For the last 3 years I have been admiring the work of the Buryat artist Zorikto Dorzhiev and one of his works inspired me very much. The image of a woman with horns, it seemed very mythological to me and attracted special interest.
Who is she and what’s her story? I found the answers to these questions s in the book of Z. Naurzbaeva “The eternal sky of the Kazakhs”. Instead of interpreting the book, I’ll just post the passage from the context here (translated in English):
“Koybas-ana is the younger sister of Korkut. If Korkut was portrayed with lamb horns on his head, Koibas-ana appeared as a woman with a sheep's head or a woman with small sheep’s horns. A horned god or goddess has been known since the Stone Age; images of a woman (goddess) with horns were found even during the Okunev culture. In many traditions of Eurasia, including among the Türks, horns symbolize sunlight (or the moon, symbolism depends on the shape of deer, bull or sheep’s horns), strength, glory, wisdom, etc. In Kazakh folklore, the expression “múIizi shyqty” (grown horns) is used in that sense.”
