Svarozhits is interpreted as the god of fire. In Indo-European mythologies, there is a special fire deity who is endowed with male sex and even male potency, such as
Agni or
Atar. Agni is born ignited by
Indra from the friction of two
querns,
Heaven and
Earth, which refers to fire as the effect of sexual intercourse, and Svarozhits is the son of
Svarog, who is often interpreted as the god of sky, and as a
culture hero – a blacksmith who wields fire. A
Kuyavian folk song is associated with this motif: Some researchers also believe that Svarozhits is identical with
Dazhbog. This is supported by the fact that the name Svarozhits literally means "son of Svarog," and in the
Primary Chronicle, which contains an excerpt from the Slavic translation of the
Chronicle of
John Malalas, Dažbog is also depicted as the son of Svarog. Additionally, it is uncertain where the translation of the
Chronicle was made; according to
Henryk Łowmiański, the argument for the
Bulgarian translation of the
Chronicle is that in Bulgarian language the suffix
–its,
–ich has been completely forgotten, so that in Bulgarian language Dazhbog is called "the son of Svarog", and in other parts of Slavdom he is simply called Svarozhits. However, there is no general consensus on this interpretation, and the
Sermon by the Holy Father Saint John Chrysostom, which mentions both Svarozhits and Dazhbog, is given as an argument against it. In that case, both gods would be brothers, the sons of Svarog, Svarozhits would be equivalent to
Agni, and Dazhbog would be equivalent to
Surya. Perhaps
Bruno mentioned
St. Maurice, the patron saint of knighthood and armed struggle, in his letter because he considered him to be the
christian equivalent of Svarozhits.
Svarozhits-Radegast Svarozhits is most likely identical with
Radegast, the god mentioned by
Adam of Bremen as the chief god of Radogost, where according to earlier sources Svarozhits was supposed to be the chief god, and, according to
Helmold, the god of the
Obotrites. == Notes ==