A History of Sanskrit Literature c7.67

c7.67

In comparing historically Varuṇa and Indra, whose importance was about equal in the earlier period of the *Rigveda*, it seems clear that Varuṇa was greater in the Indo-Iranian period, but became inferior to Indra in later Vedic times. Indra, on the other hand, became in the Brāhmaṇas and Epics the chief of the Indian heaven, and even maintained this position under the Puranic triad, Brahmā-Vishṇu-Çiva, though of course subordinate to them.