The View of the Cosmic and Soul of the Paleoasiatic People Nivh in the Far East

Abstract

In this paper, the cultural identity of the Nivh people is investigated through the analysis of the view of the cosmos and the soul. The Nivh are an indigenous people group in the lower Amur River and on the island of Sakhalin. For the Nivh people, the idea that the universe is a three-tiered world of upper world tli, middle mif, and lower mlibo, and each world is divided into multiple layers, is most widely spread. In particular, the relay is divided into three worlds: the world of the mountain-taiga, the world of the sea, and the world where the Nivh people live. In general, the concept of a middle ground developed among the Nivh people, but the idea of the upper and lower worlds was not very developed. However, in the Nivh concept, these worlds are independent but interpenetrating relationships, and each world influences the other world according to its rules and rules of conduct. At the root of the traditional beliefs of the Nivh people lies the animism that all things in the universe, including humans, have souls. According to the concept of the Nivh people, the human soul is in the form of a bird. During life, the bird's nature is hidden by the body, but after cremation, it is separated from the body and freed, regaining its original animal nature. The Nivh concept of the number of human souls is very unclear and fluid. The notion that the human soul has one tan or one tehn is universal, and tan and tehn originate from t'ad- (breathe, breathe/ nivh). The core of the Nivh view of the soul is immortality through reincarnation, and the birth of a child is due to the reincarnation of an ancestor spirit.