Asena |
|
Asena is the name of a female wolf in Turkic mythology. It is associated with a Göktürk ethnogenic myth "full of shamanic symbolism".
The legend runs as follows. After a battle, only an injured young boy
survives. A she-wolf with a sky-blue mane named Asena finds the injured
child and nursed him back to health. He subsequently impregnates the
wolf which then gives birth to ten half-wolf, half-human boys. Of
these, Ashina becomes their leader and founder of the Ashina clan that
ruled the Göktürks and other Turkic nomadic empires.The legend has
parallels with folktales of other Turkic peoples, for instance, the
Wusun and Kazakhs. |