The Soul and its Characteristics According to Teleuts’ Belief

Abstract

Most of the Teleuts have Kamlık (Shamanism) belief and according to their belief, human soul has seven characteristics. These are kut, yula, tın, uzut, sune, sur and yel-salkın. Kut has two meanings. The first one is the embryo which is the beginning of the human being and the second is the power that supports the existence of humans. The Teleuts explain having a new born as the arrival of "kut" while they explain not having newborns as not having "kut". The Teleuts define the image, portrait and photographs as "sur". Human and cattle have this kind of "sur". The "sur" of cattel leaves animal body during the death and moves into afterlife. Uzut is the existence after death that belongs only one person. After the death an "uzut" lives up to 40 days. And sometimes it visits home and makes other feel its existence. Sune is the soul of human being and leaves the body during death stays at home until the burial. Thanks to the existence of "sune", the death body tries to understand the surrounding activities. The basic function in here is to witness the suffering of relatives and hear their good words for the death. Good person turns into "yel-salkın" which is a creature like the air and lives in Kundus-Kan's world in afterlife. The afterlife of good humans is similar to the life on earth. This is their heaven. The religion of Teleuts is closely related to the kindred shaman and female shaman names and every tribe accepts their kindred relatives as their ancestors.