The white-flammable stone Alatyr was revealed at the beginning of time. He was raised from the bottom of the Milk Ocean by the World Duck. Alatyr was very small, so the Duck wanted to hide it in her beak.
But Svarog uttered the magic Word, and the stone began to grow. The duck couldn't hold it and dropped it. Where the white, flammable stone Alatyr fell, the Alatyr Mountain rose.
The white-flammable stone Alatyr is a sacred stone, the focus of the Knowledge of the Vedas, a mediator between man and God. He is both “small and very cold” and “great like a mountain.” Both light and heavy. He is unknowable: “and no one could know that stone, and no one could lift it from the ground.”
When Svarog hit Alatyr with his magic hammer, gods were born from the sparks. The temple of the Most High was built on Alatyr by the half-horse Kitovras. Therefore, Alatyr is also an altar, an altar stone to the Almighty. On it, the Almighty Himself sacrifices Himself and turns into Alatyr stone.
According to ancient legends, Alatyr fell from the sky and the Laws of Svarog were carved on it. So Alatyr connected the worlds - the above, heavenly, and the manifest, below. The mediator between the worlds was also the book of the Vedas, which fell from the sky, and the magical bird Gamayun. Both the Book and the Bird are also Alatyr.
In the earthly world, Alatyr is revealed as Mount Elbrus. This mountain was also called Bel-Alabyr, White Mountain, Belitsa. The White River flows from Elbrus-Alatyr. In ancient times, near Elbrus there was a White City, where the Slavic tribe Belogors lived. Alatyr is connected with the heavenly world, Iriy, Belovodye - that is, with paradise through which rivers of milk flow. Alatyr is a White stone.
The Baksan River flows from Elbrus. Until the 4th century AD it was called the Altud River, or Alatyrka. These names contain the root “alt”, which means “gold” (hence “altyn”). Therefore, Alatyr is also a magic stone, the touch of which turns everything into gold. This is the Golden Mountain, Mount Zlato-gorki and Svyatogor. This means that Alatyr is the Holy Mountain.
There is also the Alatyr stone in the Urals on the Irian Mountains, where the sacred Ra River originates. And at its mouth on the island of Buyan there is also the Alatyr stone, which cures diseases and gives immortality. The Altai Mountains were also called Alatyr-mountains; the Golden Island of the Sun in the Northern Ocean was also called Alatyr-island.
Alatyr is not only a mountain or a stone - it is the sacred center of the World. It is triune, therefore it means the path of Rule between Reality and Nav, between the earthly and mountainous worlds. It is twofold - small and large, light and heavy. He is one, because all worlds are united in him. He is unknowable, like Rule. This is the primordial stone.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru