“VEDA SLOVENA” IN THE CONTEXT OF BULGARIAN ROMANTIC NATIONALISM AND SLAVIC NATIONAL EPIC
Études balkaniques (Sofia) 2025, N 4, pp. 965-980, DOI: https://doi.org/10.62761/645.EB.LXI4.06
Nikolay ARETOV 
Institute for Literature, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria
Abstract: The Slavic founding epic in the interpretation network of Romantic nationalism is based on ancient traditions and on the plot that explains the origin of the ethnos, unites it with, but also demarcates or opposes it to other ethne. The connection with traditional and ethnic national mythology developed later is undeniable. Romantic nationalism in its Bulgarian version consistently points to the genesis of the Bulgarians, searches in more than one direction, and places emphasis on the glorious and, later on, the traumatic past. The idea of a connection between Bulgaria and ancient India emerged with Georgi Rakovski’s initiative in the mid-19th century. This idea is related to the development of contemporary linguistic studies, with the history of religion and other research enjoying significant popularity in Germany, Britain, and France. The association of Old Bulgarians with ancient Thracians and Iranians began in the 20th century, leading to theories about their ancestral home. These ideas, in opposition to Hellenism and neo-Greek nationalism, were developed by Rakovski and his followers. Similar ideas related to the Slavs were developed by Yordan Hadzhikonstantinov-Dzhinot, Konstantin Fotinov, and Stefan Zahariev. The main focus in the search for the ethnogenesis of Bulgarians is pointing to has centered on Slavic antiquity and its reconstruction, existing in historical, linguistic, and ethnographic research, folklore, and literary texts. The dominant idea of the Slavic origin of the Bulgarians is combined with or competes with other theories and hypotheses. The culmination of this process is found in the two-volume collection of folk songs, Veda Slovena, inspired by Stefan 965 966 Nikolay Aretov Verković, a Bosnian/Serb ex-Catholic monk and agent of the Serbian government. Verković was also influenced by the Illyrian theory of Ljudevit Gaj and the anthology Razgovor uživoni naroda slovinskoga by Andrija Kačić Miošić.
Keywords: Veda Slovena, Stefan Verković, ethnogenesis, Slavic antiquity, ancient India, mythology, mystification