Devil Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Tengrism == Among the [[Tengrism|Tengristic]] myths of central Asia, ''[[Erlik]]'' refers to a devil-like figure as the ruler of [[Tamag]] (Hell), who was also the first human. According to one narrative, Erlik and God swam together over the primordial waters. When God was about to create the Earth, he sent Erlik to dive into the waters and collect some mud. Erlik hid some inside his mouth to later create his own world. But when God commanded the Earth to expand, Erlik got troubled by the mud in his mouth. God aided Erlik to spit it out. The mud carried by Erlik gave place to the unpleasant areas of the world. Because of his sin, he was assigned to evil. In another variant, the creator-god is identified with [[Ulgen]]. Again, Erlik appears to be the first human. He desired to create a human just as Ulgen did, thereupon Ulgen reacted by punishing Erlik, casting him into the Underworld where he becomes its ruler.<ref>Mircea Eliade ''History of Religious Ideas, Volume 3: From Muhammad to the Age of Reforms'' University of Chicago Press, 31 December 2013 {{ISBN|978-0-226-14772-7}} p. 9</ref><ref>David Adams Leeming ''A Dictionary of Creation Myths'' Oxford University Press 2014 {{ISBN|978-0-19-510275-8}} p. 7</ref> According to Tengrism, there is no death, meaning that, when life comes to an end, it is merely a transition into the invisible world. As the ruler of Hell, Erlik enslaves the souls, who are damned to Hell. Further, he lurks on the souls of those humans living on Earth by causing death, disease and illnesses. At the time of birth, Erlik sends a [[Kormos]] to seize the soul of the newborn, following him for the rest of his life in an attempt to seize his soul by hampering, misguiding, and injuring him. When Erlik succeeds in destroying a human's body, the Kormos sent by Erlik will try take him down into the Underworld. However a good soul will be brought to Paradise by a ''Yayutshi'' sent by Ulgen.<ref>Plantagenet Publishing ''The Cambridge Medieval History Series volumes 1β5''</ref> Some shamans also made sacrifices to Erlik, for gaining a higher rank in the Underworld, if they should be damned to Hell. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page