Deities of the Mordvins — the gods in the system of traditional beliefs of the Erzya and Moksha cultures.
Background
It is entirely unjust to call the unbaptised Mordvins idolaters. They never had either idols or any other images of a deity. True, they venerated sacred trees, beneath which they made sacrifices, but they never regarded them as gods. True, they sometimes addressed prayers to the sun and the moon, but they always considered them creations of God.
They believed in a single supreme god, upon whom the whole visible and invisible world depends. The Erdzyads, the Teryukhans and the Karatais call him Pas, or Cham-Pas (the supreme god), the Moksha — Shkay.
These were the notions the Mordvins held about this supreme being: he has no beginning and will have no end; he can be seen not only by no human being, but by none of the gods subordinate to him either; he lives in the sky, and how he lives no one can know; he rules on earth as well; and the earth, and the sky, and the heavenly lights, and the gods (bodiless good spirits), and people, and animals, and the very evil spirits — all take their beginning from him; he is the creator of the whole visible and invisible world, the provider who governs everything by means of subordinate gods and goddesses.
Cham-Pas loves his creations, and from him comes only good, but, so that people should not forget themselves, he permitted Shaitan to create evil spirits and set them in the marshes and whirlpools. If a person does something contrary to Cham-Pas, he allows the evil spirit to do that person harm, but when the person turns to him with a prayer to deliver him from evil, he forbids the evil spirit and orders it to sit in the water. But a single private prayer is not enough to appease the angered supreme god: communal and household prayers to the deities subordinate to him are necessary, and a good life is more necessary still.
The ordinary prayer to the supreme god among the Moksha is short: "Shkay! otsyu Shkay, verdu Shkay, vanymyst! O God, supreme God, primal God, have mercy on us!" The Erdzyads and the Teryukhans address him with the prayer: "Cham-Pas, vel Pas, have mercy on us!", that is: "supreme god, god of the world (in the sense of the community), have mercy on us!" The Mordvins turned to this supreme god at the beginning of every prayer, whichever deity that prayer concerned. But to Cham-Pas himself neither special festivals nor special sacrifices were performed.
Besides the one eternal god, the Mordvins recognise the good and evil spirits created by him. In their conception, these spirits, like people, multiply, and there is a multitude of them in the world. Everywhere, in every place, some deity is invisibly present, carrying out the command of the supreme god or appointed by him to govern some part of the universe. All the Mordvin tribes believed this alike, but the beliefs of the Erdzyads and the Moksha concerning the secondary gods and the part each of them plays in governing the world differ.
According to the notions of the Erdzyads and the Teryukhans (of the gods of the Karatai tribe we unfortunately have no information), Cham-Pas, having conceived the intention of creating the world, first of all created a spirit almost entirely like himself, so that it might help him in creating and governing the world. This spirit was Shaitan. Here is the tale of the creation of Shaitan, recorded in 1853 by the priest Fyodor Shaversky in the village of Vechkamovo (Buguruslan uyezd, Samara Governorate):
"Once, when there was as yet nothing in the world but water alone, Cham-Pas was floating on a stone across the ocean-sea and pondering to himself how to create the visible world and how to govern it. Then he said: "I have neither a brother nor a companion with whom I might take counsel about this matter", and with these words he spat into the sea out of vexation and floated on. Having floated some distance away, Cham-Pas looked back and saw that his spittle had turned into an enormous mound and was floating along behind him. To destroy the mound, Cham-Pas struck it with his staff; at once Shaitan leapt out of it and said: "You regret, Lord, that you have neither a brother nor a companion with whom to think and take counsel about the creation of the world; I, for my part, would gladly be your brother".
Cham-Pas rejoiced and said: "Well then, be to me not a brother but a companion. Let us make the earth. But what shall we make it from? For there is nothing but water". Shaitan says nothing, he does not know what to make the earth from. "Dive, companion, into the ocean-sea", Cham-Pas said to him, "there is sand on the bottom, bring a little of it, and from it we shall make the earth". — "And I was just about to say that very thing, brother", Shaitan interrupted, because he did not want to show Cham-Pas that the other was above him and knew more, and he kept calling him brother, although Cham-Pas had taken him only as a companion. "Then go to the bottom, bring the sand", said Cham-Pas, "and mind, companion, that when you take the sand you invoke my name".
Shaitan sank to the bottom. There, out of his pride, he would not invoke the name of Cham-Pas, but invoked his own. For that reason he could not take a single grain of sand: from under the sea bottom a flame came forth and burned Shaitan. Scorched, he surfaced on the sea. "I cannot, brother," — he says to Cham-Pas, — "take a single grain of sand, because there a flame comes out of the sea bottom, and it all but consumed me". — "Go, companion, to the sea bottom again," Cham-Pas said to him, "the flame will not touch you, only invoke my name". Shaitan descended to the sea bottom a second time, but pride again did not let him invoke the name of Cham-Pas, again he invoked his own, and the flame again scorched him.
He swam up to the surface of the sea and for the second time came before Cham-Pas without sand. "Well, companion, have you brought the sand?" Cham-Pas asked him. — "I have not brought it, brother, the flame scorched me again, worse than before". — "But did you invoke my name, companion?" asked Cham-Pas. Shaitan, having no choice, confessed that he had not invoked the name of Cham-Pas. "Whose name did you invoke, then, companion?" — "My own, brother", answered Shaitan. — "Listen then, companion," Cham-Pas said then, "go a third time to the bottom of the ocean-sea and take sand there, invoking my name. Only remember, companion, that if you do not invoke my name, the fire will consume you utterly, and nothing will be left of you".
Shaitan descended to the bottom a third time and, fearing that the flame would burn him up entirely, invoked the name of Cham-Pas and without any hindrance gathered a mouthful of sand. Surfacing on the sea, he gave the sand to Cham-Pas, but not all of it: part of it he hid behind his cheek. He thinks to himself: "Let my brother create his own earth, and I shall create mine". Cham-Pas began scattering the sand over the sea, and it, growing larger, became land. But as the grains of sand grew upon the sea, so grew also those that remained behind Shaitan's cheek; from this his head swelled into an enormous mountain.
Feeling unbearable pain from this, Shaitan roared in a terrible voice. "Why are you shouting, companion?" Cham-Pas asked him. Shaitan, having no choice, repented. "It was not all the earth, brother, that I spat out," he says, "and it is growing in my head, and from this I suffer unbearable torment". Cham-Pas struck Shaitan on the head with his staff and said: "Spit out the sand, companion, and be healed of your affliction". Shaitan began spitting the sand out of his mouth, but so violently that the liquid, not yet hardened earth was shaken by it, from which came pits, ravines and valleys, while from the sand that he spat out were formed mounds, hills and mountains.
When Shaitan was freed from his affliction, Cham-Pas said to him: "No, you cannot be a companion to me, you are evil, and I am good; be accursed, then, and go beneath the sea bottom, into the nether world, into that very fire that scorched you because, out of pride, you would not invoke the name of your creator. Sit there and suffer for ever and ever".
In the Simbirsk and Penza Governorates the Mordvins add the following to this legend of Shaitan: Shaitan grew proud before his creator and said to him: "Cham-Pas! You are already old, it is time for you to rest, and I am young; so sit in your place and sleep, and I alone shall govern the world that we shall create". For this Cham-Pas cursed Shaitan, and Shaitan grew so embittered against him that he remained for ever the most evil being and a hater of all good. For that Cham-Pas drove him into the dark abyss. There are also other versions concerning Shaitan's opposition to Cham-Pas at the creation of the world. One of them, recorded in the village of Syrezhevo, Alatyr uyezd, Simbirsk Governorate, is given below.
After that Cham-Pas created the goddess Ange-Patyay (word for word: mother-goddess). She is the source of life, of childbearing and of the fertility of the earth. Thus, directly from the supreme Cham-Pas only two deities came forth: the good one — Ange-Patyay, and the evil one — Shaitan. These two deities are of equal strength. If Shaitan cannot equal in power Cham-Pas who created him, and therefore does not wage direct war against him, he eternally opposes the good Ange-Patyay, who herself, and through the gods and goddesses she brought forth, wages a constant struggle with the evil principle, guarding the life and well-being of every creature. Ange-Patyay bore four gods and four goddesses.
Her eldest son, Nishki-Pas, is the god of the sky, the sun, fire and light. He is also the chief patron of bees. He has in the sky a multitude of houses, in which the souls of good people live. As bees swarm around their queen, so the souls of good people swarm around Nishki-Pas. That is why he is called Nishki-Pas (nishki or nishke in Mordvin means an apiary). He is also called Shiza-Pas, or Shi-Pas, that is, sun-god. To him, as the firstborn of the goddess Ange-Patyay, is given the appellation of the son of god, Iniche-Pas.
The second son of the mother of the gods, Ange-Patyay, was Svet-Vereshki-Velen-Pas, the possessor of the earth and the organiser of human societies (velen, in short vel — the world, in the sense of the community), which are arranged after the likeness of the heavenly apiary of his brother Nishki-Pas. Hence also his name Vereshki (ver-nishki — an earthly, properly speaking a forest, apiary).
The third son of the supreme goddess, Nazarom-Pas, is the god of winter, of night, of the moon. He receives into his kingdom (nazarom-nishki — the dark apiary) the souls of all who die: the good and kind ones he sends on to his elder brother Nishki-Pas, and the bad and evil ones he drives away into the domains of Shaitan.
The fourth son of the mother of the gods, Voltsy-Pas, is the supreme god of all living things apart from man. He gives his patronage to people in hunting beasts, in shooting birds, in fishing.
Of the goddesses (Patyay) born of the mother of the gods, the eldest was called Nishkinde-Tevtyar (the sister of Nishki-Pas, word for word: "the maid of Nishki"). She too has her apiary (nishke) on earth, and this is an apiary of real bees; she is the patroness of beekeeping, which from of old was the favourite occupation of the Mordvins. Nishkinde-Tevtyar is at the same time the goddess of fate. When a person is born, her mother Ange-Patyay bids her compose the fate of the newborn. This goddess bore a son, Purgine-Pas, who is also called Mel-kazo (Vergi-Muchki-Melkazo, that is, the spirit of the son of the Thunderer who descends to the earth). In this Melkazo, as we shall tell later, there especially believed the last Mordvin prophet, who supposedly received his promptings, Kuzka-bog, who appeared among the Teryukhans in 1808.
The second daughter of the mother of the gods, Norrova-Aparuchi, the goddess of agriculture, bore Mastyr-Pas (earth-god), who sits inside the earth and gives it the power to bring forth all plants, and especially grain and garden vegetables.
The third daughter of the supreme goddess, Paksya-Patyay, the patroness of fields, meadows and kitchen gardens, bore the god Ved-Pas (water-god), or Ved-Mastyr-Pas (the god of the water flowing on the earth), who governs the seas, rivers, lakes, springs and wells.
The fourth daughter of the mother of the gods is Verya-Patyay, the goddess of forests, groves and trees. Her son is Varma-Pas, the god of wind and air.
Having brought forth these children, Ange-Patyay wished to fill the whole world with good deities as quickly as possible, so that — to say nothing of people — beside every little tree, beside every blade of grass, beside every stalk there should be present a good spirit that would guard the creations of Cham-Pas from the wiles of Shaitan. She turned with this request to her father, the supreme upholder of the world. Cham-Pas gave her a fire-steel, and her son, Nishki-Pas, brought her flints. Ange-Patyay began striking the steel against the flint, and as many sparks as flew out, so many good spirits, the ozais, appeared. Shaitan saw what Ange-Patyay was doing, took two flints from the earth (he had nowhere to get a fire-steel, for the mother of the gods had received hers from heaven, from Cham-Pas himself) and likewise began striking fire from them. As many sparks as flew out, so many evil spirits came forth. And to this day Ange-Patyay and Shaitan strike fire, and from this both the good and the evil spirits multiply with every day, in accordance with the way people, animals and plants multiply.
Thus the principal Mordvin deities were the following:
1) Cham-Pas, 2) Ange-Patyay, his daughter, the mother of the gods; 3) Nishki-Pas, 4) Svet-Vereshki-Velen-Pas, 5) Voltsy-Pas, 6) Nazarom-Pas, 7) Nishkinde-Tevtyar, 8) Narrova-Aparuchi, 9) Paksya-Patyay, 10) Verya-Patyay, 11) Purgine-Pas, 12) Mastyr-Pas, 13) Ved-Mastyr-Pas and 14) Varma-Pas.
Besides these deities, from the goddess Ange-Patyay's striking of fire out of the flints by means of the heavenly fire-steel there came forth an innumerable multitude of good spirits, which were generally called ozais among the Erdzyads and the Teryukhans, and ozks among the Moksha. By these same words were also designated the festivals celebrated in honour of one deity or another.
First of all Ange-Patyay struck the sparks that produced the protectresses of children, the goddesses Ange-ozais, who help women in childbirth and guard young children from illnesses and all misfortunes. Beside every child there is such a protectress, watching over its health. In every house, from the sparks struck by the goddess Ange-Patyay, there appeared its own "Kardas-Syarko-ozais", the guardian against every evil of the people and animals living in the house, who preserves peace, quiet and concord in families and takes care of abundance in the house he guards. He has his dwelling in the middle of the yard, in a pit, under a stone which is called after him "kardo-syarko".
This deity is assisted by: Yurta-ozais, the good spirit who guards the whole homestead of the householder, and Kelyada-ozais (properly it means birch god), who guards the domestic livestock, and especially the animals beloved of the goddess Ange-Patyay: sheep, pigs, hens. Upon the kelyadas-ozais depended the gods who also came forth from the sparks struck by the mother of the gods: Angar-ozais — the god of stallions, Lishman-ozais — the goddess of mares and foals, Taunsyay or Taun-ozais — the god of pigs, and Rev-ozais — the goddess of sheep. These last two deities were especially beloved of the goddess Ange-Patyay, since pigs and sheep were her favourite animals.
From the sparks struck by the supreme goddess there came forth, for every household of men: subordinate directly to the goddess Nishkende-Teftyar, patroness of bee-gardens and forest hives, the Nishki-ozaises - guarding bee-gardens, apiaries and forest hives, and also subordinate to the goddess Narrova-Aparuchi the good spirits: Suavtuma-ozais - patron of the ploughlands, Past-ozais - guarding the crops from worms, grasshoppers, locusts and other harmful insects, Keret-ozais - god of the implements of husbandry. From those same sparks struck by the goddess Ange-Patyai there came: subordinate to Ved-Pas, or the water god, Ak-Shakal-ozais (the white fish - a spirit that patronises fishing), and subordinate to Verya-Patyai, patroness of the forests, Kelu-ozais, the spirit that patronises the birch (his full name is Vechki-Kez-Keldigo), Tumo-ozais - patron of the oak, Pekshe-ozais - of the linden, Piche-ozais - of the pine, Shot-ran-ozais - deity of logs, Keren-ozais - deity of bast, and so on.
In a word, according to the notions of the Erzyads and the Teryukhans, deities are everywhere. Each of them guards the creation of the supreme god, Cham-Pas, entrusted to its care. Maintaining life in it, waging on its behalf a constant struggle with the evil spirits, the creatures of Shaitan, the good ozaises carry out the commands of the mother of the gods and of all that is good in this world, Ange-Patyai, and she herself is commanded by Cham-Pas.
Besides this, the Mordva worshipped their ancestors - the atyat. The dead, having settled in the "heavenly bee-garden" of Nishki-Pas, each caring for his own kin and helping his descendants in all their needs and in good deeds, hold them back from bad actions and warn them, when need arises, now by dream visions, now by other portents. Hence arose various omens, of which the Mordva have hardly fewer than the Russians. Prayers and sacrifices were offered to the ancestors both in the houses and in the cemeteries.
The evil spirits created by Shaitan inflict diseases on people and cattle, send worms and locusts upon the fields, kill bees, turn into a bear and destroy hives, bring harmful winds that damage the crops, teach people evil deeds, and so forth. But the good deities struggle with them, and this struggle is eternal.
According to the notions of the Mokshans, Shkai, the supreme, beginningless creator of the world, likewise first of all created Shaitan to be his helper, but Shaitan took up arms against his creator and for that was cast down by him from the supreme dwelling that is above the heavens. Then Shkai created in his place a new deity, Soltan, who is also called Soltan-Keryamyat, and also Mastyr-Kirdi, that is, the holder of the world, ruling the material world and not the spiritual, the earth and not the heaven. This is the only male god of the Mokshans; all the other deities are female. Azarava (that is, the supreme goddess) is the same as Ange-Patyai among the Erzyads - the goddess of life, of childbearing and of fertility.
She is in all things equal with Soltan, for she was created by Shkai himself. From Soltan and Azarava came the goddesses: Yurtazarava - goddess over the homestead place where the house stands, Kudazarava - goddess of the house itself and of the domestic cattle, Banyazarava - goddess of the bathhouse, Avyn-azarava - goddess of the drying barn, Paksyazarava - goddess of the fields and meadows, Viryazarava - the forest goddess, Vedyazarava - goddess of rivers and lakes. Of these secondary goddesses there is a multitude: in every house there is its own Kudazarava, in every field its own Paksyazarava, and so on.
The Mordva believed in close intercourse between the gods and men - except, of course, the supreme god Cham-Pas, who is too exalted to enter into direct intercourse with people. It is remarkable that the dealings of the secondary Mordvin gods, the ozaises, as in the classical mythology of the Greeks and Romans, were chiefly amorous. The gods came down to earth, united with girls and carried them off to heaven. Of the various beliefs of this kind we shall give one, about the maiden Syrzha. It is preserved among the Teryukhans. There lived a maiden named Syrzha, whom all the suitors shunned: she was fair of face, and hard-working, and her legs were as thick as logs (a special merit of Mordvin women, their beauty), yet for some reason no one wanted to marry her.
Suddenly a great thunderstorm arose, all the people fell down as if dead, and when the storm had passed, in the village where Syrzha lived there appeared a man come from some distant, unknown lands, all black of aspect and with eyes that burned like fire. He wooed Syrzha; her father and mother gladly gave her to the newcomer, though they did not know where he was from. During the wedding feast the bridegroom began to behave improperly: he took to dancing over the cups, over the spoons, over the benches, over the shelves, and shouting louder and louder. And when the time came for him to take his young wife home, he cried out like thunder, lightning flashed from his eyes, from which the hut caught fire, all the guests fell down as if dead, and the newlyweds vanished.
This was Purgine-Pas, the god of thunder. He flew away with his wife Syrzha to heaven. And now, when a thunderstorm happens, the Mordva think that it is Purgine-Pas dancing in heaven over the cups, over the spoons, over the benches and over the shelves, as he danced at his own wedding. At such a time the Teryukhans come out of their houses into the street and, looking at the sky, raise their hands up and cry: "Legtsy, legtsy, ty, tsai, nash" (gentler, gentler, you are, surely, ours). The children born of the gods and of Mordvin maidens lived on earth, were until their death rulers of the Mordva, princes, and after death returned to heaven to their parents. One may suppose that Purgas too, the powerful Mordvin prince who fought the Russians in the 13th century, was honoured by the Mordva as a son of the Thunderer.
Of Shaitan and the evil spirits created by him and subordinate to him (all male, except the twelve fevers and the thirteenth, smallpox, which are female), the Mokshans thought the same as the Erzyads, that is, that the evil spirits try in every way to do harm to man, while the good deities, struggling with them, avert the evil. Of the creation of the world the Mordva of all tribes have one and the same notion. According to their tales, the supreme God created all things visible and invisible. While he was creating, Shaitan, out of his malice, tried in every way to spoil each creation, but the wisdom of Cham-Pas (Shkai) turned every spoiling of Shaitan's to good.
Thus, when the sky was created, it was pure and blue; Shaitan cast black clouds over it. Cham-Pas did not clear the sky of the clouds, but put rain into them and bade them water the earth, whereby it became fertile. Cham-Pas created the rivers with a smooth, bright surface; Shaitan let loose winds upon them and raised a swell, but Cham-Pas built a barque, made a rudder and oars, sewed a sail, and taught people navigation. When Cham-Pas wished to create the dry land, the waters having by then already been created, he saw Shaitan swimming over the sea in the form of a duck. Cham-Pas bade him dive to the bottom of the sea and fetch a little earth from there.
Shaitan dived, got the earth, but did not give it all to Cham-Pas, keeping a little in his mouth. From the earth brought up from the bottom of the sea Cham-Pas created the dry land. The earth came from his hands smooth and even. But Shaitan scattered over it the earth left in his mouth, whereby mountains, stones and ravines were formed. But Cham-Pas mended the harm done by Shaitan: he laid gold, silver, iron and precious stones in the mountains. Out of the stones scattered by Shaitan he taught people to make millstones, and the ravines he filled with water, whereby a multitude of streams arose. Cham-Pas created the earth covered with beautiful trees, like some garden, but Shaitan raised a storm and felled a multitude of trees; the empty places left thereby Cham-Pas turned into ploughlands and meadows and taught people tillage and haymaking.
Striving to spoil every creation of Cham-Pas, Shaitan wished to do the same with man. Cham-Pas moulded a man of clay and, not having yet put a soul into him, went away for a time to another place to create the soul; and, so that Shaitan should not spoil the body he had made, he set a dog to guard it. And the dog was formerly a clean animal, and had no hair upon it. Shaitan sent a terrible frost, so that the dog all but froze; he offered to clothe it with hair, so that it should not be cold, and for that to be let for a short while to the soulless man created by Cham-Pas.
The dog agreed. Shaitan spat all over the man, whence diseases arose, and then began to breathe his evil breath into him. Cham-Pas came and drove Shaitan away, bade the dog wear its unclean hair for ever, and, to mend the spoiled body of man, turned it inside out, but the diseases that came from Shaitan's spittle nevertheless remained in him. Then, having breathed his own good breath into man, he left him. Hence there remained in man inclinations both to good and to evil: the good inclinations from the breath of Cham-Pas, the evil ones from the breath of Shaitan. When man had thus been created, Shaitan said to Cham-Pas, pointing at the man: "In him is half of my soul and half of yours; let us then divide all people in half, let one half be your people and the other mine." Cham-Pas drove Shaitan away and, so that people, because of the presence of evil in them, should not all become Shaitan's prey, put reason into man and taught him to tell good from bad.
Shaitan out of vexation began to make creations of his own: first he created a multitude of evil spirits like himself, but less powerful, then he created various diseases and let them loose upon people; these diseases are also evil spirits. The Teryukhans and some of the Erzyads of Nizhny Novgorod and Simbirsk provinces tell of the creation of man somewhat differently. It was not Cham-Pas but Shaitan who took it into his head to create man. For that he gathered clay, sand and earth from the seventy-seven quarters of the world and moulded from them the body of a man. But, having made the body, he could by no means bring it to a comely appearance: now he would mould it like a pig, now like a dog, now like some reptile, whereas Shaitan wanted to create it in the image and likeness of God.
And Shaitan called the bat and said to it: "Fly you to heaven; there a towel hangs at Cham-Pas's; when he goes to the bathhouse he wipes himself with that towel; it hangs on a little peg; get you into one end of the towel, build a nest, hatch young, so that one end of that towel becomes heavier and falls down to me on the earth." The bat obeyed Shaitan, built a nest in the end of Cham-Pas's towel, bred young mice, and from their weight the towel fell to the earth. Shaitan at once caught it up, wiped with it the man he had moulded, and the man received the image and likeness of God.
After that Shaitan set about bringing the man to life, but could by no means put a living soul into him. He struggled and struggled and was already about to destroy his creation, but Cham-Pas said: "Be off with you, accursed Shaitan, into the fiery abyss; I shall create man without you." And Shaitan answered: "Let me at least stand by while you put a living soul into him; after all, I worked at him, and something of the man ought to be given to my share, otherwise, as you please, brother Cham-Pas, it will be a hurt to me and no honour to you." Cham-Pas and Shaitan argued and argued, and at last Cham-Pas grew weary of it. "Listen, Shaitan," he said, "let us divide the man: the image and likeness are from my towel, and the soul is mine, because I breathed it in, but the body shall be yours." Shaitan argued and argued, but had to agree, because Cham-Pas is beyond comparison stronger than he.
Hence, when a man dies, the soul with the image and likeness of God goes to the heavens to Cham-Pas, while the body, losing the soul, loses also the likeness of God, rots, falls apart and goes into the earth as Shaitan's prey. And the bat Cham-Pas punished for obeying Shaitan, for flying to heaven and building a nest in God's towel. For that Cham-Pas took away its wings and set on it a bare tail, such as Shaitan has, and gave it such paws as his.
When people multiplied, and this followed very soon after the creation of the world, then Cham-Pas divided them into nations and gave each nation its own language and its own faith. People believe in one and the same God, but differently from one another. The Mordva say: as in the forest every tree has its own particular leaf and its own particular colour, so every nation has its own faith and its own language. All faiths are pleasing to God, because they were given by him himself, and therefore to pass from one to another is a sin. In all there are on earth seventy-seven faiths and seventy-seven languages.
It is remarkable that some of these tales about the creation of the world by God and about the opposition of the evil spirit to him, existing among other Finnic tribes - for example among the Cheremis, the Chuvash, the Votyaks and so on - are preserved also among the Russian people, passing from generation to generation not only by word of mouth but also by means of manuscripts. Such tales cannot be regarded otherwise than as remnants of the beliefs of the Russian people from the times of paganism. Who borrowed these beliefs from whom, the Slavs from the Finns or the Finns from the Slavs, is hard to decide, but it seems more correct to suppose that these beliefs were common to both neighbouring tribes, the Slavic and the Finnic, or Chud, as were also certain religious rites, of which we shall speak in its proper place.
The Mordva have a tale of the fall of man as well, in its general features similar to the Chuvash one and, what is most remarkable of all, coinciding in some measure with the Christian beliefs about the death of the Saviour. Here is the Mordvin tale. The first people were in a blessed state. They had cattle in multitude, the earth required no manuring at all, and the harvests were a thousandfold; on every tree in the forest there were hives with bees. All the people were rich, and property was equal for all. Cham-Pas sent to them, to rule them, Nishki-Pas, whom he called his son (Iniche-Pas), and he lived on earth in the form of a man and helped people in everything.
As soon as any of the people fell ill, Nishki-Pas at once cured that man; whether rain was needed or fair weather - as soon as the people asked Nishki-Pas, he at once did everything. And there were among people neither quarrels nor enmity; all this was averted by Nishki-Pas, who went from one village to another and taught people goodness. But Shaitan, out of his malice, appeared to one old man and, giving him a branch of a plant unknown till then, said: "Plant this branch in the ground and set tall poles around it, only do not tell Nishki-Pas of it." The old man obeyed, planted the branch, and hops grew.
Then Shaitan appeared to the old man again and taught him to make beer and mead, and also to distil spirits from flour. From this drunkenness arose; drunken people began to be at enmity with one another, and quarrels, fights and even murders began. In vain did Nishki-Pas exhort people to stop drinking beer, mead and wine; they ceased to obey him, began to mock at him, to spit upon him, to beat him and to drive him from village to village. Instead of Nishki-Pas the people took it into their heads to choose a chief over themselves from among their own number, but here quarrels, fights and murders arose, because everyone wanted to be chief and no one wanted to submit to another.
Nishki-Pas exhorted them in vain. Shaitan, appearing on earth in the form of a man, began to say to the people: "Why do you endure Nishki-Pas among you? He has assured you that he is the son of God, but he lies; he is a man like all the rest, only a man who is not good: he does not allow you to make merry, to drink beer and wine, to have many mistresses, and he wants to rule over all people." Incited by Shaitan, the people seized Nishki-Pas, beat him, tormented him and at last killed him outright. As soon as they had killed him, they saw that he had indeed been the son of Cham-Pas, for the dead Nishki-Pas rose and ascended into heaven, saying to his murderers: "You did not wish to live with me in goodness; now without me it will be worse for you." And as soon as he had said these words, at once the sun began to shine and to warm seven times less, the winter became seven times more severe, the earth began to require manuring and hard labour, and even then gave but small harvests, and at times ceased to bear grain at all; the cattle almost all perished, only a very few remained. Then, in order to keep order among people and to settle their disputes, Cham-Pas appointed over the nations tsars, princes, judges and other chiefs, and gave them such power over people that for bad deeds they put them in prison, order them beaten with the knout and with lashes, and for very great offences even punish them with death.
As a result of the Mordvins drawing closer to Christians, Christianity had a great influence on the Mordvin faith even in very ancient times. The pagans began to recognise some of the Christian saints. Thus Nicholas the Wonderworker, especially revered by the Russian people, long ago became an object of veneration not only among the Mordvins and other non-Russian peoples of the Finnic stock: the Chunaga, Cheremis, Votyaks, Samoyeds and so forth, but also among peoples of the Tatar stock. He is respected even by the Mohammedans. Among the Erzyads and the Teryukhans he even appeared among the Pases and is called Nikola-Pas. It is known that the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of Nicholas the Wonderworker on 9 May and 6 December.
On these very days the Mordvins too celebrate Nikola-Pas, performing special sacrifices. They identify Nicholas the Wonderworker with two of their own ancient Pases: in spring with Mastyr-Pas, the god who gives the earth the power of vegetation, and in winter with Nazar-Pas, the god of winter, night and the moon. There are many such identifications of Mordvin deities with Orthodox saints. The beginning of such identifications goes back to olden times. Here are the identifications known to us; we set them out in calendar order. On 1 January the Orthodox Church celebrates Basil the Great, who among the people is considered the patron of pigs; in northern and eastern Russia the custom is preserved of praying on this day to one's own god of pigs, Taun-ozais, and he is even called Vasily (Velki-Vasyay) in the prayers.
On 28 January, the day of Ephrem the Syrian, and also on 1 November, the day of Cosmas and Damian, in the villages there is a custom of "feeding the house spirit". Porridge is left for him on the ledge of the stove — a custom remaining, of course, from pagan times; on these same days the Mordvins too pray and offer a sacrifice in their homes: in January to Yurtova-ozais, and in November to Kardas-Syarko-ozais, the gods of the farmstead and the house. The Erzyads, when praying to the latter, also invoke Kuzma-Damian. On this day a hen is sacrificed to the deity of houses — a custom recalling the popular belief that on Kuzma-Damian's day the hens have their name day, and a roast hen must be on the table.
On 3 April, the day of Nikita the Confessor, fishermen sometimes drown someone else's horse to regale the water spirit; at this same time the Mordvins too pray to the god of fishing Ak-Shakal-ozais and likewise offer him a sacrifice, drowning a horse in a river or a lake. On 17 April, or on the nearest Friday, the Mordvins pray to Nishkinde-Tevtyar, the goddess of beekeeping. On this same day the Orthodox pray to St Zosima, the patron of bees. St George the Victorious (23 April) is identified by the Mordvins with Svet-Vereshki-Velen-Pas, the god of the earth and of grasses. In Nizhny Novgorod Governorate the Teryukhans prayed to him on the day after the spring feast of St Nicholas and called him "the father of Nikola-Pas".
Thus on 9 May they prayed to the god of water, and on the 10th to the god of the earth. It is remarkable that by our own popular beliefs too, on 10 May, on the day of Simon the Zealot, the earth has its name day. On the day of the prophet Jeremiah (1 May), whom the Russian people consider the patron of agricultural implements and call Yeremey the Harnesser, the Mordvins pray to Keret-ozais, the god of agricultural implements. On St John's Day (24 June) the Mordvins hold a great festival for Nishki-Pas, the god of the sky, the sun, light and warmth, whom they identify now with John the Forerunner, now with the Saviour.
On the day of the prophet Elijah (20 July) they pray to Purgine-Pas, the god of thunder, and identify him with the prophet, to whom the Orthodox folk ascribe command over thunder and lightning. The Mordvins identify their gods of horse breeding, Angar-ozais and Lishman-ozais, with Sts Florus and Laurus (18 August) and on the day of their memory perform prayers for their horses; only men take part in this prayer, women are not admitted: a custom that exists among the Russians too at the horse festival. On 15 September, on Nikita's day, in Russian villages the water spirit is placated by tearing the head off a goose and throwing it into the water; among the Mordvins on this day, or on the nearest Friday, the same rite of offering a sacrifice to Ved-Mastyr-Pas, the god of water, was performed.
This god is identified with St Nikita, who in Russian villages is usually called the gooseman and the goose-cutter. 29 October is the shepherds' festival; on this day prayers for the sheep are offered to St Anastasia, who is therefore called the "sheep woman". The Mordvins, identifying this saint with their own goddess Rev-ozais, the protectress of sheep, pray to her on that very same day, 29 October, or on the nearest Friday. 8 November is the day of Michael the Archangel; on this same day the Teryukhans and the Erzyads hold a great festival for Voltsy-Pas, the god of the hunting of wild animals; this god they identified with Michael the Archangel.
On the day of the Nativity of Christ the Mordvins performed a prayer to Ange-Patyay (another service to her falls on the Friday before Trinity Sunday), whom they identified with the Most Holy Virgin, and to Nishki-Pas, otherwise Iniche-Pas (word for word, son of God) On the following day they celebrated the same goddess as the protectress of children and of women in childbirth. Those Mordvins who had accepted Christianity identified Ange-Patyay with Baba Salomeya, an apocryphal figure said to have attended the Most Holy Virgin at the birth of the Saviour. Prayers at the cemeteries for deceased ancestors were performed on the same days as those established by the Orthodox Church for the commemoration of the departed, that is, on the Friday (among the baptised, on the Saturday) before Shrovetide and in St Thomas's week (Radunitsa), and in addition on 1 September and 1 October.
Just as the Slavs, having accepted Christianity, attached their thunderer Perun to the prophet Elijah, and Volos, the god of cattle, to St Blaise, and so on, so exactly did the Mordvins attach their deities to the Christian saints even before they accepted the Christian faith. Cham-Pas himself, their supreme god, the Mordvins identified with the Lord Sabaoth, and in prayers to him called him: "Holy Lord Savagof".
Among the Mokshans too their ancient deities are identified with the Christian God and the saints. Thus Shkay is identified with the Lord Sabaoth, the Saviour with Soltan, Azarava with the Mother of God, Kudazarava with Christmas Eve (5 January), which they revere as a holy person, Banyazarava with Maundy Thursday, likewise revered by them as a holy person; Avynazarava the Mokshans identified with the apostle Thomas and celebrate her on St Thomas's Sunday. As for the remaining Mokshan deities, we have no information with which saints they identify them. But Nicholas the Wonderworker is a special god among the Mokshans as well, Nikolazarava, who is celebrated on 6 December and who is considered not a god but a goddess.
P.I. Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky. Essays on the Mordvins. First published: Russky Vestnik. 1867. Nos. 6, 9, 10.