Rta

In the Vedas (the oldest and most
authoritative Hindu texts) rta is the cosmic order and regularity that allows the
rhythms of time and the seasons to
occur in orderly succession. According
to the texts, rta also had a moral dimension, which human beings had an obligation to support. One such moral
dimension was truth, which was seen
as upholding the cosmos, whereas its
opposite, anrta, came to signify falsehood. The connection between natural
and moral world came through the
Vedic god Varuna, who was both
the guardian of rta and the deity who
punished untruth, usually by affliction
with dropsy.