Üöhee Doydu- Sakha LocationLocation · Realm"The Upper World"

The Three Worlds

Sakha cosmology divides existence into three vertically stacked realms. Üöhee Doydu, the Upper World, arches above the earth as the domain of the Aiyy, the benevolent spirits who created and sustain human life. Below the earth lies Allara Doydu, the Lower World, a domain of darkness ruled by hostile spirits called the Abaasy. Between them stands Orto Doydu, the Middle World, where human beings dwell alongside lesser spirits of lake, forest, and steppe. The Olonkho epics present this tripartite structure as fundamental and unchanging, established at the beginning of time when the creator deities shaped the cosmos.

The vertical axis connecting the three worlds is the cosmic tree Aal Luuk Mas, whose roots reach into the Lower World, whose trunk stands in the Middle World, and whose crown pierces through into the Upper World. This tree serves not only as a structural pillar but as a pathway. In Olonkho narratives, heroes climbing toward the Upper World ascend through the branches of Aal Luuk Mas, while shamans in ritual practice describe their soul-journeys upward along the same axis.

The Nine Heavens

The Upper World is not a single undifferentiated space but a series of nine ascending heavens, each associated with a different category of Aiyy deity. The Olonkho tradition describes these layers in varying detail depending on the epic and the region of its telling, but the number nine is consistent across the major recorded variants. The lowest heavens house lesser Aiyy spirits concerned with the daily welfare of humans, cattle, and horses. The middle heavens are the domain of greater Aiyy deities governing fate, justice, and the cycle of seasons. The highest heaven belongs to Ürüng Aiyy Toyon himself, the supreme creator deity whose white radiance illuminates the entire Upper World.

The scholar Alekseev recorded that Sakha tradition associates each heaven with specific colors, directions, and functions, though these associations vary by region and lineage of oral transmission. The recurring imagery is of increasing brightness: each heaven is lighter than the one below it, culminating in the pure white light of the ninth heaven.

Ürüng Aiyy Toyon's Court

At the summit of the nine heavens, Ürüng Aiyy Toyon (White Lord Creator) holds court in a palace of light. The Olonkho epic Nyurgun Bootur the Swift describes his dwelling as a place where shadows do not fall, where the ground is white, and where white horses graze on white grass. The color white (ürüng) pervades every description of this realm, symbolizing purity, creative power, and divine authority.

Ürüng Aiyy Toyon governs from this court not through arbitrary will but through an established order. He dispatches Aiyy spirits downward to protect and guide humans, sends the soul (kut) of each child into the Middle World before birth, and receives the souls of the righteous dead who have lived in accordance with the proper way. His court functions as the ultimate authority in the cosmic hierarchy, and the Aiyy deities who dwell in the lower heavens act as intermediaries carrying out his decrees.

The Aiyy Deities

The Upper World's inhabitants are collectively called the Aiyy, bright spirits opposed in nature and purpose to the Abaasy of the Lower World. Among them are Jöhögöy Aiyy Toyon, the patron of horses, who dwells in the Upper World and sends horse spirits down to the Middle World to ensure the herds thrive. Ieyiekhsit, the goddess of childbirth, descends from the Upper World when a woman is in labor, bringing the child's soul from the celestial stores. Aiyyııt, the goddess of fertility, resides among the bright spirits and governs the continuation of human lineages.

These deities do not remain permanently above. The Olonkho narratives frequently describe Aiyy spirits descending along Aal Luuk Mas to intervene in the affairs of the Middle World, often to rescue heroes from the machinations of the Abaasy. Their presence in the Upper World is their natural state, but their function requires constant movement between realms.

The Olonkho Hero's Ascent

In the great Olonkho epics, the hero frequently journeys to the Upper World to seek aid, claim a bride, or fulfill a divine commission. The journey upward is always arduous. The hero must ascend through the crown of Aal Luuk Mas, passing through layers of increasing light that test his worthiness. In Nyurgun Bootur the Swift, the hero ascends to the Upper World to receive his war-horse and weapons from the Aiyy before descending to battle the Abaasy champions who threaten the Middle World.

The Upper World in these narratives is not merely a destination but a place of transformation. Heroes who ascend return with heightened strength, sacred weapons, or divine brides who carry Aiyy blood. The journey itself serves as an initiation, paralleling the shamanic ascent in ritual practice.

Shamanic Journeys

Before the suppression of Sakha shamanic practice under Russian and later Soviet authority, the shaman (oyuun) performed ritual ascents to the Upper World on behalf of the community. During the ceremony, the shaman's soul was understood to travel upward along the cosmic axis, passing through the successive heavens to petition the Aiyy for healing, good fortune in hunting, or the fertility of herds.

Ksenofontov documented accounts from Sakha elders describing the shaman's drum as the vehicle for the ascent, its rhythm carrying the oyuun's soul from heaven to heaven. At each level, the shaman encountered specific Aiyy spirits and negotiated on the community's behalf. The ascent to the ninth heaven was rare and dangerous, undertaken only in times of extreme need, as the proximity to Ürüng Aiyy Toyon's radiance could overwhelm the shaman's soul.

White Horses and Ritual Offerings

The association between the Upper World and white horses extends from mythology into ritual practice. The Yhyakh festival, the Sakha celebration of the summer solstice, traditionally included the consecration of white mares and the offering of kumiss (fermented mare's milk) to the Aiyy deities of the Upper World. The white mare stood as a living symbol of the Upper World's purity and generative power, and its milk, fermented and offered skyward, served as the primary liturgical substance connecting the Middle World to the heavens above.

Gogolev recorded that the eastern direction held particular sacred significance in the Yhyakh ritual, as the Upper World was associated with the east and the rising sun. The ceremonial ground was oriented eastward, and the principal offerings were directed toward the dawn, the point where the light of the Upper World was understood to be closest to the earth.

Cosmological Significance

The Upper World in Sakha thought is not simply an afterlife destination or a passive paradise. It is the active source of all that sustains life in the Middle World: light, warmth, souls, horses, cattle, and moral order. The Aiyy's ongoing involvement in human affairs means the Upper World is dynamically connected to everyday existence. Every birth, every successful hunt, every healthy foal represents the Upper World's continued engagement with the earth below.

This cosmological framework gives Sakha religion its characteristic optimism. Unlike traditions in which the divine realm is remote or indifferent, the Upper World in Sakha belief is actively invested in human flourishing. The Aiyy are not merely worshipped; they are partners in the survival of the community, and the vertical cosmos through which they travel is kept open by the rituals, offerings, and stories that the Sakha people maintain.