Kayra Han

Etymology
Kayra Han, the name of this deity, is found in several forms, as is that of his opponent. "Kayra-Khan" may be translated as "merciful king"

God of Creation
In ancient Turkic belief, Tangri (God) Kara Han is neither male nor female nor even human in form, but a pure-white goose that flies constantly over an endless expanse of water (time), the benign creator of all that is, including the other, lesser gods. Among all Altaic Tartars the dualistic division is most clear (Ulgen and Erlik), and the highest god, Tengre Kaira Khan, is a good power. But before Ak Ana appears to urge it to create,Kara-han becomes anxious, creation occurring in a context of loneliness, turmoil and fear : the water becomes turbulent, but it reassures itself that it "need not fear" (the implication of such self-reassurance being that it is indeed afraid). Supreme being in the universe it created, Kara-han is the ruler of the three realms of air, water and land, seated on the seventeenth level of the universe, from which it determines the fate of its creation. After creating the universe it planted the nine-boughed tree of life, from the branches of which came the ancestors of humans. Thus emerged the nine races (nine clans). It has three sons: Ulgan, Mergen and Kyzaghan