Tam (also ''tam'', ''tamuk'', ''tam'' or ''tamu'') is the name of

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. It is the place where criminals go to be punished after they die. There are several depictions of Tamag, but the common point in almost all views is about the fire. Erlik Khan is the deity ruling hell and punishes the all people. Further, there is another entity named Tami Han who is governing Tam in Khakasian lore. Ancient Turks believed that Tam is underground. It was believed that the people in Tam would be brought to the third floor of the sky after they had served their imprisonment in Tam. Tamag is the opposite of Uçmag (

heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

).Deniz Karakurt: ''Türk Söylence Sözlüğü'', 2011, p. 266. According to the beliefs of the

Tuvans The Tuvans (from Russian ) or Tyvans (from Tuvan ) are a Turkic ethnic group indigenous to Siberia that live in Tuva, Mongolia, and China. They speak the Tuvan language, a Siberian Turkic language. In Mongolia, they are regarded as one ...

, the earth has three lowers, and beneath them are 18 layers of hell-fires (''Tamas'').Burnakov, V. A. "Erlik khan in the traditional worldview of the khakas." Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 39.1 (2011): 107-114.

References

Turkic mythology Conceptions of hell {{mythology-stub

See also

References