Hymn to Uṣas

Hymn to Uṣas

The goddess Usas – the personification of dawn – is perceived as a beautiful young woman born in heaven, who with her glow disperses the darkness and bestows to all creatures protection, prosperity and long life. The goddess is often invoked by the vedic seers in order to provide them with poetic glory and abundant sacrificial reward. Even though there are only 20 hymns dedicated to Usas in the Rigveda, her importance within the cosmogonic myth is crucial. Her shine pervades the whole wide ...

Hymn to the Earth

Hymn to the Earth

Atharvaveda XII. 1 N.S. Harsha. Habitual Sky Gazers, 2010. • Acrylic on canvas, 76 x 107 cm.The Hymn to the Earth is one of the most beautiful and expressive hymns in the Atharvaveda. It depiscts the Earth as a mother, as an all sustaining, patient, enduring all-stable expanse, bringing all the odors; a mother that appears from the cosmic waters and is dressed in fire. The whole hymn or many of its verses are used as blessings and also in different ceremonies: in a ceremony ...

From the Editor–in–Chief

From the Editor–in–Chief

Do we really understand India? Although thousands of foreign tourists visit India every year, the country is still treated as „unknown” in West. The scope of Indian history, mythology, culture and literature is so immeasurable and puzzled that it seems impossible to outline even its quintessence. We hope literature can be the right method to discover India and Indian way of thinking and living because literature is in kind a self-reflection of everything ...

From the Editor–in–Charge

From the Editor–in–Charge

I have the pleasure to introduce to you the first issue of the online magazine „Literary Svetilnik“, completed by the professors and students at the Indology Department of the University of Sofia „St. Kliment Ohridski“, who have been contributing for years to the realization of the „meeting“ of the cultures of India and Bulgaria and to the popularization of Ancient and Modern India in Bulgaria. The main purpose of the team, working on this ...