Vedic Mythology c5.7.2

c5.7.2

It is certain that two gods tower above the rest as leading deities about equal in power, Indra as the mighty warrior and Varuṇa as the supreme moral ruler. The older form of Varuṇa became, owing to the predominance of his ethical qualities, the supreme god of Zoroastrianism as Ahura Mazda, while in India Indra developed into the warrior god of the conquering Aryans. Varuṇa appears as preëminent only when the supreme laws of the physical and moral world are contemplated, and cannot be called a popular god. It has been held by various scholars that Varuṇa and the Ādityas were the highest gods of an older period, but were later displaced by Indra (p. 28). There is at any rate no evidence to show that Indra even in the oldest Rigvedic period occupied a subordinate position. It is true that Ahura Mazda is the highest god and Indra only a demon in the Avesta. But even if Indra originally possessed coördinate power with Varuṇa in the Indo-Iranian period, he was necessarily relegated to the background when the reform of the Avestan religion made Ahura Mazda supreme²⁰ (cp. p. 28). Next to Indra and Varuṇa come the two great ritual deities Agni and Soma. These two along with Indra are, judged by the frequency of the hymns addressed to them, the three most popular deities of the RV. For, roughly speaking, three-fifths of its hymns are dedicated to their praise.