Kayra

Kayra or Kaira is the creator god in Turkic mythology. He is the god who planted the tree of life called Ulukayın. Kayra is described as both father and mother, and resides in the 17th layer of heaven.
Kayra is the supreme god of the pantheon and the son of the sky deity named Tengri. Kayra is occasionally identified with Kara Han, a son of Tengri, who left his father's home in heaven and went to live in the underworld.

Etymology

The name of this deity is found in several forms, as is that of his opponent. "Kayra-Khan" which may be translated as "merciful king", while the form "Kara Han" signifies "black king". Furthermore, the Turkish word kara can mean both black and land, with the result that Kara Han can mean not only 'Black Ruler' but also 'Ruler of the Land'.

God of creation

In the Altai myth of creation, Tengri Kayra Han is neither male nor female nor even human in form, but a pure-white goose that flies constantly over an endless expanse of water, the benign creator of all that is, including the other, lesser gods.
Among the Altai people a dualistic division is most clear, and the highest god is Tengre Kaira Khan, who is a good power. Before the goddess Ak Ana appears to urge Kara Han to create, it becomes anxious, and its creation occurs in a context of loneliness, turmoil and fear: The water becomes turbulent, but Kara Han reassures itself that it "need not fear".
Kara Han is a supreme being in the universe it created, the ruler of the three realms of air, water, and land. It is seated on the seventeenth level of the universe, from which it directs the fate of its creation. Kara Han has three sons: Ulgan, Mergen, and Kyzaghan. After creating the universe Kara Han planted the nine-boughed tree of life, from the branches of which came the ancestors of humans – the nine races emerged from the tree.
A Tuvinian / Soyoth legend, goes as follows: