Lezgin Paganism

Lezgin paganism is kept by the Lezgins of southern Dagestan and northern Azerbaijan. It begins in darkness, where the creator god made the sky and the earth and then the Red Bull Yaru Yats, on whose horns he set the world, standing on the Great Water.

The universe had three levels. The upper world had seven spheres, with the sun god Rag at the top; the middle world held men, animals and plants; and the underworld held the realm of the dead under the death god Ardav and, deepest, the evil gods led by Sed. A world tree and a rainbow bridge linked them.

Islam may have reached the Lezgins as early as the 700s, but they remained mostly animist until the 1400s, when Persian traders and the Golden Horde strengthened Muslim influence.