The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c16.s2.8

v1.c16.s2.8

Characteristic of the two gods is their mystic power, Māyā.¹ With it Varuṇa measures out the earth with the sun as with a measure; Varuṇa and Mitra make the sun to cross the sky, the rain to fall, and send the dawns. All physical order is subject to the control of Varuṇa with or without Mitra: the law of Varuṇa holds earth and sky apart; the three heavens and the three earths are deposited within him; heaven, earth, and air are supported by the two gods; the wind is the breath of Varuṇa. By his ordinances the moon moves at night and the stars shine. He embraces the nights and establishes the mornings. He regulates the seasons: the kings, Mitra, Varuṇa, and Aryaman, dispose the autumn, the month, day and night. From another point of view Mitra and Varuṇa are essentially connected with rain, and among the gods they are most frequently invoked to bestow the gift of rain. Occasionally even in the Rigveda Varuṇa appears connected with the waters of the ocean, to which flow the seven rivers, but the ocean² is little known in the Rigveda, and his real connexion with water is that with the waters of the air, whence comes it that in the Naighaṇṭuka he is ranked as an aerial no less than a celestial god.