Volga

The Volga. It is one of the largest rivers on Earth: the longest and most voluminous in Europe, and the largest in the world to flow into an inland sea rather than an ocean. Sounds like the enigmatic Russian soul, doesn’t it?
For those born on the Volga, the river is always within: from afar, it flows through the soul, no matter where you are. The Greeks and Scythians called it Ra; the Sarmatians and Turks, Itil; and the Slavs, Vlga (from the Old Church Slavonic vlga or vologa — meaning moisture or water). The root "Ra" has been preserved in many significant Russian words, such as raduga (rainbow), radost (joy), and prashchur (ancestor).
Ra is the oldest known name, predating even its Egyptian counterpart and appearing in written records since the beginning of our era. This name is Indo-Iranian — or perhaps even pre-Indo-Iranian — and is related to the Vedic Rasa (dew, a mythical river, or a deity of a river or lake).
As the cradle of Proto-Indo-European civilization, the Volga has connected peoples for millennia: from Scandinavia and Rus’ to Volga Bulgaria, Khazaria, and ancient Iran. Volga-Ros, the Great River. "Mother Volga" — that is what people in Russia still call it, with all their hearts.