Wątki indyjskie w mistycznej twórczości Juliusza Słowackiego
Indian Threads in Juliusz Słowacki’s Mystical Creativity

Summary/Abstract: The article attempts to resolve the Indian threads in Juliusz Słowacki’s mystical works. Analysing his output it may be deduced that the poet adapts some elements of Indian thought to the needs of his creation. In “Genezis z Ducha (Genesis from the Spirit)” and in “Dzieje Sofos i Heliona (The History of Sofos and Helion)” the metempsychical way of spirit passes through all nations from the Indian beginning, which brings Słowacki closer to Hegel’s conception of the history of mankind. By contrast, in “Król-Duch (King Spirit)” the Indian past of Slavianism can be noticed. Słowacki showed his interest in the Slavic custom of widow burning, the reflections of which he found in the proto-Slavic culture–Slavic princesses perish on stakes in “King Spirit.” It may be argued that Słowacki realised Friedrich Schlegel’s great dream and one of the most seminal postulate of Romanticism: he created a new myth, deriving inspiration from India discovered by the Europeans.

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