THE EVIL SPIRIT KAJK’ IN THE CONTEXT OF LOWER ARMENIAN MYTHOLOGY

In this study we have examined questions relating to evil spirits that ever existed in Armenian mythology, the characteristics transmitted to them, rituals, and the origins of their names. In different provinces of historical Armenia, prejudices and names related to evil spirits varied across different provinces of historical Armenia. This article discusses the evil spirits which were prevalent in the provinces of Syunik and Utik in historical Armenia. Notions of these creatures, rituals involving them and associated with them, and their names can still be found in various settlements of Syunik and Tavush today. It is likely that these beliefs penetrated into the Armenian Highlands as part of the Indo-European cultural heritage, which then became localized and transformed into a purely Armenian pre-Christian mythological and religious phenomenon. The presence of both Indo-European and purely Armenian linguistic elements connected to names like k’ashk and others as well as numerous ethnographic and folklore materials collected and studied during fieldwork, such as diseases caused by the kajks, folk remedies for treating them, ways to protect oneself from evil spirits, beliefs and philosophical understanding related to the existence and life of evil spirits in the world, serves as evidence for this.

کلیدواژه ها:

mythology ، lower mythology ، evil spirit ، Disease ، Belief ، etymology