CHAPTER II
DAŽBOG
THE statue of the divinity Dažbog, or Daždbog, whose name probably means "the Giving God,"14 stood on a hill in the courtyard of the castle at Kiev, and beside it were the idols of Perun, Chors, Stribog, and other pagan deities.15 In old chronicles Dažbog is termed "Czar Sun" and "Son of Svarog;"16 and the fact that early Russian texts frequently translate the name of the Greek god Helios17 by Dažbog18 may be taken as proof that he was worshipped as a solar deity. In the old Russian epic Slovo o pluku Igorevě19 Vladimir and the Russians call themselves the grandchildren of Dažbog, which is easily explicable since the ancient Slavs often derived their origin from divine beings.20
Dažbog was known not only among the Russians, but also among the Southern Slavs; and his memory is preserved in the Serbian fairy-tale of Dabog (Dajbog), in which we read, "Dabog, the Czar, was on earth, and the Lord God was in heaven,"21 Dabog being here contrasted with God and being regarded as an evil being, since in early Christian times the old pagan deities were considered evil and devilish.
