khanty (also spelled Khanti or Hanti), previously known as Ostyak (), is a branch of the Ugric languages composed of multiple dialect continuum, dialect continua. It is varyingly considered a language or a collection of distinct languages spoken i ...

). The Tungus term 'buga' is similar to the Mongolian term ''bogdo'' (holy),

Old Persian language Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its nativ ...

''baga'' (god), and the

Kassite language Kassite (also Cassite) was a language spoken by the Kassites in Mesopotamia from approximately the 18th to the 7th century BC. From the 16th to 12th centuries BC, kings of Kassite origin ruled in Babylon until they were overthrown by the Elami ...

''bugas'' (god). The

Even language Even , also known as Lamut, Ewen, Eben, Orich, Ilqan (, historically also ), is a Tungusic language spoken by the Evens in Siberia. It is spoken by widely scattered communities of reindeer herders from Kamchatka and the Sea of Okhotsk in the ...

term for the highest deity (the creator) is/was ''Nalban Omgo Ogyn Buga'', the proper name in the same language is ''Hovky-Sovky''; in the Evenk language the god's name is ''Shavaky-Savaky''. The "upper" and "lower" worlds in those people's shamanic worldview are also referred to as ''Dulyn Buga'' and ''Harpy Buga''.

Tungusic creation myth

In a Tungusic creation myth Buga creates both the earth (using fire to create it within a watery void), as well as creating man and woman from fire, earth, iron, and water. In the myth he is opposed by Buninka, a devil figure, who becomes responsible for evil persons after death.

References

Sources

*, citing the monograph ''Evenks'' of Galina Varlamova * * * * Asian gods Tungusic mythology Creator gods {{Asia-myth-stub