Kayra

In Turkic/Altai accounts Kayra is the benign creator who orders the cosmos. In an Altai creation account Kayra (also rendered Kara Han) exists before the world, flying as a pure-white goose over an endless expanse of primordial water (time) and then brings ordered being into existence. After creating the universe Kayra plants the nine-boughed tree of life (Ulukayın/Ulukayin) from whose branches the human ancestor-lines (the nine clans or nine races) emerge. In some genealogical schemas Kayra is placed within a pantheon related to the sky-deity Tengri and is described as parent to other divine figures (for example three sons named Ulgan/Ulgen, Mergen, and Kyzaghan in one account).

In the attested Altai account Kayra is described as neither male nor female nor human in form but as a pure-white goose that flies constantly over primordial water; this avian image emphasizes a liminal, non-anthropomorphic creator. Kayra is also described in sources as 'both father and mother', indicating a non-binary parental aspect. The lexical variant Kara Han (Kara = black/land) appears in traditions as a name-form with different semantic resonances but the explicit physical depiction given in the provided materials is the white goose.

Kayra is credited with cosmic creation: bringing the ordered world into being, creating lesser gods, and planting the tree of life (Ulukayın) that produces human ancestor-lines (nine clans). Kayra is described as seated on the seventeenth layer of heaven and, from that high place, directing the fate of creation; one tradition describes Kayra as ruler of the three realms (air, water, and land). In one Altai account Kayra experiences anxiety prior to creation and then reassures itself during the act of ordering the world. In a local Tuvinian / Soyoth legend Kayra (Kaira Khan) also functions as a culture-bringer, teaching people crafts such as how to make arak (anise drink).