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The Religion of the Veda

light, earth, and all that is good. He was the first progenitor, the first father of divine order. He made a way for the sun and the stars. It is he that causes the moon to grow or wane.[1] As guardian of divine order Ahura is not to be deceived, does not sleep; he sees all human deeds, overt or covert.[2]

The Veda describes Varuna in the same spirit, at times in almost the same words. He is the supporter of beings; he has spread the atmosphere over the forests; has put fleetness into the steed, and milk into the cows. He has placed intelligence into the heart, fire into the waters, the sun upon the sky, the soma-plant upon the mountains. He has opened a path for the sun; the floods of the rivers hasten seaward like racers obeying the divine order.[3] Even more pointed than Ahura's is the expression of Varuna's omniscience and undeceivableness: he sees all the past and all the future; he is present as a third wherever two men secretly scheme; his spies do not close their eyes.

The hymn Atharva-Veda 4. 16 presents a rugged picture of Varuna in his rôle of omniscient and omnipotent god:

  1. ↑ Yasna 37. 1; 44. 3.
  2. ↑ Yasna 31. 13; 43. 6; 45. 4; Vendidad 19-20. Cf. Oldenberg in Journal of the German Oriental Society, vol. I, p. 48.
  3. ↑ Rig-Veda 5. 85. 2; 87, 1; 8. 41. 5.
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