Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/451

 CHAPTER II DAŽBOG HE 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 Helios   $17$ by Dažbog   $18$ may be taken as proof that he was worshipped as a solar deity. In the old Russian epic Slovo o pluku Igorevě  $19$ 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.