The Ideology Of The Ninth And Tenth Centuries 123
who raises the hero, legitimizes the ruler’s power (as given from the sky), as
well as the power of the dynasty.500 This motif is preserved in Bulgarian folk-
lore in the tale of two brothers (Igril and Bogril) who pursue a stag that turns
into a pretty girl. One of the brothers stays with her while the other one goes
back. In a Bulgarian song the hero hunts two hinds which turn into maidens.501
The Bulgarian Apocryphal Chronicle mentions that king Ispor was carried three
years in a cow. According to ancient beliefs, during migrations the cow played
a role similar to that of the doe.502 In R. Rashev’s opinion, “Asparukh is born
by the Cow-Goddess in order to obtain legitimacy for his functions as ruler”.503
This motif can be found several times in the Nart epos. The Ossetian hero
Hamiz pursues a white rabbit that turns out to be the daughter of a water deity,
after whish he marries her. During the wedding games Satána turns into a fox.
The main hero of the Ossetian epos Soslan pursues a deer that is an incarna-
tion of the goddess Atsirukhs (Divine Light), whom he later marries.504 Soslan
and Atsirukhs are associated with solar nature. In Alano-Ossetian mythology
Soslan (an analogy of the Scythian Colaxais) is a great demigod and culture
hero who is endowed with sacred gifts from the sky, possesses the striking fea-
tures of a deity of the dying and resurrecting nature, is a giver of rain, etc. And
if Soslan is an analogy of Colaxais, then Atsirukhs should be the equivalent of
Tabiti.505
Similar notions also exist among the Turkic-speaking peoples of Middle
Asia. Oghuz Khagan was conceived by a ray of light that “illuminated the eyes
of Ay Khagan”. A maiden that was within the ray of light gave birth to his sons.
The Salar-Karamanians, a Turkmen tribe that migrated from Samarkand to
China in the fourteenth century, had a legend of three brothers who met three
doves. When they burned their feathers, the doves turned into women. One
was called Gun Ana (Sun Mother), the second was Ay Ana (Moon Mother), and
the third was Yutlus Ana (Star Mother). According to Kh. Korogly, the image of
Ay Ana is associated with that of Ay Khagan, the mother of Oghuz (as a celes-
tial woman and Moon queen).506
500 Iordanov 1995, 34–35 and 1996a, 24; Stepanov 1999b, 64 and 1999a, 52; Juhas 1985, 405, 421,
424, and 426; Mollov 1997, 35 also sees the doe as a reincarnation of the Great Goddess.
501 Juhas 1985, 388–389 and 434–435.
502 Iordanov 1996a, 25 and 33.
503 Rashev 2008, 318; one of the oldest images of the Great Goddess is a cow (dating from the
Neolithic era) which is associated with the image of the male deity as a bull. In Rigveda
the goddess Aditi, mother of Mithra, Varuna and Indra, is a cow (Campbell 2004, 47–49
and 75).
504 Raevskii 1985, 62; Iatsenko 2000, 98–99; Pletneva 1998.
505 Iatsenko 2000, 101–102.
506 Korogly 1976, 39, 42–43, and 102.