70 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS RITES. 
into Razi (counsellors) and Zernetra (wizards). The Supreme Being was 
supposed to rule over both divisions and partake of the characteristics 
which distinguished each; but his influence on the visible world he only 
exercised through their instrumentality. 
We have said that all the gods belonged either to the white or black 
division, but there were a few who were exceptions to this rule, particularly 
among the highest ranks; they seemed, like their creator, to possess the 
traits of both classes, and were therefore thought to belong to both. Each 
division had its presiding deity, after whom his followers were called. 
Svantevit was the chief of the gods of light. He is generally represented, 
as on pl. 12, jig. 9, with four heads, his right hand resting upon his hip, 
and his left supporting a cornucopia, which he presses to his breast. He 
was probably a personification of the Supreme Being, Creator, and Ruler 
of the universe, who with his four heads watches over the four quarters 
of the world, and holds in his hand the horn of plenty and consolation ; for 
through it he is said to have absorbed the sun; and when that great lumi- 
nary shall have ceased to exist, he will console and nourish with heavenly 
ambrosia the souls who shall be deemed worthy to be fed from the horn 
of life preserved by him. All souls emanate from him, and to him they 
return by a gradual ascent. 
Next in rank to Svantevit is the god adegast, which means counsellor, 
and subordinate to the Supreme Being. He is said to have been the first 
of the gods who became incarnate, and the source of all procreation and 
birth. His color, which is black and White, designates him as both coun- 
sellor and wizard. Among the Vendes he was the god of the sun and 
probably also of war. An older statue (pl. 13, fig. 9) represents him witha 
swan upon his head, a human face in front and that of a lion on the back 
of his head; upon his breast is a bull’s head with a human face. Another 
anda later statue (pl. 12, jig. 10) represents him perfectly naked, a bird 
with outstretched wings upon his head, a shield with the bull’s head before 
his breast, and a kind of halbert in ‘his left hand. 
Radegast had two characters, Shvaixtix and Perkunust, in each of which 
he was worshipped as a distinct individuality. The former (fig. 13) is the 
sun shedding his blessings abroad, a god conferring benefits upon the human 
race. Upon his altar the fire was never suffered to go out. As Perkunust 
he is a god of light, both good and bad, or the god of thunder. In pi. 13, 
jig. 12.4, he is represented with a human face, the head surrounded by 
ten beams of light, and holding the plough in front of him as protector 
of agriculture ; jig. 125 shows the reverse of the statue with a lion’s face. 
Both of these gods were borrowed of the Prussians and eastern Slavonians, 
for the ancient war and sun god of the Vendes was Love, who is repre- 
sented with shield and lance (pl. 12, jig. 11); and their passive deity 
Podaga (pl. 13, jig. 11) presided over agriculture, fisheries, and the inter- 
est of the herdsman, and to him they prayed for favorable weather. But 
when the new gods were introduced his altar was only sought to obtain 
propitious weather. They left him, however, his attributes, the boar’s face 
on the back of the head, the plough, the ten beams, and the cornucopia. 
290 

