Varuna

In the Vedas, the oldest and most
authoritative religious texts, Varuna is
a deity associated with the sky, with
waters, with justice, and with truth.
Varuna belongs to the earliest layer of
the Indo-Aryan deities; this is clearly
shown by comparisons with the
Avesta, an ancient Iranian sacred text
that shows many parallels with the
Vedas, and with even older epigraphic
sources. As portrayed in the Vedas, however, Varuna’s influence has clearly
declined—there are far fewer hymns
addressed to him than to deities such as
Indra, Agni, and Soma, and he seems to
have played a far less important role
than these other deities in Vedic religion.
In the Vedas, Varuna is portrayed as
the guardian of rta, the cosmic order
through which the world proceeds. As
the deity associated with the high heaven,
he also watches over the deeds of
human beings and punishes them for
any transgressions. The best known
hymn to Varuna, Rg Veda 7.86, shows
Varuna’s connection with justice, moral
order, and the waters. The hymn is the
lament of a person who has committed
some offense against Varuna and whose
sin has become visible through being
afflicted with dropsy, in which the body
retains its fluids and swells. The speaker
begs Varuna to reveal the forbidden act,
“committed under the influence of
liquor, anger, or heedlessness,” so that
Varuna may be propitiated and the sufferer healed.
Despite his virtual eclipse early in the
tradition, in the later tradition, Varuna
retains his association as the god presiding over the waters. He is also considered to be one of the eight Guardians of
the Directions, each of which is associated with one of eight points on the
compass. Varuna presides over the western direction.