Nikolai Ivanovich Bryukhanov was a graphic artist and book illustrator. He was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Bryukhanov was born in 1918 in the city of Vyshny Volochyok. He served in the Soviet army from 1938 to 1948, participating in the Great Patriotic War. He enrolled in the Graphics Department of the Ilya Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, graduating in 1958. That year, he began working in Karelia, primarily, in book illustration. In 1967, he designed a commemorative edition of the “Kalevala” with illustrations by Tamara Yufa.

Ahti is a deity and guardian of water in Karelian and Finnish mythology. It is also the name of a character identified with Lemminkainen. In his epic poem “Kalevala”, Elias Lönnrot created several main heroes based on a number of similar mythological characters in order to build a coherent narrative. One of these characters is Ahti — he became Lemminkainen in the epic. The story of Ahti revolves around a man who, driven by his desire for fighting, leaves his young wife and embarks on an adventure with his friend Tiera.

In the epic poem, the author constructed the image of a mother whose dedication and strength of spirit save her son from the realm of the dead. When she sees drops of blood on a comb left behind by her son prior to his journey, the mother of Lemminkainen sets out in search of him.

In both folk rune poetry and the epic poem, this character does not have a name. Such an omission carries a certain symbolic significance: she represents a mother who would do anything for her child. During her long journey, she seeks guidance from nature, the world around her, asking Trees, Roads, and the Moon for direction. Despite receiving no response, she continues onward. Eventually, the sun reveals to the mother that her boy has passed away and lies at the bottom of the river Tuonela.

Having traveled a great distance, she arrives at the river Tuonela and discovers her son’s lifeless body. In order to revive him, the mother of Lemminkainen turns to another mother — Ilmatar, goddess of the air and mother of the first man, Wainamoinen. She asks for her assistance.

Lönnrot’s epic poem makes a clear comparison between two mothers — Aino’s mother and Ahti’s mother. The former becomes one of the reasons for her daughter’s death, whereas the latter is able to locate and revive her son.