Inmarism

The Udmurts, a Permic people of what is now Udmurtia in Russia, had as their oldest god Inmar, the god of the sky, inherited from the time when the Finno-Ugric peoples were still one. Prayers began by calling on Inmar, Kyldysin and Kuazh; scholars still argue whether these were separate gods or names of a single one.

The Udmurts also honoured many lesser spirits, such as Vumurt of the water and Nyulesmurt of the forest. Each clan had its own first ancestor and protector, the vorshud.

In 1557 Ivan the Terrible granted privileges to baptised Udmurt families. Forced conversion began in earnest only in the middle of the eighteenth century, when churches and schools were built and sacred groves and prayer places were destroyed.