Or rather, not quite Slavic. It is known that Perun, under different variants of names, existed in the traditions of different tribes and peoples. For example, in Lithuania he was called Perkunas, in Belarus - Pärun, in India - Parjánya, also in India, Indra was considered the God of thunder, thunder and lightning. In Scandinavia this God was called Thor, the Celts called him Tarinis. The Western Slavs called Perun - Prove. In general, for those times it was quite common to deify the forces of nature and natural phenomena. Rain, sun, wind and thunder, of course …
He is the Thunderer, who occupied in the pantheon of the gods of pagan Rus, but for a very short time, a place similar to that which the ancient Greeks assigned to Zeus, and since this refers literally to the eve of the introduction of Christianity in Russia, the name of Perun is known more than the names of other gods. During this period of time, especially in the princely environment, he was assigned the main place and the main role among all recognized gods. But it should not be forgotten that the transformation of Perun into the ruler of the world occurs (his image was known, of course, much earlier and was, as some researchers of Slavic mythology believe, borrowed, probably from Scandinavia) almost simultaneously with the formation of the Kiev state.
Perun is the god of thunder, lightning and rain. All the elements of nature are subject to him. He rules over everything. He has a huge retinue of servants who carry out his will. Thunder and Lightning, Rain and Hail, Winds and Storms, including Nightingale the Robber, frost-kalinniks Treskunets, Studenets, Karachun, heroes Dubynya, Duginya, Lesinya, Valigora, Elinya, Usynya, Svyatogor, etc., etc., snakes, water, goblin - all these are Perun's assistants. Both Yav and Nav are subject to him - and the ruler of the underworld, Viy, and therefore all his evil spirits, serve Perun. Rivers that were considered sacred were dedicated to him; groves, oak groves and whole forests were dedicated to him, the felling of trees in which was prohibited on pain of death.
Perun is a cruel, frightening god. Bloody sacrifices were brought to him, including human ones. Not by chance, but as a means of intimidating and subjugating the people, the cult of Perun finds a response and spread, first of all, among the princely environment. Already from the very beginning, when he was not yet raised to the rank of the highest deity, according to B. Rybakov, Perun “was obviously not so much the god of fertilizing clouds as Perun the Storm, a formidable deity of the first tribal squads, horse shepherds-warriors armed with battle axes, which for a long time became a symbol of the god of thunder , and with the beginning of the formation of the state, it becomes a symbol of princely squads, a symbol of power - princely thunderstorm.
This deity was clearly a lover of bloody sacrifices. So, even to prevent the death of the crop from thunderstorms, which Perun commanded, on July 20 (old style) "meat" sacrifices were brought to him.
The introduction of Christianity in Russia in 988 required the elimination of the worship of all pagan gods. According to the order of Prince Vladimir, all idols were to be destroyed. Ii were chopped and burned.
They did a little differently with the idols of Perun. In Kiev he was tied to horses and dragged through the city, accompanied by an escort of twelve vigilantes to the Dnieper, thrown into the water and floated over the Dnieper rapids. Likewise with an idol. Perun got along in Veliky Novgorod, sending him Sailing along the Volkhov: the river was considered a road to the other world, where Perun was sent.