VARUNA, THE OMNISCIENT GOD OF THE UNIVERSE

“ Varuna,” says Max Muller, “ is one of the most interesting creations of the Hindu mind, because, though we can still perceive the physical background from which he rises, the vast, starry, brilliant expanse above, his features more than those of any other Vedic god have been completely transfigured, and he stands before us as a god who watches over the world, punishes the evil-doer, and even forgives the sins of those who implore his pardon.” In the Rig-Veda an exceedingly high position is ascribed to Varuna. He is chief of the Adityas, “ inviolable, imperishable, eternal beings,” sons of Aditi, an abstract, mysterious creation representing Infinity, who, as Muir says, “ may best be regarded as a personification of universal, allembracing Nature or Being.” This great mother goddess had twelve sons, of whom the chief were Varuna, Mitra, Daksha, Indra, Savitri, and Surya. The name Varuna is derived from the Sanskrit var “to cover.” He is, therefore, the god of the heavens covering all things. The same word in Greek is oupavos = “ heaven,” and he is clearly one of the earliest Aryan gods, worshipped by Greek and Aryan alike before the separation took place. At this early period he was the supreme deity. A mysterious presence, a mysteriouspower, and a mysterious knowledge were all ascribed to him.

“ He it is who makes the Sun to shine in the heavens ; the winds that blow are but his breath ; he has hollowed out the channels of the rivers which flow at his command, and he has made the depths of the sea. His ordinances are fixed and unassailable ; through their operation the moon walks in brightness, and the stars which appear in the nightly sky vanish in daylight. The birds flying in the air, the rivers in their sleepless flow, cannot attain a knowledge of his power and wrath. But he knows the flight of the birds in the sky, the course of the far travelling wind, the paths of ships on the ocean, and beholds all the secret things that have been, or shall be, done. He witnesses men’s truth and falsehood.” 1 In truth, omniscience is his outstanding attribute. The Sun and the thousand stars are his eyes searching out all that passes on earth, from which even darkness cannot hide.

When two are in company he is the third. He is the god of the serene distant heaven, yet he is not far from any one of us. “ His spies descending from the skies glide all this world around ; Their thousand eyes, all scanning, sweep to earth’s remotest bound. Whate’er exists in heaven and earth, whate’er beyond the skies, Before the eye of Varuna the thing unfolded lies. The secret winkings all he counts of every mortal’s eyes And wields this universal frame as gamester throws his dice ! ’’ 2 Still higher attributes than those in the translation of the Vedic hymn just quoted are ascribed to him in the Vedas.

Indeed the attributes and functions ascribed to Varuna impart to his character an unparalleled moral grandeur and a sanctity far surpassing that attributed to any other Vedic deity. The early Aryan pleads with him : “ Be gracious, O mighty God, be gracious. I have sinned through want of power ; be gracious. “Seeking to perceive that sin, O Varuna, I inquire; I resort to the wise to ask. The sages all tell me the same ; it is Varuna who is angry with thee. What great sin is it, Varuna, for which thou  seekest to slay thy worshipper and friend ? Tell me, O unassailable and self-dependent god ; and, freed from sin, I shall speedily come to thee for adoration. Release us from the sins of our fathers, and from  those which we have committed in our own persons. “ It was not our will, Varuna, but some seduction which led us astray—wine, anger, dice, or thoughtlessness. The stronger perverts the weaker. Even sleep occasions sin.” 1 “ In the Yajur-Veda the following is narrated of Varuna.

He is found instructing Bhrigu, one of the Divine Rishis, as to the nature of Brahma, the Supreme Spirit, ‘ whence,’ he says, ‘ all beings are produced by which they live when born, towards which they tend, and unto which they pass.’  “ Bhrigu, after meditating in devout contemplation, recognised food (or body or matter) to be Brahma : ‘ for all things are indeed produced from food ; when born they live by food ; towards food they tend ; they pass into food.’ “ Unsatisfied, however, after further meditation he discovered breath to be Brahma : ‘ for all things are indeed produced from breath ; when born they live by breath ; towards breath they tend ; they pass into breath.’ “Again he sought Brahma in deep meditation, and discovered intellect to be Brahma : ‘ for all things are produced by thought,’ &c., &c. This he understood, but coming to Varuna said, ‘ Venerable Father, make known to me Brahma.’ Varuna replied, * Inquire by devout contemplation ; profound meditation is Brahma.’ “ He thought deeply and then he knew ‘ ananda ’ (or felicity) to be Brahma : ‘ for all things are indeed produced from desire ; when born they live by joy ; they tend towards happiness ; they pass into felicity.” 2 Such is the science taught by Varuna of the origin of things.

“ Varuna appears to have retained his supremacy as god of the illimitable universe as long as the Aryans were only in the Northern Panjab; but by and by they spread to the territory watered by the Jumna and Ganges, and he was superseded by the tumultuous Indra, the god of cloud and storm. The awful purity of the visible heaven, or of the invisible being presiding over it (for the Hindu made no distinction between the two) became oppressive, and they were not unwilling to forget him so fierce was his heat. But it was a deplorable fall when men began to say, ‘ The haughty Indra takes precedence of all the gods.’ 1

In the Puranas a sad change comes over the scene. Varuna, from being one of the highest of the Vedic gods, becomes a mere god of the ocean, a second-rate Neptune. He carries about with him a kind of waterproof umbrella formed of the hood of a cobra and called “ Abhoga.” 2 His moral character suffers a corresponding declension. Instead of hating sin, it is narrated of him in the Mahabharata that he carried offthe wife of the sage Utathya, and as Varuna would not restore her, Utathya drank up all the sea and then Varuna yielded. He also joined with Surya, the Sun god, in an intrigue with the courtesan Urvasi, by which means an eminent ascetic was born called Agastya.

It seems possible from the following legend found in the Rig-Veda 3 that human sacrifices may at one time have been offered to Varuna. A certain being, named Harischandra, had no son. On the advice of Narada, the sage, he went to Varuna and said : “ Let but a son be born, O King ! to me, And I will sacrifice that son to thee.”

Varuna granted the request. When the boy grew up, his father told him of the vow he had made, but unfortunately the one hand, the conception of Varuna as the all-embracing heaven had been established, and, on the other hand, the observation of the rivers flowing towards the ends of the earth and to the sea, had led to the conjecture that there existed an ocean enclosing the earth in its bosom, then the way was thoroughly prepared for connecting Varuna with the ocean.” the son was not willing to be sacrificed, and ran away from home. Varuna, being displeased at the non-fulfilment of the king’s vow, afflicted him with dropsy. For six years the boy wandered in the jungle ; at length, happening to meet a poor Brahman with his three sons, the prince proposed to purchase one of them to offer as a substitute for himself. The father would not give up his first-born, and the mother clung to the youngest, so the middle one was taken. When the boy was bound and ready to be sacrificed, he asked permission to recite some texts in praise of the gods. The deities that he lauded were so pleased that they interceded with Varuna to spare his life. Varuna granted their request and Harischandra recovered from the dropsy.

“ Varuna is represented as a white man sitting on a fabulous marine monster with the head and front legs of an antelope and the body and tail of a fish. In his right hand he  carries a noose. He is occasionally worshipped in seasons of drought, and by fishermen as they cast their nets, but nowadays no images of him are made.” 1 The Vedic deity Mitra is commonly associated with Varuna, and possesses similar attributes. There is a distinction between the two. Mitra is more generally represented as a god typifying the light of the day, whereas Varuna represented the starry expanse of the night. Hymns are frequently addressed to both interchangeably, and the same terms are employed to Mitra as to Varuna.