Saturday 26 July 2014

Triglav , Trojan, Trinity, Trimurti, Agni



The book of Veles has this riddle:
Jer tajna je velika, kako to Svarog biva u isto vreme i Perun i Svetovid.
Translated into English it means: 

Because it is a great secret how come Svarog (hevenly and earthly fire) is at the same time Perun (thunder) and Svetovid (Sun).
The answer to this riddle is Triglav (three headed), trojan (triple), Hromi daba, Crom Dubh - Lugh, Grom Div, The Thunder Giant, The Sky Father. 




According to Branibor (now Brandenburg ) chronicles written in 1136 ad, the ruler of the area, Prince Pribislav destroyed a statue of Triglav after he was baptized. This statue of Triglav has previously been highly respected. No detailed description of the statue survived, and there is no description of rituals related to the veneration of this Statue. The only information that the chronicle gives us is that the God had three heads.

In the biographies of the Bishop Otto fon Bramburg, who converted Western Slavs (Sorbs) in the South Baltic, in Pomerania we can find more information about the god Triglav (Dabog, Hromi Daba). All three biographers ( Ebo , Herbord and an unnamed monk from the monastery of Priflinger ) have witnessed the existence of a three-headed idol in Volyn and Šćećin. Ebo said that the city of Volin is situated on the slopes of three hills, and that it has a temple dedicated to a deity with three heads, which was called God Triglav („...deo Triglavo dicitus, tricapitum habebat...“). According to Ebo, Triglav is the highest Slavic God ( " summus Deus " ), the ruler of the three worlds (heaven , earth and the underworld). The statue was made of wood, that it's three heads were encrusted in silver, and that it's heads were covered with the "tiara" or some kind of a hat made of gold, which covered the idol's eyes.

In the town of Stettin were three hills, the central one being dedicated to Triglav, the chief local deity. This idol was of gold and had three heads, while its eyes and lips were covered with a golden veil. The pagan priests declared that Triglav ("Three-Heads") was tricephalous because he wished to make it known that he ruled over three realms, i. e., heaven, earth, and the underworld; and he covered his face because he would not see the sins of men. The temple of Triglav was built with wonderful skill. On the inner and outer sides of the walls were various embossed figures of men, birds, and animals, so well made that they seemed to live and breathe. Their colour was always fresh and durable, and could be damaged neither by rain nor by snow. According to the custom of the ancestors one tenth of all booty was stored in the treasury of the temple, and there was, moreover, an abundance of gold and silver vessels used by the chieftains on festive occasions, as well as daggers, knives, and other rare, costly, and beautiful objects. In honour of and in homage to the gods colossal horns of wild bulls, gilded and adorned with precious stones, were kept there, some serving for drinking vessels, and some for musical instruments.


Otto von Bamberg destroyed the idols, by chopping the heads off with an axe. He then sent the three silver coated heads to the pope Calixto II in Rome, as evidence that his mission of converting Polabian Slavs (Sorbs) was successful.  In Szczecin Bishop Otto fon Bamberg did manage to destroy the temple dedicated to Triglav, but the priests removed the statue of God which was entirely made of gold and managed to hide it in a hollow tree near the city. It is said that the Bishop did not manage to find this statue. 

Same authors ( Ebo , Herbord and monk from Priflinger) tell us that the animal dedicated to god Triglav was a black horse , which was used for divination. Triglav was also associated with spear and sword and was considered to be one of Slavic war gods. Some reports say that Triglav had three goats heads.

Among thousands of Serbian folk songs and ceremonial prayer songs collected by ethnologists during 19th century, we find many which talk about Triglav. The description of god Triglav from Serbian folk tradition corresponds closely to references to Triglav which we find in the Book of Veles. They both identify Triglav as main deity and the oldest deity that there is. 


From the book: "Триглав у старим српским народним песмама и молитвама":

... Ti junaci mladi hrabri,
Velji vojni Triglavovi,
Triglavovi silna Boga,
Silna Boga najvećega,
Boga stara Pra Pra Boga...

Translated into English this means:

...Those heroes young and brave
great solders of Triglav
Triglav, the mighty god
Triglav the greatest god
Triglav the "pra pra" (oldest) god...

Book of Veles:

...Molimo se i klanjamo se prvom Triglavu i njemu veliku slavu pojemo...To je suština Triglava jer svi od njega potiču i njemu se opet vraćaju... 

Translated into English this means:

We are praying to and we are bowing in front the first Triglav and we are singing great praises to him...This is the essence of Triglav, because all there is comes from him and all to him returns...

The following excerpts are from the book called "Pesme i obicaji ukupnog naroda srpskog" meaning Songs and Customs of all Serbian people. This is a collection of ceremonial songs collected throughout the Balkans in the 19th century by ethnographer M.S.Milojevic. Serbian folk tradition tells us that Triglav is the ruler of all space and all time. He is the god of three worlds: the sky , the earth and the underworld.  

...Sa njegove tri velike glave,
Sa tri glave velikim Triglavom,
Što mi drma svetom tim prebelim,
Na sve strane i ta sva vremena...

Translated into English this means:

...With his great three heads
With three heads the great Triglav
shakes (rules) this white world
In all directions and in all times...

This next song tells us that Triglav is also the god of the past the present and future. 

...Silen bora Triglavomu,
Što mi sedit, ni zboruva,
Dlgo mnogo što minuva,
Dlgo mnogo što ća bidne,
Dlgo mnogo što živue,
De im imat do tri sili,
Prva sila na nebesa,
Druga sila na pod zemje,
A treća mi na ta zemja...

Translated into English this means:

Mighty god Triglav
Who decides
What happened
What will happen
what is happening
And who has three forces
First in the sky
Second under the ground
And third on the ground...

Serbian folk tradition tells us that Triglav is the holy trinity. This means that for Serbs, Triglav is "the holy god, father, son and holy spirit". 

This next song, talks about the passing of the flower wreath, from St George (Yarilo, 6th of May, young sun, beginning of summer), to St John (21 of Jun, the summer solstice, middle of summer), to St peter (July), to Triglav (2nd of August, end of summer). The flower wreath represents the sun during spring and summer months. Triglav here is actually St Elijah. His feast day (2nd of August) falls at the end of Summer when sun's heat is at its maximum. St Elijah is known i Serbia as Sveti Ilija (Sveti can mean saint but also shining) the thunderer, which shows that in Serbian tradition the Sun is associated with the thunde. St Elijah is actually Svetli Ilios, Shining Thundering Sun, Perun and his day is 2nd of August, Crom dubh - Lugh day, Perun day.

...Ivanjsko cveće petranjsko,
Petrovsko cveće ivanjsko!
Ivan ga bere te bere.
Petar ga plete te plete.
Daje ga silnu Triglavu,
Triglavu svetoj trojici...

Translated into English this means:

St John's flowers to St Petar's flowers
St John picks the flowers
St Petar makes wreath from them
And gives the wreath to mighty Triglav
Triglav the holy trinity...

This is another song which refers to Triglav as the holy trinity:

...Ko prevari svoga druga,
Svoga druga pobratima 
Satreo ga silni Ljelju:
Svojim ocem strašnim Bogom.
Strašnim Bogom Triglav Bogom, 
Triglavom svetom Trojicom...

Translated into English this means:

...Who betrays a friend
A friend or a blood brother
May mighty Ljelju (Perun) destroy him
With his father terible god
Terible god Triglav
Triglav the holy trinity...

This next song tells us that Triglav is the Creator, the Protector and the Destroyer of everything that there was, there is and that there will be:

...Naš gospodar Trigljav velji, 
Naš Stvoritelj i Držitelj 
I veliki Umoritelj...

Translated into English this means:

...Our lord Triglav the great
Our creator, our protector (upholder, maintainer) 
and our great destroyer...

And this song tells us that Triglav is the highest god, the greatest god and that he is the three headed trinity, at the same time the Creator, the Protector and the Destroyer: 

...Veliča smo Višnjega!
Previšnjega i jasnjega! 
Triglav Boga najvećeg. 
Svetu Trojcu najjasnu. 
Stvoriteljicu najjaču. 
Održateljicu najkrepku. 
Rušiteljicu najstrašnu....

Translated into English this means:

...We celebrated Višnjega (The high god, the sky god)
The highest and the brightest
God Triglav the greatest
Holy trinity the shiniest
Creator, the strongest
protector (upholder, maintainer), the most robust
Destroyer, the most terrible...

This next ceremonial song (prayer) actually identifies, gives names to the three faces of Triglav:

...Da nam stoka bude zdrava
Ta goveda i te ovce
Ti jarići i jaganjci.
Doratasti velji konji
Što no nose te junake
Mile borce Triglav bora5
Triglav bora te Troice
Višnjeg boga Stvoritelja
Jakog Žive rušitelja
I Branjanja Branitelja...

Translated into English this means:

...May our cattle be healthy
All the cows and all the sheep
All the kids and all the lambs
All the great big horses
Which carry our heroes
Dear solders of the god Triglav
god Triglav the holy trinity
Vishnji god, the creator
Strong Živa the destrojer

and Branjanj the protector...

In Indian mythology, Trimurti consists of Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. In Serbian mythology, Triglav consists of Višnji, Živa, Branjanj.

In Serbian the meanings of the names of the holy trinity (Trimurti, Triglav) members (Višnji, Živa, Branjanj) actually correspond to their role in Serbian Trinity:

Vishnji (meaning "one who is up high", from vis "high"), the sun.
Branjanj (meaning the protector, supporter, from bran "protection", braniti "to protect"), the fire.
Živa (meaning alive, living from Živ "alive, life"), the giver and taker of life.

Serbian folk tradition also tells us that Triglav lives in India and that India was the home of the Serbs, which Serbs had to leave because of a huge political or religious upheaval of some kind, probably a religious civil war which plunged India into chaos. 

How old is this folk memory? What time and what migration from India to Europe does it describe? We don't know for sure. The racial memory these folk songs preserve could either be the memory of the original migration of the "Indo Europeans" to Europe, or the Skythian migration to Europe or any other one in between or after. Either way they are thousands of years old. The fact that Serbs have preserved, in their folk tradition, the memory of the migration from India through all these millenniums, is astounding, and another proof that culture and language are a lot more resistant then most people think. The fact that some of the songs recorded by ethnographers are actually prayers to Triglav, is even more amazing. This means that Serbs have managed to preserve the actual Agni (Triglav) cult for thousands of years outside of India. 

Here is one of the folk songs which tells the story about the Serbian exodus from India. The song is called "The saints are dividing the treasure" and in it Ognjena Marija (Fiery Mary) sister of St Petar, St Nicolas, St John, St Ilia and St Pantelija tells her brothers why she is crying:

Al' govori Blažena Marija:

A moj brate, Gromovnik Ilija!

Kako ne ću suze proljevati,

Kad ja idem iz zemlje Inđije,

Iz Inđije iz zemlje proklete?

U Inđiji teško bezakonje:

Ne poštuje mlađi starijega,
Ne slušaju đeca roditelja;
Roditelji porod pogazili,
Crn im bio obraz na divanu
Pred samijem Bogom istinijem!
Kum svog kuma na sudove ćera,
I dovede lažljive svjedoke
I bez vjere i bez čiste duše,
I oglobi kuma vjenčanoga,
Vjenčanoga ili krštenoga;
A brat brata na mejdan zaziva;
Đever snasi o sramoti radi,
A brat sestru sestrom ne doziva.

Translated into English this means:

...And kind Mary (Holy Mary) replies:
O my brother, Thunder god Ilija
how can i not cry
when i am coming from country of India
from India the accursed country.
In India there is complete lawlessness:
young are not respecting the old,
children are not respecting parents,
they have black cheeks before the god of truth,
a godfather is betraying godson,
brother is fighting brother,
brother in law is sleeping with sister in law,
and brother does not call his sister a sister...

And here is another song, which is actual Christmas time ceremonial prayer song (Winter solstice, the birth of young sun). This is one of the songs collected by Vuk Stef. Karadžić. Srpske narodne pesme, Knjiga druga, u kojoj su pjesme junačke najstarije.


Siva Živa siva silna,

Siva silna golubice!

da kuda si putovala?

Odgovara Siva Živa

Siva silna golubica:

„Ja sam tamo putovala

U Inđiju našu zemlju.
Prolećela Hindušana
I tu Globu Tartariju
Crni Hinduš i Tartaru.
Letila sam Gospodaru
Našem silnom Triglav boru
Te gledala što nam čini
Što nam čini zapoveda.”
Što činjaše naš gospodar,
Naš gospodar Triglav velji,
Naš Stvoritelj i Držitelj
I veliki Umoritelj?
Odgovori Siva Živa
Bela silna golubica:
„Naš gospodar lepo čini
Trima kola u zučinje
I četvrto zlato meri.
Da pravimo zlatne čaše
Zlatne čaše i srebrne
Da molimo mladog Boga
I Božića Svarožića
Da nam dade svako dobro
Ponajveće dugi život.
Dugi život dobro zdravlje
I bogatstvo što ga nosi.
Božić poje po svu zemlju
Ne boji se Hindušana
Niti crnog Tatarana
Ni goleme te pustare
A proklete Globe crne
Globe crne Tartarije,
I te gadne Mandžurije.
Slava mu je do nebesa,
Do prestola Triglav Boga.
Brada mu je do pojasa,
Do pojasa sredi zemlje
Srpske zemlje Raške svetle.
Da se rode muška deca
Ljuti vojni Davorovi
Davorovi i Jarila

Translated into English this means:

...gray Živa, mighty gray,
mighty gray dove!
where did you travel?
and gray Živa, mighty gray dove, answers:
"I traveled all the way
To India our country.
I flew over Hindustan
And over Tatarstan
Black Hindus and Tatarus.
I flew to our Master
Our mighty God Triglav
And I watched what he was doing
What he was doing and ordering."
What did our lord do
Our master Great Triglav,
Our Creator and Maintainer
And Great Destroyer?
Replies gray Živa, 
White mighty dove: 
"Our Lord is doing good...
He is weighing gold
for us to make the gold cups
Gold and silver cups
So we can pray to the young God
Young God Svarožić (Winter solstice sun, baby sun, Dabog, the Giving god)
To give us everything good
Most of all long life.
Long life good health
And wealth that God Dabog carries with him.
Young god Svarožić (Dabog) sings in all the land
He is not afraid of Hindustan
Neither is he afraid of black Tataria
Nor the immense wasteland
A bloody black Globa
black Globa Tataria (I don't know what Globa means, but it could be Gobi desert),
And that nasty Manchuria.
His Glory (Dabog's) rises to the skies,
All the way to the throne of God Triglav.
His beard is down to his waist,
To his waist which is in the center of the land
The Serbian bright land of Ras.
May it (Serbia, Ras) give birth to male children
Great solders of Davor
Of Davor (God of War) and of Yarilo (God o youth and war)...

It is incredible to think that Serbs managed to preserve the memory of their life in India and the belief in Triglav, Trimurti and to preserve its worship in the middle of Europe until 20th century. 

There were some subtle differences though between Indian Trimurti and Serbian Triglav. In Indian mythology, Brahma is the creator whereas that role in Serbian Triglav is played by Vishnji bog (Vishnu). Both Shiva and Živa seemed to have the same role in both Trinities. 

I decided to go and investigate the whole thing more. Why was there a difference? Who got it right and who got it wrong? And who brought Crom Dubh - Lugh, the three headed god to Ireland? I will talk about this in one of my next posts.

14 comments:

  1. That is very interesting. I had thought that Ziva was Zoe but it looks like you are right that it is Shiva. I had also thought that the Celtic Bran was Frey(r) but it looks like Bran might be related to Branjanj which it looks like you're right that it is Brahma. Bran's head protected Britain [and it may be related to the Circling Rock of Wonders of Britain which rotated 3 times a year?]. Triglav may possibly be related to Trigaranos/Trograin?

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  2. You are a very intelligent person. Have loved this particular blog. You are very informative. The number 3 has always been important to Serbs as a nation throughout ancient times. Cornwall has many words and names of places beginning with tri just like the Slavic word for three.

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    1. Here is a very interesting word cluster from Irish language:

      tré- triad
      tréad - flock, heard, congregation
      tréadach - pastoral
      tréadai -shepard, pastor
      tréadaioch - hearding
      treabhchas - tribe
      treabhann -tribune, leader
      treablaht - household,family
      treabh - plough
      treibh -house, homestead, tribe, race
      trea- spear
      trean - warior- ratnik
      treas- battle
      treasair - conquer
      treis - strong,in power
      triath - lord, prince

      This is an incredibly interesting cluster. I have never seen any other word group that describes iron age society in a better way. :)

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  3. Fundamentally the devolution of Brahma (the one) into the pantheon arises from the reasonable premise that Brahma operates his creation through an organisation. In the Brahmanical i.e. Non Puranic, Vedic tradition, Brahma is not part of a trinity. From Brahma comes his light Mitra who together with his fluid Varuna and matter Aryama form the cosmos. Mitra forms and sustains 12,000 types of Suns. From the Sun comes his light Savitur (father) comprising the three Gunas of Virinchi (creative etc), Narayana (sustaining etc) and Shankara (transcreative etc), who, as light, warmth etc (Sandhya), life etc (Savitri), sound etc (Gayatri) and knowledge etc (Sarasvathi) forms and sustains life here in unison with water (Aapa) and soil (Bhu) the two mothers: On this planet, the officers of Brahma resolve themselves into the guardians of the Ten directions (Agni, Vayu, Yama, Niruruthi, Varuna, Kubera, Indra, Rudra, Virinchi and Narayana) which are all forces of nature. The Druid deities of Lalitha, Shiva and Vishnu who preceded Yahweh and Abraham in Mesopotamia and came to India took root in the Indus Valley civilization and elsewhere, When the Druid skill of architecture and agriculture entered the Vedas via the Agama Shastras, in the Atharva Veda period,

    Ashoka drove Brahmanism together with the Vedas, Guru Kulas, and Brahma Suthras under ground, and destroyed and looted the temples and other Dravido-Aryan institutions, persecuting them in revenge for having been declared an out caste. This ossified the caste system. Till today, orthodox Brahmins look down on the Atharva Veda without really knowing why. Adi Shankaracharya revived Sanskrit, and wove the various religions into the Panchayatana (the five deities) comprising the Aryan Sun (idol of Brahma), and merging the Aryan Narayana with the Druid Vishnu, the Aryan Shankara and Rudra with the Druid Shiva, the Aryan Sandhya, Savithri, Gayathri and Sraswathi with the Druid Lalitha, Lashmi, and Parvathi with the tribal Mother Godess into Durga Parameshwari and included the tribal Ganapathi. This might be the origin of "Sanathana Dharma".

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    1. Waah. Never knew about this. Chandashoka not only killed people , looks like even devanampriya destroyed vedic civilization 😞

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  4. Triglav was also worshiped by ancient Poles, especially in Pomerania region.

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  5. Not only this essay but there so many references in old European literature regarding their previous religion named Paganism,that we find footprints of their once being Indian.How and why they left their mother land nobody knows.I think it is not possible at least in the near future to solve this problem.

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    1. Hi!

      This is incredibly important and fascinating information, as regards to so called Indo-European history and how these languages appeared in Europe. Could you please, if you have any, post more sources and links as these old pagan European tribes recollections of themselves coming from the India region?

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    2. Lot of new studies like mtDNA. Check my post for a collection of links - https://www.facebook.com/rajesh.acharya/posts/10154313436376169

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  6. I have been working on this from a different direction. I have been studying new papers that have been released that talk about the worship of Siva/Diva/Ziva and her partner Seibog/Devac/Dazbog. In these, she is the energy of the life-giving water and he is the "spark" of life (the rays of life-giving sunshine.) The thing is, in all these places of worship, there seems to be a combination of *three* things: water, a hill and a cave. There also seems to be many references to Triglav (as in the one cave is called Triglavca, and in another is three distinctive rocks.) This has me thinking about the fertilizing energy that this couple embodies... we have water, sunlight and yet to grow plants we need earth. My current theory is that Triglav consists of Ziva, Dazbog and Veles.
    Read these and tell me what you think...
    Odar, Boston “Potocka zijavka; Fertility Rites in the Raining Cave” https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/sms/article/download/1562/1304

    Smrekar, • Saša Iskrić. "Cave of Iapodes and its petroglyphs – an Early Slavic shrine of Perun / Kresnik” Academia.edu”

    Čok, Boris. “V siju mesečine:Ustno izročilo Lokve, Prelož in bližnje okolice” Studia Mythologica Slavica - Supplementa, Supplementum 5. 2012 Web 4 August, 2017

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  7. The other thing that I have discovered is that of this primal couple Ziva/Dazbog, they change over the quarters of the year as the energy of the Sun waxes and wanes. Thus they are Koliada & Kaliado, giving way for Jarila (Vesna) & Jarilo with all their water rituals in the spring. In midsummer they are the mature frolicking couple in the stream and having sex as Kupala and Kupalo. In Autumn they fade to Hors (Svantovid) and Mora (which is why in spring they burn Morena and put her in the stream to release her energy back to the life-bringing water.) Which would explain the four-headed depiction of Svantovid too. Only one of his faces is "Svantovid" the autumn warrior who predicts the harvest (the waning Hors), the rest are Spring (Lada/Vesna/Jarila), Summer (Kupala/Mokosh) and Winter (Dazhbog for which the Winter Solstice is so important because he light is now returning.)

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  8. Interesting article. Movement from India to Serbia seems to be recent and restricted to certain sects of people as known from the references to tatars and Manchurians causing havoc. But Triglav concept could have been older, perhaps an off-shoot of Lugh or a transformation of Trimurti of Vedic culture. Mt Triglav has a parallel in Mt Kailash, the abode of lord Shiva. Overall a fused concept of four faced Brahma, three faced Trimurti and Skanda can be seen in Triglav. My article on this can be read at https://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2018/05/migration-of-aryan-gods-from-india-to.html

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  9. Aryan Migrations:

    The Rik Veda evolved in the Aryan Grazing grounds between East Prussia and Mongolia. They had interactions with agricultural civilizations all around them and, therefore, cultural influence when they raided them for food during times of Kshama (scarcity) for themselves. The Druids of ancient Ur escaped their harrying as well as their own apostates who had embraced Yahweh and migrated all over. Some of them brought, agriculture, architecture etc (i.e. civilization) to the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Some Aryans followed them, conquering them during the Shukla Yajur Veda Period (invention of Archery, Chariot use in warfare). During the Krishna Yajur Veda Period, they settled under the treaty and laws of Bharatha. They exacted tribute from the Dasyus (Druids) in terms of agricultural and archtiectural produce and other forms of labour. This led to the decadence of the Sama Veda period. This led to the Kurukshetra War. This civil war broke Aryan hegemony giving rise to the Atharva Veda Period when the Dasyus and the Aryas inter married, the Shudra Varna entered the Guru Kulas and a great number of Aryas migrated back to their home lands and beyond. The Atharva Veda (Vedic period) came to an end when Ashoka destroyed the Druido-Aryan temples and dismantled the Gurukulas (thereby putting an end to Varna Mobility) in revenge for being declared an outcaste by the Supreme Council of Kashi when he contravened the treaty of Bharatha that established the consensus of Ashwamedha Yajna during the Krishna Yajur Veda period in place of the Rik Vedic Rajasooya where the heads of opposing kings are offered in the sacred fire by the victor. Ashoka waged war on his fellow Aryas (like the US waging war on NATO). Markers, there is no older structure than Saranath in Ashoka's former empire. The back lash to Ashoka's tyranny destroyed Budhism is India together withn the Ashoka Chakra with which Ashoka replaced the Swastika of Aryavartha Dharma whereas, Budhism prospers in South East Asia and Japan with the Swastika emblazoned on Budhist temples.There was a great migration out of India as far as the Balkans and the Baltics during Ashoka’s rein. Adi Shankara whose ancestors fled deep South to escape Ashokan persecution revived Sanskrit and the Brahma Sutras. At this time too a great number of Druido Aryas migrated to the North and the North West from India.

    The Slavs are very much of Aryan descent but cannot be called Aryas as they are no longer bound by the Aryan laws of Karma, Dharma orcthe Secular Constitution denoted by the Swasthika:

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  10. When Serbs drink, they say Ziveli (to life), I.e. to जीवन.

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