ABSTRACT
The theme of descent to the underworld or, at least, of encounters with images that belong to the world beyond this one is closely connected with that of the ascent to heaven. This theme is frequently found in initiation processes, shamanic rituals, and myths. The Altaic shaman’s voyage to the underworld offers a good example, as Eliade relates:
The ‘black’ shaman begins his journey from his own yurt. [Leaving this tent, he then wanders a great deal.] . . . Finally, he reaches the Mountain of Iron, Temir taixa, whose peaks touch the sky. It is a dangerous climb; the shaman mimes a difficult ascent, and breathes deeply . . . Once he is across the mountain, another ride takes the shaman to a hole that is the entrance to the other world, yer mesi, the ‘jaws of the earth’, or yer tunigi, the ‘smoke hole of the earth’.
