The Mongol mythology is the traditional religion of the Mongols.

Creation

There are many Mongol creation myths. In one, the creation of the world is attributed to a Buddhist deity

Lama Lama () is a title bestowed to a realized practitioner of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. Not all monks are lamas, while nuns and female practitioners can be recognized and entitled as lamas. The Tibetan word ''la-ma'' means "high mother", ...

. At the start of time, there was only water, and from the heavens, Lama came down to it holding an iron rod with which he began to stir. As he began to stir the water, the stirring brought about a wind and fire which caused a thickening at the centre of the waters to form the earth. Another narrative also attributes the creation of heaven and earth to a lama who is called Udan. Udan began by separating earth from heaven, and then dividing heaven and earth both into nine stories, and creating nine rivers. After the creation of the earth itself, the first male and female couple were created out of clay. They would become the progenitors of all humanity. In another example the world began as an agitating gas which grew increasingly warm and damp, precipitating a heavy rain that created the oceans. Dust and sand emerged to the surface and became earth. Yet another account tells of the Buddha Sakyamuni searching the surface of the sea for a means to create the earth and spotted a golden frog. From its east side, Buddha pierced the frog through, causing it to spin and face north. From its mouth burst fire, and its rump streamed water. Buddha tossed golden sand on his back which became land. And this was the origin of the five earthly elements, wood and metal from the arrow, and fire, water and sand. These myths date from the 17th century when Yellow Shamanism (Tibetan Buddhism using shamanistic forms) was established in Mongolia. Black Shamanism and White Shamanism from pre-Buddhist times survive only in far-northern Mongolia (around Lake Khuvsgul) and the region around

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

where Lamaist persecution had not been effective.

Deities

* Bai-Ulgan and Esege Malan are creator deities. * Ot is the goddess of marriage. * Tung-ak is the patron god of tribal chiefs and the ruler of the lesser spirits of Mongol mythology * Erlik Khan is the King of the Underworld. * Daichi Tengri is the red god of war to whom enemy soldiers were sometimes sacrificed during battle campaigns. * Zaarin Tengri is a spirit who gives Khorchi (in the

Secret History of the Mongols The ''Secret History of the Mongols'' is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolic languages. Written for the Mongol royal family some time after the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, it recounts his life and conquests, and partially the r ...

) a vision of a cow mooing "Heaven and earth have agreed to make Temujin (later

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

) the lord of the nation". * The

sky god The sky often has important religious significance. Many polytheism, polytheistic religions have deity, deities associated with the sky. The daytime sky deities are typically distinct from the nighttime ones. Stith Thompson's ''Motif-Index o ...

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 ...

is attested from the

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...

of the 2nd century BC. The Xiongnu may not have been Mongol, but Tengri is common to several Central Asian peoples, including the Mongols. * Jamsaran is the Mongolian war god, now worshipped in Tibet as Begtse. The

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...

, falcon,

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

and

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 ...

were important symbolic animals.

Texts and myths

The Uliger are traditional epic tales and the

Epic of King Gesar The Epic of King Gesar (), also spelled Kesar () or Geser (especially in Mongolian contexts), is an epic from Tibet and Central Asia. It originally developed between 200 or 300 BCE and about 600 CE. Folk balladeers continued to pass on the sto ...

is shared with much of

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

. The ''

'' (Ges'r, Kesar) is a Mongol religious epic about ''Geser'' (also known as ''Buche Beligte''), a prophet of

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

Notes

References

*Walter Heissig, ''The Religions of Mongolia'', Kegan Paul (2000).
Myths Connected With Mongol Religion, A Journey in Southern Siberia, by Jeremiah Curtin.
*Gerald Hausman, Loretta Hausman, ''The Mythology of Horses: Horse Legend and Lore Throughout the Ages'' (2003), 37–46. *Yves Bonnefoy, Wendy Doniger, ''Asian Mythologies'', University Of Chicago Press (1993), 315–339. *满都呼, ''中国阿尔泰语系诸民族神话故事''(folklores of Chinese Altaic races).民族出版社, 1997. . *贺灵, ''新疆宗教古籍资料辑注''(materials of old texts of Xinjiang religions). Xinjiang People's Press, May 2006. . * * *S. G. Klyashtornyj, 'Political Background of the Old Turkic Religion' in: Oelschlägel, Nentwig, Taube (eds.), ''"Roter Altai, gib dein Echo!"'' (FS Taube), Leipzig, 2005, , 260–265.

External links