Slavic civilization is almost Vedic Civilization

Originally published in Hare Krishna Centre - Leicester, UK (prasadam.co.uk)

The Serbs once covered large parts of Europe, into the British isles and also throughout Russia and beyond. Like the rest of the world before the appearance of semitic religions, the Serbs worshipped a variety of Gods. As well as a Supreme source from which everything comes, like the Vedas, the Serbian people recognised a cosmic administration within this universe, powerful beings, gods with a small g, whose sincere worship could bestow elevation and earthly benedictions. In the Vedas we have Indra, the God of thunder, the administrator in charge of the higher planetary system known as heaven. The Serbs worshipped Yndra, the supreme God of thunder who battles to defend his heavenly realm known as Svarga Log. These two personalities, Indra and Yndra, are obviously one and the same and the Serbian Svarga Log is simply the Vedic Svarga Loka, the heavenly abode of Lord Indra.

The Serbians inherited from Vedic culture the concept of a three tiered universe, heaven, earth and the underworld. The Trimurti of the Vedas is also there in the form of the creator, the maintainer and the destroyer. In Slovenia the pre-eminent symbol of the nation is Mount Triglav, a mountain possessing three peaks and named in honour of the Serbian God Triglav. Triglav means three heads and similar to the Vedic Trimurti it depicts the three Gods of creation, maintenance and destruction. The names of these Serbian Gods are Visnji, Ziva and Brajanj. Compare this with Visnu, Siva and Brahma, the Trimurti of the Vedas and we can conclude that both these cultures are intimately related. We also have Mount Troglav which is the highest peak of the Dinara mountain range and once again named in honour of the Slavik/Serbian God Triglav. Throughout the rich Slavik/Serbian culture, the folk songs, ceremonial prayers and the book of Veles, Triglav is frequently mentioned and in one verse it says the following " May our cattle be healthy, all the cows and sheep. All the kids, the lambs and the great big horses which carry our heroes. Dear soldiers of the God Triglav, Triglav the holy trinity, Visnji the creator, strong Ziva the destroyer and Branjanj the protector ".

In Poland, in the capital city of Stettin, which is now named Szczecin, there was once three hills, of which one was dedicated to the three headed deity of Triglav. Triglav was its chief deity, its three heads were made of gold, its lips and eyes covered by a golden veil. Triglav, as declared by the priests, ruled over earth, heaven and hell. Eventually these deities were destroyed, their golden heads chopped off and sent to Rome as evidence that the Plobabian Serbs had converted to the "peace loving" Christians.

This same Serbian tradition from where these folk songs and culture came, declare that Triglav lives in India and India was once the home of the Serbs. The following is taken from an old Serbian folksong called the children of India. "From your tree a branch are we. We are too children of Hindustan, you do not know of Serbs, we know of you. We think of you, sing of you from Himalaya to Hindukush, with you is our heart and soul ".

As well as a pantheon of deities which very much resemble the Devas of the Vedas, the Slavik language of the Serbian people are full of Sanskrit words. Below are a few examples.

Svetovid is the Serbian God of war, his name has two Sanskrit words, Sveta and Vid. Sveta is Sanskrit for bright, white, and Vid means to see. Svetovid has white hair, white beard, white clothes, white horse, his image very much reflects this Sanskrit Sveta, meaning white. The Sanskrit Vid, meaning "one who sees" or "one who knows" is certainly reflective of the all knowing, all seeing four heads of Svetovid. In Croatia on the island of Brac, the highest peak is called the Vids mountain named in honour of Svetovid, and among the Dinaric alps is a peak known as Suvid. Su is Sanskrit for great, just as we have Su-meru meaning great mountain, and Vid is Sanskrit for observing, seeing, knowing. Suvid is the name for Svetovid, the all knowing, all seeing four headed God of Serbian folklore, whose name happens to be made up of words from the Sanskrit language.

Dazbog is one of the major Serbian Gods, at one time he was worshipped in all the Slavik nations. His name has two Sanskrit words, Da which is Sanskrit for giving and Bog which is ultimately from Sanskrit Bhaga meaning God - the giving God. The father of Dazbog is Svarog, the God of celestial fire. In Sanskrit Svar means heaven, Sun. Svarog creates the blue Svarga, a heavenly realm similar to the Svarga Loka of the Vedas. Svarog is very much assosciated with fire, as is Dazbog, which leads one to consider the ancient Serbs as fire worshippers, espescially when one considers their intimate relationship with the fire worshipping Zoroastrians of Persia. Mater Sva is a solar Goddess, the mother of Svarog and the mother of heaven. Mater is from the Sanskrit Matr meaning mother and Sva is from the Sanskrit Svar meaning Sun or heaven - mother of heaven.

 Ognebog is the Serbian God of fire which is simply Agni, the Vedic God of fire. Baba Yoga was a great Slavik/Serbian personality, known also as Baba Yaga and Mother Yogini. Baba was a mystic yogini who sheltered homeless children in the forest and taught them the sacred lore. The Christians with their customary generosity turned Baba Yoga into a witch who eats children. Many of the Serbian/Slavik Gods have names which are derived from Sanskrit, Devana, Vanapagan, Domovoy, Stribog, Samodiva, Pater Diy, Svantovich, Dolya, Nedolya, Jiva, Maya, Makosh, Morana, Koliada, Rusalka, all part of Serbian folklore and all names which are related to Sanskrit/Vedic culture. Below are more examples of the similarities between Sanskrit and Serbian language.

Throughout Serbia we find many place names which seem to reflect Vedic/Sanskrit culture. One of the most striking examples are the villages Mala Krsna and Velika Krsna. Mala in Serbian language means little as in little Krsna and Velika means great as in great Krsna. Both names are appropriate for Krsna and it comes as no surprise that there is no translation for the name Krsna within the Serbian language, its simply Krsna, a name for which they have no definition.

Other names are Savamala, Siva Stena, Visnjika, Visnjevac, Kalanic, Rajac, Trnava, Medurec, Santaravac, Mataruge, Mataruska banja, Ravanica, Desimirovac, Pusta Tusimlja, Rajetice, Rajkovice, Budisava, Salajka, Rajkovac, Rvati, Pancevacki, Calije, Raka, Lokanj, Pancevo, Margus, Kula, Mandelos, Varna, Desic, Sevarice, Krsanje, Balinovic, Ravnje, Sitarice, Duga Luka, Rataje, Ecka, Indija. There are many, many names like this throughout Serbia which are not out of place with the Sanskrit language. Many of these names can be explained simply within its present culture, for instance Siva in the Serbian language means grey and Sita means "screeners" for some reason. How much of this is its authentic meaning or how much has evolved or been manipulated who knows, but even with Siva its easy to see a connection between the Serbian translation of "grey" and Siva who covers himself with ashes. On their own these names, apart from Krsna, are probably not worth taking serious, however, in light of the Serbian deities which are reflections of the Devas, their language which reflects Sanskrit, and the philosophy which reflects the Vedas, they are most certainly worth taking seriously, and in the future we may be able to shed more light on them. Below are more examples of the similarities between both languages and also the numerical system.

Institute for Vedic Culture named Gopuram has reportedly been launched in Slovenia to conserve the Vedic heritage and spread it in Slovenia and other countries.

 Launched by sister-brother team of Emilija Kercan and Vojko Kercan in capital and largest city Ljubljana, this non-profit venture aims to raise awareness about Vedic culture and its universal message and recitation of Vedas through seminars, workshops, conferences, lectures, etc.

Gopuram is launching a course on “Learn and recite the Vedas”. It has already organized a Veda chanting workshop in Ljubljana.

References:

1. Sanskrit And The Serbian Slavs | Awakening Times