Buryat Mythology Archives

Tradition / Region: Buryat mythology, Russian Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Cow

The Myth

In the oldest stories of the Buryat people, Bukha-Noyon was the first bull-father, the ancestor from whom the people themselves were born. He was the son of the great sky deity, and from the heavens he descended to the earth. He did not belong to one form alone. At times he appeared as a man, and at other times as a mighty bull, and through this shifting shape he moved freely between the upper sky, the middle world of humans, and the depths below.

On one of his journeys, Bukha-Noyon came to the land of Taizha-khan, where rich herds grazed. There he took the form of a powerful, mottled bull and challenged the bulls of that country. None could withstand him. When the daughter of Taizha-khan saw this overwhelming bull, she conceived, and in time gave birth to children who would become the ancestors of human lineages. Thus the people were said to descend from Bukha-Noyon, born of the union between heaven, earth, and the bull.

In other tellings, Bukha-Noyon wandered the steppe and mountains until he finally shed his human form and became wholly a bull. He climbed into the highlands and disappeared from the world of people. There, his body turned to stone. In the Sayan Mountains, it is said that his vast shape can still be seen in the land itself, like a great bull lying upon the slopes, watching over the earth.

From Bukha-Noyon came strength, fertility, and continuity. Where he was honored, cattle flourished and the people endured. He was remembered as both ancestor and guardian—the bull who gave life to the people, and whose spirit still lives in stone, mountain, and herd.

Gallery

Sources

Toronova, E. M. (2015). Transformation of the mythological image of Bukha-noyon in the works of the Buryat artists. Vestnik Vostochno-Sibirskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta Tekhnologiy i Upravleniya, (4 (55)). Retrieved from https://sciup.org/transformacija-mifologicheskogo-obraza-buha-nojona-v-proizvedenijah-burjatskih-142148225-en

Interpretive Lenses

Religious Readings

Christian Ascetic Deep Dive

Philosophical Readings

Nietzschean Deep Dive

Psychological Readings

Jungian Deep Dive

Esoteric Deep Dive

Hermetic Deep Dive

Political / Social Readings

Marxist Deep Dive

Other

How to Invite The Bukha-Noyon

Tradition / Region: Mongolian Mythology, Buryat Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Fish

The Myth

In the deepest waters of the world lives Abarga Zagakhan, the first of all fish and their eternal king. Vast beyond measure, it is said to dwell at the bottom of Lake Baikal, where no light reaches and no human can follow.

Abarga Zagakhan is shaped like a colossal burbot, yet its size surpasses all creatures of water. Thirteen great fins spread from its body, and its mouth is so immense that it can swallow not only people, but entire herds of animals in a single gulp. Even the fearsome Mangatkhai monsters, terrors in their own right, were devoured by Abarga Zagakhan when they strayed too close to its domain.

From this ancient fish all other fish are said to descend. It rules them silently from the depths, unseen but ever-present, a living force beneath the waters. When currents shift or the lake grows restless, some say it is Abarga Zagakhan turning in its sleep.

Thus the people speak of it with awe and fear, as the ancestor, devourer, and sovereign of all that swims.