The prototype of the legendary Russian hero Dobrynya Nikitich is a vague figure, but modern scientists have no doubt: the hero of hundreds of epics is quite real. Moreover, even the legend about his battle with the Serpent Gorynych is not fiction at all.
Hit the snake in the trunks
There are so many stories about Dobrynya Nikitich! He conducts difficult diplomatic negotiations with the steppe tribes, steals a wife for Prince Vladimir, and even fights with Ilya Muromets. However, the most famous plot was his duel with the serpent. It is not clear, however, what the monster looked like - there are different interpretations. Either he has three heads, or even twelve. Some stories mention "fiery wings" and some "twelve trunks".
“He struck the snake in the trunks, knocked off the snake twelve of the same trunks, strayed onto the snake and he with his knees, pulled out a knife and a dagger, he wanted to split the snake,” says one of the epics.
As scientists have found out, the basis of numerous stories about the battle of a hero with a serpent is a myth that appeared in northern Russia, most likely in Novgorod. It is called that: "The Legend of the Snake." It was on its basis that the legendary Serpent Gorynych appeared (that is, a snake the size of a mountain). Apparently, the myth was composed at the end of the 11th century.
Since then, this legend has lived in the oral tradition of the inhabitants of Novgorod. In the middle of the 19th century, the famous Russian ethnographer Pavel Yakushkin wrote down the story of a local peasant about the snake:
Amphisbaena.
Promotional video:
Damn from Volkhov
The story echoes another legend - about a certain sorcerer who lived in the river in the guise of a "lutago crocodile beast". He, like the "snake-beast", suffered a sad fate: when Prince Vladimir baptized Novgorod, the townspeople "seized the snake and threw it into the Volkhov."
Painting by artist Evgeny Shtyrov & quot; Trampling on ancient Russian gods & quot;.
“The devil turned out to be strong: he swam not down the river, but uphill - to Lake Ilmen. I swam to my old dwelling - and to the shore! Prince Volodymer ordered to cut down the church in that place, and the devil back into the water,”the legend says.
The church was named Perun, that is, after the name of the Slavic god Perun. Consequently, the scientists conclude, by "snake" the compilers of the legend meant the huge idol of this deity. It was installed in Novgorod several years before the adoption of Christianity.
Baptism with "fire and sword"
The legend about the snake-Perun says that Prince Vladimir personally baptized Novgorod, where he once ruled. But in fact, in 990 it was not there.
“Prince Vladimir personally baptized only Kiev and Rostov the Great. Apparently, he would not have been able to go around the rest of the cities, apparently. Therefore, he entrusted this important task to his companions,”says the head of the Department of General and Russian Church History and Canon Law of the Theological Faculty of the Orthodox St. Tikhon University for the Humanities, Priest Alexander Shchelkachev.
Prince Vladimir. Portrait from the * Tsar's titular book * of the 17th century.
And Novgorod was especially important for the prince city - a key point of the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", due to which the Old Russian state lived. Therefore, as the Joachim Chronicle says, Vladimir sent there "his uncle Dobrynya with the priests."
The Novgorodians did not accept the mission from Kiev. The priests gathered a veche, at which they decided not to let Christians into the city and "do not allow idols to refute." However, Dobrynya and his servants went to the opposite bank of the Volkhov, to the trading side, where they christened several hundred people.
“Then the thousand Novgorodian Ugonyay, driving everywhere, screamed: it is better for us to die than our gods give to be mocked. The people have become enraged, the house of Dobrynin is ruined, the estate of the plunderer: I have beaten my wife and some of his relatives,”the chronicler testifies.
As a result, Dobrynya was forced to use force in response. At night, 500 soldiers under the leadership of the governor Putyata secretly landed on the banks of the Volkhov just near the temple of Perun. But they did not touch him - so as not to raise the alarm. Instead, they took over the Hijacking yard. While the battle was going on there, Dobrynya and his retinue freely entered the city - and set fire to the houses, so that the pagans rushed to save the property and stopped fighting Putyata. The cunning plan succeeded - in the end, the pagan priests, left without soldiers, asked for peace from the Kiev guests.
After that, Dobrynya "commanded all the baptized crosses on the neck, wooden ova, copper ovo and marque on the neck", and the idol of Perun was thrown into the river. And since then, the chronicle says, Novgorodians used to say: "They cross with the sword, and Dobrynya with fire."
Riddles of national memory
“It is this Dobrynya that is considered as the prototype of the hero Dobrynya Nikitich. After all, the epics emphasize his noble origin - the boyar's son,”explains Father Alexander (Shchelkachev).
True, it is not entirely clear which lineage he was related to to Prince Vladimir. The annals say that when Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich divided Kievan Rus between his sons in 970, Vladimir went to rule Novgorod together with his uncle Dobrynya. In the chronicles, he is called the brother of his mother, the concubine Malusha. According to another version, he was a descendant of the Varangian governor Sveneld, who actually ruled Russia for several years after the death of Svyatoslav.
However, the chronicles insist precisely on the slave origin of Dobrynya, as evidenced by the history of matchmaking between Vladimir and Rogneda, the daughter of the Polotsk prince Rogvolod. She refused him three times with the words: “I don’t want for the robicich,” that is, the son of a slave. This, according to the chronicles, greatly offended Malusha's brother Dobrynya, and when Rogneda was already preparing for the wedding with Vladimir's elder brother Mstislav, Dobrynya suggested that Vladimir simply kidnap his brother's bride. Which was done.
Reproduction of painting * Vladimir and Rogneda * by artist Anton Pavlovich Losenko.
This plot entered the epics. True, he is much less gloomy there: Prince Vladimir, when at the feast "became drunk and merry," was outraged that everyone had a wife, but he did not. Then he sent Dobrynya Nikitich together with the hero Dunai Ivanovich to the "Lyakhovin king" - the Polish ruler, so that he would give his daughter Apraksia. After numerous adventures, the heroes nevertheless carried out the instructions of the prince.
That is, the epic Dobrynya Nikitich and his historical prototype are opposite to each other in character: in folk legends, nowhere is it said about his cruelty. On the contrary, he became an example of valor for the people.
“The number of stories about Dobrynya Nikitich probably surpasses even the stories about Ilya Muromets. It is believed that the epic about him took shape later than the era of Kievan Rus. Much time has passed since the 10th century, and our people have changed their ethical guidelines. This is a characteristic feature of our memory: even very recent events, such as the Great Patriotic War, its participants, my parents, interpret it differently from my son, explains the deputy head of the Center for Russian Folklore of the State Russian House of Folk Art in an interview with RIA Novosti. Ekaterina Dorokhova.
That is, each era has its own priorities. That is why, according to the folklorist, the military valor of Dobrynya Nikitich came to the fore in the people's consciousness.
“Moreover, Russia has always been perceived as a country of fearless warriors ready for heroic deeds. And our citizens especially venerated the holy warriors, the same Alexander Nevsky. It didn't really matter what kind of person he was. The main thing is what kind of warrior he is,”the specialist concludes.
