Hittite and Hurrian nursery and midwifery goddesses

These beings appear in Hittite and Hurrian mythic-literary contexts only as plural collectives. In Hittite material the Tarawa are named as the collective of midwifery goddesses and are said to have helped to create the first king of gods. In Hurrian tradition two collectives appear in the Song of Ullikummi: the Hutellurra (midwifery goddesses) and the Irsirra (nursery goddesses). In that narrative the Irsirra secretly place the child Ullikummi on the shoulder of the world‑bearing giant Ubelluri. The attestations emphasize collective, not individual, identity and connect these groups to acts tied to origins and the placement of significant mythic children.

No surviving descriptions of individual appearance or consistent iconography are supplied in the cited sources. The attestations treat Tarawa, Hutellurra, and Irsirra as collectives with functional roles (midwives/nursery attendants) and do not provide morphological, dress, or iconographic detail for members of these groups.

The sources attribute midwifery and nursery functions to these collectives: they act as midwives and nursery attendants involved in birth and the care or placement of infants. Mythic narratives record concrete deeds: the Tarawa are said to have helped create the first king of gods, while the Hutellurra and Irsirra in the Song of Ullikummi take an active role in the secret placement of the child Ullikummi onto Ubelluri, the giant who carries the world. Beyond these literary actions, the supplied sources do not claim additional powers, cultic functions, or direct interactions with named human individuals.