Throughout the Russian North and even further - in Manchuria and China - legends about a strange creature of unprecedented growth called the indrik-beast are widespread. It is supposedly the size of an elephant and is endowed with horns that serve as a digging device.
Descriptions of a giant mole named ting-shu or in-shu ("the mouse that hides") we find in ancient Chinese books. Despite the hyperbolic dimensions of the incredible beast, it should be admitted that folk art is by no means a baseless fantasy. Life and real observations gave the narrators quite reliable material for this legend.
As said, this creature lives in the earth. It digs passages and tunnels with a horn and thereby opens keys, cleans springs and fills lakes and rivers with water. And if the indrik-beast under the ground makes noise, "the whole Universe will shake."
True, this is not a predatory beast, but a completely peaceful giant: "he does not hurt anyone," apparently feeds on plants or what he finds underground.
There is other information about this monster. For example, in an ancient Chinese essay on animals, compiled in the 16th century, the authors mention a certain ting shu:
“He constantly keeps in caves, looks like a mouse, but reaches the size of a bull. It has no tail, and its color is dark. He is very strong and digs caves for himself in areas covered with rocks and forests."
Another old Chinese book supplements information about ting-shu with such curious details: the giant mole lives in the dark and uninhabited countries; his legs are short and he walks poorly. It digs the ground persistently and diligently, however, if it accidentally gets to the surface, it immediately dies at the sight of sunlight or moonlight.
And here is an extract from the Manchu Chronicle:
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“An animal called fan-shu is found only in cold countries, along the banks of the Tai-shuny-shana river and further to the North Sea. Fang Shu is similar to a mouse, but the size of an elephant. He is afraid of light and lives underground in dark caves. The bones are ivory-colored and easy to work with, there are no cracks. Its meat is cold and very nutritious."
According to official science, most mammoths became extinct about 10 thousand years ago. But on Wrangel Island, a dwarf species of mammoths lived 3.5 thousand years ago. And if you believe the testimony of individual eyewitnesses, then in Siberia mammoths were met several hundred years ago. There is a legend that the soldiers of the legendary conqueror of Siberia, Ermak, saw "huge hairy elephants" in the taiga.
Eskimos from the shores of the Bering Strait call such a beast keel-knuk - whale kilu. The aglu sea monster, with whom he fought, threw him from the sea to the shore. Keelu-knuk fell to the ground with such force that he sank deep into the soil. There he lives to this day, moving from place to place with the help of his fangs, using them as shovels.
Travelers in Siberia recorded similar stories about a giant underground inhabitant among the Evenks, Yakuts, Mansi, Chukchi and other peoples of the North. All messages are very similar. An animal-burrower walks back and forth underground in the most severe winters.
They even saw how the animal, walking underground, unexpectedly approached the surface. Then he hurriedly throws the earth on himself, in a hurry to dig deeper. The earth, crumbling into the dug tunnel, forms a funnel.
In river cliffs, along the slopes of gorges, dead giant moles are sometimes found: here animals accidentally break out of the edge of the earth. They also perish, falling into sandy soil: the sands crumble and squeeze the diggers from all sides.
This beast can move its horns in all directions and even cross them like sabers. These horns, growing as if from the mouth, look like elephant tusks, they are sometimes considered teeth. Knife handles, scrapers, and various gizmos are made of them.
The horns of the underground giant are mined in the spring when the ice breaks. With a strong flood, the high-rise water erodes the banks, tearing off whole pieces from the mountains. Then, when the frozen soil thaws little by little, whole carcasses of these animals sometimes appear on the surface, and more often their heads with horns. The horns are broken out and sold to Chinese and Russian merchants.
Well, it is quite possible that in this case we are talking about the real mammoths, tusks and frozen carcasses of which are often found in Siberia. Apparently, the legendary giant mole Tin-Shu, and Fan-Shu, and the Indrik Beast, and the Finnish Mamut are one and the same creature.
The modern Russian name "mammoth" just comes from the old Russian word "mamut". The Russians borrowed it from the Finnish tribes inhabiting European Russia. In many Finnish dialects, “ma” means “earth”, and “mut” means “mole” in Finnish, that is, mamut is an earthen mole.
But what does he have to do with Indrik, and how did the latter get his strange name? At the end of the 19th century, Moscow University professor Sergei Usov devoted a long article to the study of this issue.
Having examined all possible options, he came to the conclusion that the word "indrik" and other names of this creature found in Russian legends - inrog, indrog, indra, kondyk - come from the Nenets name of the mammoth - "yengora".
This name, in turn, consists of two parts: "ya" - "earth"; "Mountain" - "leader, leader". "Yengora" is translated as "underground leader" or as "beast to all beasts".
Thus, with a high degree of probability, we can conclude that the legends widespread among the peoples of Siberia and the European North about a giant animal that clears its way underground with its horns are generated by the finds of mammoth bones. The corpses and tusks of mammoths always lie in the ground close to the surface.
Thousands of years ago, a belief was born that these creatures, similar to moles, live underground and die as soon as they appear in the sunlight. What innumerable herds of these "moles" "graze" in the depths of the earth, if mamut, accidentally falling into the light of day, die in Siberia in such numbers that hundreds of their "horns" are mined there every year!
It is curious that an animal named "Indrik" is also present in Russian mythology. It is mentioned in epics, a verse about the Pigeon Book and other book sources. In Russian folklore, the indrik-beast is an analogue of a unicorn and is described as a terrible invincible creature, the lord of the animal kingdom, all the power of which is contained in its horn. Sometimes lightning is meant by the blow of his horn.
In different lists of the Pigeon Book verse, you can find different images of the indrik, but in all of them he is called "the father of all animals."
“He walks through the underground, misses rivers and wells, or lives on Mount Tabor; when he turns, all the beasts worship him. Or he lives on the Holy Mountain, eats and drinks from the Blue Sea, does not hurt anyone. Or he walks with a horn through the dungeon, like the Sun through the skies."
Some scientists are sure that Indrik in ancient times was not a mammoth, but a woolly rhinoceros. After all, he really has one horn and his bones, like the bones of mammoths, were found in the ground in many.
Few have seen him, let alone alive, because it is known that he spends his whole life underground, skillfully paving his way with his only horn and underground waters. He acts as the master of the water element, sources and treasures, as well as the enemy of the snake.
From his miraculous hooves, all ravines, hollows and hollows on the earth originated, which were subsequently filled with water. Tundra lakes-bochagi are called traces of it.
In Russian fairy tales, the image of an indrik means a fantastic animal that the main character preys. In some fairy tales, he appears in the royal garden instead of the firebird and steals golden apples. The hero goes to the underworld in his footsteps. He finds an indrik, enters into battle with him and wins, after which the conquered creature becomes the hero's assistant.
Indrik appears on the surface only when he is about to die, bored with a long century (and his life span is 532 years). By the way, this beast reproduces very interestingly: when it grows old, it climbs out of the ground and discards its horn, from which a new indrik grows, as from a larva. The beast itself, according to this legend, having lost its strength, buries itself again in the ground and dies.
As early as the 17th century, healing properties were attributed to the indrik horn, and the confidence in this was so great that even Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, according to the court books of 1655, agreed to pay 10 thousand rubles for three such horns with “soft junk” (furs).