East Europe as a proto-homeland of the Indo-Europeans - страница 8

«4. When through the songs the sun was found, beautiful in appearance, When they lit a great light early in the morning, the most courageous, in an effort to help husbands did,

What through the blind wild darkness it became possible to see.

7. He broke Vritra, which closed the water.

Earth, unanimous, supported your club.

So set in motion the streams directed to the sea. (R.V.V.16.693)».

Northern Lights

In the most ancient Indian traditions, which B. Tilak and E. Jelacic paid attention to, there is a very vivid description of the aurora, which strikes with its realism and amazing accuracy. In one case, these are the sages (rishis) of Ekat, Dvat, Trita (First, Second, Third), who, in order to contemplate the Supreme Deity, go to the north of the Milk Sea, where there is a radiant Shvetadvipa (White Island) and there they «penetrate into the millennial, eternal god.» But they do not see him, because they were blinded by his radiance «similar to thousands of simultaneously flaming suns.» Blinded by this spectacle, the rishis heard spilling sounds.

In another, the Rishis of Narada (we note that the highest peak of the Subpolar Urals is called Naryad) also reached the great White Island and called on God, which appeared to him «visible in the universal sawn-off shotgun… as if like a month spiritually pure, and at the same time, as it were, quite different from a month, and as if refractory, and shine as if mentally flashing stars: like a rainbow of a wing of a parrot and as if crystal sparkling; like a blue-black smear, and like gold piles; the colors of the coral branch then, like a white gleam; here is golden-eyed, there is similar to beryl; like a blue sapphire, in places similar to smaragd; there are the colors of the peacock’s neck, in places similar to a pearl thread. So the eternal, holy, hundred-headed, thousand-headed, thousand-footed, thousand-headed, thousand-bellied, thousand-armed took so many different colors and images, and invisible in places,» and the space around rang.

For comparison, it makes sense to give a description of the aurora made in 1856—57 by the famous ethnographer S. V. Maximov: «was riveted to a wonderful, unprecedented spectacle, now opening from a dark cloud. It instantly burst and instantly shone with dazzling colors, a whole sea of flowers that poured from one to another and, as if sparks streamed endlessly from above, sparks from below, from the sides… Here it will pour over the whole roundabout with azure, green, purple, all the colors of a beautiful rainbow, here will play topazes, yachts, emeralds… You can’t understand anything, you can’t figure anything out for one whole impression – everything gets in the way and gets confused. Ripples in the eyes and it hurt. Let your eyes rest on the side, but there they meet the former darkness, framing a wonderful, unprecedented sight. Turns again to him, but already there appeared new species. As if a huge, omnipotent forge was launched: and you just do not see workers, you do not hear hammers beyond range, myopia.