DIYU

DIYU, deyeu is an evil demon in Bashkir mythology that looks like a many­headed giant. Its origin is connected with the Iranian devs. The  character  appears  in  the  epics,  such  as “Ural-batyr”,  “Akbuzat”,  “Zayatulyak  and Khyukhylu” and fairytales, such as “Girl, yeget, dev”, “Old man and dev” etc. Usually it is male, less often female. The kingdom of D. is over Kaf-tau, in the sky, underground or underwater (see Azraka). Usually it is rich. It can turn into a storm, an old woman, a needle etc. It gorges on people or keeps them captured, steals cattle, kidnaps girls and forces them to marry him. D. strength depends on the amount of its heads, it can have 3, 6, 9 or 12 heads. Only batyr is able to destroy the demon severing his heads. The soul (life) of the D. can be outside his body, for example, in a pigeon hidden in a chest that is inside a mare etc. Some other characters, such as azhdakha, pyariy, shurale, yalmauz have features common for D. The character is com­mon for mythology of many peoples.

R.A. Sultangareyeva