Erlik- Mongolian GodDeity"Lord of the Underworld"

Origins in the Deep

Erlik was not always a lord of darkness. In creation narratives preserved across Mongolian and Siberian traditions, he was the first creation of Ulgen, the benevolent sky deity. Before the earth existed, primordial waters covered everything. The creator sent Erlik to dive beneath them and bring up mud from which to fashion the world. Erlik succeeded but concealed a portion of mud in his mouth, intending to create his own realm. When the creator caused the earth to expand, the hidden mud swelled painfully in his cheeks, and he was forced to spit it out, forming the swamps, bogs, and barren lands. This act of deception led to his banishment beneath the earth, where he became sovereign over the dead.

Death must exist. The underworld must have its king. Erlik judges the dead according to their deeds, and shamans who brave the journey to his realm can negotiate with him and even receive gifts of power.

The Kingdom Beneath the Earth

Erlik's domain mirrors the world above, but dark, cold, and lit by a dim underworld sun. He dwells in a palace of iron or black stone, seated upon a throne from which he judges the souls that descend to him. Rivers of the dead flow through his kingdom, and spirits of the departed labor in his service or await their final fate.

He appears as an elderly man of terrible aspect: dark-faced, long-bearded, with features twisted by age and power. In some depictions he wears bull's horns. His eyes burn with knowledge of all mortal fates, and his voice commands absolute obedience in his realm. Sacrifices sent to him were characteristically dark: black-coated animals, particularly black rams and horses, their blood directed downward. Libations of araki poured onto the ground accompanied invocations to Erlik and his attendants.

The Sons and Daughters of Erlik

Erlik fathered nine sons and nine daughters, each commanding specific powers within his dark kingdom. The nine sons served as their father's agents in the upper world, bringing sickness and untimely death to mortals whose time had come. Shamanic texts recorded by Potanin and Radlov from Altaic informants preserved their individual names and attributes so that practitioners could identify which son had seized a patient's soul and tailor their ritual accordingly.

The nine daughters appeared in different guise: beautiful and alluring, they could tempt shamans who descended to the underworld, distracting them from their mission or ensnaring them permanently in Erlik's domain. In some Altaic traditions, the daughters also served as intercessors who might soften their father's judgment if properly propitiated.

Shamanic Journeys to Erlik

The most dangerous shamanic task was the journey to Erlik's kingdom to bargain for the life of a seriously ill person whose soul had been captured by underworld spirits. The shaman descended through the layers of the underworld during extended trance rituals accompanied by drumming, past guardians and obstacles, to reach Erlik's throne. There the shaman offered the soul of a sacrificed animal, often a horse or ram, in exchange for the patient's soul. The drum served as a mount for the spirit journey, its rhythmic beating driving the descent through successive layers.

If Erlik determined that death was fated, no shaman could change the verdict. But skilled shamans returned many souls to the living. Those who failed might lose their own souls to Erlik or return broken, their power spent.

The deepest connection between Erlik and the shaman lay in the shaman's own making. In traditions recorded by Diószegi, the future shaman experienced an initiatory crisis: spirits dismembered their body, boiled their flesh from their bones, and reassembled them with new spiritual organs. This often took place in or near Erlik's realm. Some traditions held that Erlik himself performed the dismemberment, forging the shaman's soul on an anvil in the underworld before sending it back to the living world transformed.

Erlik in Epic and Folklore

In the Geser epic, demonic forces associated with Erlik's underworld threaten humanity and must be defeated by the hero. In folktales he is the lord of death whom no mortal can escape, but who can sometimes be tricked or delayed. He honors bargains once made and follows cosmic law even when it constrains him. Some stories tell of heroes who descend to his realm and return with treasures or forbidden knowledge, having impressed even Erlik with their boldness.

The Mirror of Karma

With the spread of Tibetan Buddhism into Mongolia from the sixteenth century, Erlik became partially merged with Yama, the Buddhist lord of death. In this form he became Erleg Nomun Khan, "Lord of the Law of Death."

Erleg Nomun Khan holds the Mirror of Karma, which reflects every deed a person has performed in life. Before his judgment seat, the dead cannot lie or conceal their actions, for the mirror reveals all. Ox-headed and horse-headed demons serve as his bailiffs, dragging the souls of the wicked to his throne.