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.