The Kalmyk word for life or soul is amn’. Amnya dolig refers to two different rituals. Ritual One. It is performed when one wants to grant life to a living being which is doomed to death. These include fish, birds (chicken or cocks) or sheep. For example, one can release seven fish into the water, or a chicken or a sheep into the steppe while saying ‘If it is to be that of gods let it be so; if it is to be that of a human being let it be so; if it is to be that of a wolf let it be so; I am granting life (to this living being)’. To mark that they are part of an amnya dolig ritual, the chicken or the sheep should have their neck bandaged with a white or yellow strip of cloth. Ritual Two. It is performed when one falls ill, feels lifeless, or when a woman cannot get pregnant. A sheep is killed and its head is offered to the god of longevity, Ayush Gegyan. The person who performs this ritual buys his/her own life in exchange for that of a sheep. This ritual is very old and was done by the ancestors of the Kalmyks before they adopted Buddhism. In its modern form it has incorporated some Buddhist elements.