314 
Another name for the god of the sky is Svarogu,* * * § the 
li Gleaming Strong One/ J and Svantovich^f the “ Wise and 
Holy/"’ The bright heaven-god is manifested in, and some- 
times in idea glides almost imperceptibly into, the bright god 
of the heaven, i.e. } the snn-god, whose material counterpart is 
the solar photosphere. J And so the By el-bog, or “ White- 
god,” Svantovich, seems to have become a sun-god ; and 
Montfaucon§ gives a symbolical representation of him as a 
four-headed || human figure standing on a pedestal and holding 
a bow, often a symbol of the solar god. The sun-god is also 
called Dazhbog,^f the “ God of Heat and he is naturally 
represented as the son of Svarogu, the sky-god. We find an 
impersonation of fire, Ogon, the Vedic Agni,** and may judge to 
a considerable extent of the character of the former from that 
of the latter. Perkunas, the rain and thunder-god, has been 
compared with the Yedic Parjanya, the “rain ;j and raining- 
giving power, the son of Dyaus. Below the god of heaven 
and the sun-god, the Varuna and Mitraff of the Wends, stand 
various other personages, who represent phases of the sun-god, 
the under world personified, etc. but very little detail about 
them has survived, and especially the meanings of their names 
(the best clue to an archaic concept) are either unknown or 
doubtful. Tiele well remarks, — Religion among the Wends 
remained at a point of development far behind that of the 
Yedic and old German religions. It is certainly lower than 
any of the Indo-Germanic religions with which we are 
* Cf. Sk. svar, the sun, heaven ; svarga , the sky, i.e., “ the gleaming,” in 
Greek mythology Here, wife of Zeus, the upper aether. Og = Sk. root oj , 
whence ojas, strength, splendour, etc. Cf. old Irish og, young, fresh ; oig, 
a champion ; Gk. hyg-ies. 
t Cf. Iranian spenta, “ holy,” and vid, rider e, eido, “ to know.” 
X The all-important distinction between Sun-god and sun is admirably 
illustrated by a reply of the Santhals, a very low race in India, who, when 
told that it was absurd to say that Chando (i.e., “ the bright one”), the sun, 
had created the world, replied, “ We do not mean the visible Chando, but an 
invisible one ” (apud Prof. M. Muller, Lectures on the Origin of Religion, 
208). 
§ I! Antiquite Expl/iquee, vol. ii., part ii., plate clxxxiv. The figure is 
taken from a work on ancient German divinities by Grosser, published at 
Leipzig in 1714. 
|| For a consideration of four-faced solar divinities, which represent the 
sun in the four seasons, e.g., the Baal-image set up by Manasseh in the Temple, 
vide The Great Dionysiak Myth, i. 359, et seq. 
H From the root dah, dagh, u to burn.” Cf. Zend, dazh, “ to burn ” ; 
Goth, dag-s, Ang.-Sax. daeg, Eng. day, i.e., the time when the burning (sun) 
is visible. 
** Vide Zoroaster , secs. 30-32. ft Vide Ibid. secs. 15, 16, 26, etc. 
