Расъ ава — from the 1882 Collection
The Volga — Rav, in the Erzya language — was not merely a river to the Mordvin peoples but a living deity: Rav ava, Mother Volga, the great water-goddess of the eastern Erzya. Her cult was inseparable from the three-fish cosmology that underlies Mordvin theology: three fish hold the land, three fish guard the people, and they dwell between the Volga and the sea. This song begins with that cosmological frame and then opens into something deeper — a sacrificial dialogue between a young man on the river and the goddess beneath it.
The young man sails in a silver boat with golden oars. He reaches the very mouth of the sea and his boat stops — the Volga holds him. He offers her everything a man might give: possessions, goods, horses, treasure, silver, gold. She refuses them all. What she wants is kin. "Bring your own father." But if I bring my father, my yard will catch fire. "Bring your mother." I will go hungry. "Bring your wife." I will be left naked. Each demand strips away another layer of the man's world — home, sustenance, covering — until he has nothing left to lose but the one person he will not surrender.
"Bring your youngest brother. Bring your youngest friend." And the man does not refuse. He names what remains: "My youngest brother is my strength. My youngest friend is my comfort." The song ends here — not in capitulation but in recognition. The river-goddess has asked for everything. The man has named the one thing that sustains him. Whether the Volga takes the brother or relents, the song does not say. The silence at the end is the Erzya answer.
This song was collected and published in 1882 by the Orthodox Missionary Society of Kazan in the first volume of Образцы мордовской народной словесности (Samples of Mordovian Folk Literature), Song X. The collection presents each text in the Erzya original alongside a Russian translation on facing pages. No English translation of this song has ever been published.
A note on the endings: the Erzya original and the 1882 Russian translation diverge in their final verses. The Erzya has the Volga demand the "youngest brother/friend" (васень тякатъ, васень какатъ), and the man responds that this brother is his strength and comfort — an affirmation, not a surrender. The Russian translation instead has the Volga demand the "firstborn child" (первенец дитя), and the man responds that the child will "break" and "bend" him — a continuation of the tragic escalation. The translation below follows the Erzya original. The discrepancy suggests either variant oral traditions or editorial intervention by the 1882 Russian translator.
What holds the land?
What guards the people?
Three fish hold the land,
Three fish guard the people.
Where do these fish winter?
Where do these fish summer?
Between the Volga and the sea,
At the place where the sun sets...
Along the Volga goes a young man,
Along the Volga a young fellow.
His boat a silver boat,
His oar a golden oar.
Far away, far away he rowed,
Far away, far away he went —
To the very mouth of the sea.
His silver boat came to rest.
His golden oars were caught.
"Mother Volga, dear mother!
Mother Volga, nourisher!
What do you need?
Do you need possessions,
Do you need goods,
Do you need horses,
Do you need treasure?"
"I need no possessions,
Need no goods,
Need no horses,
Need no treasure,
Need no silver,
Need no gold.
Bring your own dear father,
Bring your own dear nourisher."
"Mother Volga, dear mother!
Mother Volga, nourisher!
If I bring my own father —
My yard will catch fire!"
"Bring your own dear mother,
Bring your own dear nourisher!"
"Mother Volga, dear mother!
Mother Volga, nourisher!
If I bring my own mother —
Hungry I will be!
If I bring my own nourisher —
Hungry I will be!"
"Bring your dear wife,
Bring your dear spouse!"
"Mother Volga, dear mother!
Mother Volga, nourisher!
If I bring my dear wife —
Naked I will be!
If I bring my dear spouse —
Naked I will be!"
"Bring your youngest brother,
Bring your youngest friend."
"Mother Volga, dear mother!
Mother Volga, nourisher!
My youngest brother — he is my strength!
My youngest friend — he is my comfort!"...
Colophon
Source: Образцы мордовской народной словесности, Выпуск 1: Песни на Эрзянском и некоторые на Мокшанском наречии (Samples of Mordovian Folk Literature, Volume 1: Songs in the Erzya Dialect and Some in the Moksha Dialect). Kazan: Orthodox Missionary Society Press, 1882. Public Domain (PD Mark 1.0, confirmed on archive.org).
Song translated: Song X, "Расъ ава" / "Матушка Волга" (Mother Volga).
Translation: Good Works Translation (AI-assisted). Translated from the Erzya Mordvin original by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026. The 1882 Russian translation on facing pages was consulted as a reference bridge to clarify Erzya vocabulary and syntax, but the English is independently derived from the Erzya source text. No previous English translation of this song is known to exist.
On the cosmological frame: The opening four lines of this song reproduce the same three-world-fish cosmology found in Song XIII of the same collection (separately translated as "The Three Fish that Hold the Land"). Song XIII presents the cosmology in isolation; Song X embeds it as a frame for the sacrifice dialogue that follows. The fish dwell "between the Volga and the sea, at the place where the sun sets" — Чинь чарамо таркасо, literally "at the place of the sun's heating/setting." This locates the world-upholding fish not in an abstract underworld but in the physical geography of the Erzya homeland: the lower Volga, where the great river meets the Caspian.
On the sacrifice pattern: The song follows a formal escalation pattern common in Uralic ritual poetry. The goddess rejects impersonal offerings (possessions, treasure, silver, gold) and demands increasingly intimate kin: father, mother, wife, brother. Each demand carries a named consequence that deepens the man's loss: fire (destruction of home), hunger (loss of sustenance), nakedness (loss of covering). The pattern encodes the Erzya understanding that a river-goddess — or any deity — cannot be propitiated with wealth. The gods want what is dearest. The song is, at its heart, a theology of sacrifice.
On the textual divergence: The Erzya ending and the Russian ending of this song differ significantly. The Erzya concludes with the Volga demanding the youngest brother (васень тякатъ) and youngest friend (васень какатъ), and the man responding that they are his strength (синлсамамъ) and comfort (мендсамамъ). The Russian version instead has the Volga demand the firstborn child (первенец дитя), with the man responding that this child will break him (сломитъ) and bend him (согнетъ). The Erzya ending is the primary text and the basis of this translation.
On the Erzya vocabulary: Rav (Равъ) = Volga (Erzya name for the river). Ava (ава) = mother, woman (also the feminine element in deity names: Norov Ava = grain goddess, Rav Ava = Volga goddess). Mastor (масторъ) = earth, land. Kal (калтъ) = fish. Эряви (eryavi) = to need, to be necessary. Uskikъ = bring! (imperative). Diren' (дирень) = own, one's own (possessive intensifier). Vasen' (васень) = youngest.
Register: Gospel register (plain, direct, warm).
Scribe: Vös tulku (second), New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Расъ ава
Erzya Mordvin source text from Образцы мордовской народной словесности, Выпуск 1 (Kazan, 1882). Pre-reform Cyrillic orthography preserved as in the original. Digitised text from archive.org. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
X. Расъ ава.
Мезе масторонь кирдсазо?
Мезе вародонъ вансазо?
Масторонь кирдсэ колмо калтъ,
Народонь ваінстсэ колмо калтъ.
5. Косо не калтнэ зимовить?
Косо не калтнэ лѣтовать?
Равъ марто моря ютксо,
Чинь чарамо таркасо...
Равъ ланга якн одъ цёра,
10. Равъ ланга яки одъ аля.
Сіянь венчке венчезэ,
Сырнень весла веолазо.
Басовъ авасовъ пачколесь,
Басовъ авасовъ молекшнесь—
15. Самой морянь усіясъ.
Лоткатотсь сіянь венчезэ,
Кундатотсть сырнень весланзо.
„Равъ авакай, матушкамъ!
Равъ авакай, корьмакай!
20. Мезе тонетъ эряви?
Эль эряви улесэ,
Эль эряви паросо,
Эль эряви кильдемсэ,
Эль эряви путомсо?"
25. — „А эряви улесэ,
А эряви паросо,
А эряви кильдемсэ,
А эряви путомсо,
А эряви сіясо,
30. А эряви сырнесэ.
Ускикъ дирень тонъ тетятъ,
Ускикъ дирень тотъ корьматъ."
„Равъ авакай, матушкамъ!
Равъ авакай, корьмакай!
35. Дирень тетявть монъ ускса—
Розордови кардазомъ!"
— „Ускикъ дирень тонъ аватъ,
Ускикъ дирень тонъ корьматъ!"
„Равъ авакай, матушкамъ!
40. Равъ авакай, корьмакай!
Дирень аванть монъ ускса—
Вачоманъ,
Дирень корьманть монъ ускса—
Вачоманъ!
45. — „Ускикъ саень тонъ полатъ,
Ускикъ саень тонъ вастатъ!"
„Равъ авакай, матушкамъ!
Равъ авакай, корьмакай!
Саень поланть монъ ускса—
50. Штапськаданъ,
Саень вастанть монъ уснса—
Штапськаданъ!"
— „Ускикъ васень тонъ тякатъ,
Ускикъ васень тонъ какатъ."
55. „Равъ авакай, матушкамъ!
Равъ авакай, корьмакай!
Васень тякась синлсамамъ,
58. Васень какась мендсамамъ!..."
Source Colophon
Source text: Song X, "Расъ ава" (Mother Volga), from Образцы мордовской народной словесности, Выпуск 1 (Kazan, 1882), pp. 26–30. Erzya original in pre-reform Cyrillic orthography. Public Domain. Digitised text extracted from the DJVU file at archive.org. OCR artefacts have been silently corrected where the reading is unambiguous.
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