The Book of Yarillo

The **Book of Yarillo** (RU: Yarillina Kniga, or Yarillo’s Book, originally called “Златьій сказъ о Латьірь-Горѣ и седьми кънязехъ”, or “The golden sayings about the [A]latir mountain and the seven princes”) is a forged chronicle and collection of tales arranged in chronological order. It was allegedly written in the late 300s or early 400s AD, shortly after the death of Bus Beloyar, in Novgorodian Runes. It’s language is Early Pseudo-Slaven, and it was forged by Sulakadzev. It was allegedly in the same book as the Hymn of Boyan and the White Book of Poetry. Combining books into one was common practice during the Keivan Rus’, and such things were called “svodiy”, or “fusions”.

## One of the Russo-Bulgarian Vedas

### Alleged author(s)

Chronicler Moveslav the Bright, under the commission of Prince Mosiyar the Old

## Contents

The book goes over the reigns of seven princes, these being Yarban, Korsyar, Vakhramei, Volga, Yagoriy, Dadjenyar, and Bus Beloyar. The princes in this book are called “Арія-Cарь”, meaning “King of the Aryans”. The title “Царь”, or “Tsar”, is actually an old corruption of the title “Ceaser” (compare to the modern Russian word for Caesar: “Кецарь”, or “Ketsar”).

#### Identifications

Alexander Asov, the main (and probably only) publicator and translator of this book identifies the characters in it with various historical and legendary figures. He identifies:

The elder Kiy with Kaveh, a character in Persian folklore,

Bus Kishek with Artaxerxes IV, a Persian prince,

Lexandar Gretskolanski with Alexander the Great,

Yarban with Artabanus IV, the last king of Parthia,

Papa-sak with Pabag, a Parsian prince,

Yarsak the Black with Ardashir I, the founder of the Sassanid Empire,

Korsyar with Khosrov II, also called the brave, a king of Armenia,

Moriyar with Mirian III, king of Iberia,

Vakhramei I with Bahram I, king of Persia,

Vakhramei II with Bahram II, king of Persia,

Triedar with Tiridates III, king of Armenia,

Volga as Tiberius Julius Theothorses, king of the Bosporan Kingdom known only from coins,

Navna as Nana, the wife of Mirian III,

Yagoriy with Saint Gregory the Brave,

Dadjenyar with the Germanic hero Sigurd and partly with king Jonakr of Norse mythology,

Iliyar, king of Murom, with Ilya Muromets, an East Slavic folk hero,

Zlatagor with the legendary Germanic bard Hamdir,

and lastly Bus Beloyar with Boz, a historical Slavic king of the Antes tribe, as well as with “Aryan Jesus” and the Germanic hero Sörla.

#### Summary

The book begins with worship to Bus Beloyar, who is said to ride a unicorn. It then talks about the founding of Kiyar-grad (Kiev), a description of the land of the Ruskolan, the gifting of runic writing to a Slavic nobleman named Veliyar, the marriage of a prince named Sama to the daughter of the dragon Karandjel’, Sama is later described as the father of various East Asian peoples including the Huns and Chinese. Then, after some brief mentions of Bogumir and Orey Ariant, the book talks about the invasion of the Aryan land by a man named Lexandar, son of the “Greek Dragon”, who killed Bus Kishek, king of that land. It then skips over many years and begins its main narrative at the time of Yarban.

In the days of Yarban, it says, a star named Marabel’ fell from the sky down to the earth, leaving behind a crater and a black rock, which was named Marabel’ after the star. Whoever was to wield this rock, would have the power to control fire. It was eventually found by Papasak and his son Yarsak, who obtained the rock and its power. Using the power, he released the dragon Karandjel’ from his prison, and with the dragons help, ousted and killed Yarban, starting a new dynasty, called “Saxsaniski”.

The chapter ends with a trizna-song to Yarban.

The book then skips over many years and starts again at the reign of Korsyar, who got into conflict with Vakhramei and his son. After many battles in which Huns, Romans, Persians, and Medes were involved, Korsyar was murdered (by Moryar and Triedar under the influence of the dragon Karandjel’), along with the king of the Huns, named Ēdel’-tur. From then on, Moryar would be king of the Huns, and Triedar would be king of Armenia in place of Korsyar.

The chapter ends with a trizna-song to Korsyar.

The next chapter continues where the previous one left off, talking about Dadjenyar’s war against the two Vakhrameis and Karandjel’. Dadjenyar was the son of Korsyar. Dadjenyar would defeat them with the assistance of the Romans.

The chapter ends with a short song about the fall of Vakhramei II.

After the defeat of the Vakhrameis, Dadjenyar would be betrayed by Moriyar and would be forced to flee to the Bosporan Kingdom, where King Volga reigned. There he met Volga’s daughter Navna. Navna would be married off to Moriyar, and peace would be restored. The book then talks about the deeds of Yagoriy, who got baptized at Jerusalem and became a general in the Roman Empire. The book then talks about the persecution of Christiana under Diocletian.

Then, Dadjenyar’s son Bus Beloyar would be born, and Moriyar would find out about Bus’ glorious destiny. Jealous, he again betrayed Dadjenyar and, in battle, would kill King Volga, who drowned in the Ra-river, which from then on would be known as the Volga.

This chapter ends with a trizna-song to King Volga.

Yagoriy, who is related in some way to Dadjenyar, would bring some Roman armies into the war, and would capture Moriyar. Moriyar would beg for mercy, and Yagoriy let him go. Then, Moriyar and Triedar would expose Yagoriy as a Christian, and would torture him to death under the laws of Diocletian.

Not long after, Constantine would oust Diocletian and end the persecution. The book also implies that Constantine is in some way related to Dadjenyar.

This chapter ends with Yagoriy coming back to life and a song dedicated to him.

The next chapter consists mainly of war between the Slavs led by Yagoriy, Iliyar, Dadjenyar, and his (now teenage) son Bus against the Goths and the forces of Moriyar. Moriyar would end up being betrayed and burned alive by his wife Navna. The book then talks about the devastation of China by the Huns. Dadjenyar and Bus move out to assist the Chinese. During their stay in east Asia, Bus goes to an island which is implied to be Japan, where he meets his future wife Siyana, daughter of the Sun. Apparently she was stuck in a cave, and Bus got her out of there. Then Bus and his wife go home, while Dadjenyar dies looking for treasure.

This chapter ends with a trizna-song to Dadjenyar.

The next chapter talks of the various deeds of the young king Bus, who along with his armor bearer and companion, went to Egypt. In Egypt, he met his second wife, who will later be called Yaroslavna, and also met the sphinx, who is said to have been the daughter of Bogumir and one of the dragon Karandjel’s daughters. The sphinx gives him some riddles and Bus solves them. Meanwhile, the Goths under Iermenariykh (Hermanaric/Germanaric/Ermanaric) go on a conquest but stop at the land of the Ruskolan, knowing it is too powerful to be simply invaded. Iermenariykh decides to marry Bus’ sister, who gives Iermenariykh several quests, thinking he is too old to complete them. Iermenariykh completes them anyways, and wins her hand in marriage. Then, while Iermenariykh was way campaigning, she had intercourse with some god or demigod, and became pregnant. She wished tell Iermenariykh that the child was his. However, the dragon Karandjel’ told Iermenariykh that the child was not his, and so he speedily returned home, and accusing his son of having intercourse with her, kills both him and her.

Upon news of this reaching Bus, war was declared between the Goths and Ruskolan. Eventually, the Goths and Slavs would meet at the river Dniper in a stalemate. Zlatagor, Bus’s brother, would challenge Iermenariykh to a duel, and so Karandjel’ used his magic to disguise himself as Iermenariykh, and the two dueled, and Zlatagor would be killed. Then the armies would charge at eachother, Bus would catch up to the real Iermenariykh, and slay him. Then a trizna was held in honor of Zlatagor, where Boyan, Bus’ son, would sing his famous hymn. Years later, Karandjel’ would muster up two other kings to attack the Ruskolan, and after a lunar eclipse, Bus’ army would be defeated and he would be crucified. Then Boyan becomes king, and continues the fight. Then Bus resurrects, defeats the enemies, and returns back to heaven.

This chapter ends in a song dedicated to Bus Beloyar.

The last chapter consists of teachings attributed to Bus himself, called “Bus’ testament”.

#### Style

The book is most similar to Western European high-medieval chronicles, most of which were highly fantastical and liberally mixed with legends in addition to actual history (for example the Ystoria Karoli Magni and the Historia Regnum Brittanae), which themselves often draw from the Biblical books of Chronicles and Kings.

The book gradually shifts from using Persian and Armenian folklore as its inspiration to using the Poetic Edda and other Norse odes, which was likely done on purpose to represent the Aryans “assimilating” with European culture.

#### Portrayal of Slavic paganism

In this book, Slavic paganism is influenced mostly by Zoroastrianism, Germanic mythology, Arian Christianity, Buddhism, and historical Vedisim. The most surprising influence is that of Christianity, which opposes something like the Book of Veles, which is staunchly anti Christian. Buddhist influence is also lacking in the Book of Veles, which tries to portray a purely Vedic religion. Of the principle gods of the Slavs, the book puts Svarog, Vishnu, and Dadjbog above all other gods, however it also mentions others like Khors and Svetobog (Sventovit) though those are typically in passing.