Ajysyt

Ajysyt is the name of the Mother goddess of the Turkic Yakut people from the Lena River region of Siberia. The literal meaning is "Birthgiver". Her full name is given as Ajysyt-ijaksit-khotan, meaning "Birthgiving nourishing mother".

Ajysyt was responsible for conducting the soul of a newborn child to its birth and attended every birth. She kept a golden book in which she recorded each one. She is said to have lived in a mountain, from which she controlled the fate of the world.

In legend she appeared to a white youth out of the roots of the Cosmic Tree (or world pillar of Yryn-al-tojon) which itself stood beside a lake of milk. By suckling the youth from her breasts she caused his strength to increase a hundredfold.

References

* [http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/ajysyt.php Brooklyn Museum] Dinner Party database entry. Accessed May 2007.

*"Ajysyt." A Dictionary of World Mythology. Oxford University Press, 1979, 1986, 2003. Answers.com 11 May. 2007. [http://www.answers.com/topic/ajysyt#copyright At Answers.com]
* [http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/ajysyt.html Encyclopedia Mythica] Ajysytby Dr Anthony E. Smith. Accessed May 2007