Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t2: § 12. Varuṇa

Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t2

Language
English

§ 12. Varuṇa

c5.s1.t2.1

—Varuṇa, as has been shown (p. 20), is by the side of Indra, the greatest of the gods of the RV. The number of hymns dedicated to his praise is not a sufficient criterion of his exalted character. Hardly a dozen hymns celebrate him exclusively. Judged by the statistical standard he would rank only as a third class deity; and even if the two dozen hymns in which he is invoked along with his double Mitra are taken into account, he would only come fifth in order of priority, ranking considerably below the Aśvins and about on an equality with the Maruts (cp. p. 20).

c5.s1.t2.2

The anthropomorphism of Varuṇa's personality is more fully developed on the moral than the physical side. The descriptions of his person and his equipment are scanty, more stress being laid on his activity. He has a face, an eye, arms, hands, and feet. He moves his arms, walks, drives, sits, eats and drinks. The poet regards the face (*anīkam*) of Varuṇa as that of Agni (7, 88² cp. 87⁶). The eye of Mitra and Varuṇa is the sun (1, 115¹; 6, 51¹; 7, 61¹. 63¹; 10, 37¹). The fact that this is always mentioned in the first verse of a hymn, suggests that it is one of the first ideas that occur when Mitra and Varuṇa are thought of. The eye with which Varuṇa is said in a hymn to Sūrya (1, 50⁶) to observe mankind, is undoubtedly the sun. Together with Aryaman, Mitra and Varuṇa are called sun-eyed (7, 66¹⁰), a term applied to other gods also. Varuṇa is far-sighted (1, 25⁵. ¹⁶; 8, 90²) and thousand-eyed (7, 34¹⁰). Mitra and Varuṇa stretch out their arms (5, 64²; 7, 62⁵) and they drive with the rays of the sun as with arms (8, 90²). Like Savitṛ and Tvaṣṭṛ they are beautiful-handed (*supāṇī*). Mitra and Varuṇa hasten up with their feet (5, 64⁷), and Varuṇa treads down wiles with shining foot (8, 41⁸). He sits on the strewn grass at the sacrifice (1, 26⁴; 5, 72²), and like other gods he and Mitra drink Soma (4, 41³ &c.). Varuṇa wears a golden mantle (*drāpi*) and puts on a shining robe (1, 25¹³). But the shining robe of ghee with which he and Mitra are clothed (5, 62⁴; 7, 64¹) is only a figurative allusion to the sacrificial offering of melted butter. The glistening garments which they wear (1, 152¹) probably mean the same thing. In the ŚB. (13, 3, 6⁵) Varuṇa is represented as a fair, bald, yellow-eyed old man¹. The only part of Varuṇa's equipment which is at all prominent is his car. It is described as shining like the sun (1, 122¹⁵), as having thongs for a pole (ibid.), a car-seat and a whip (5, 62⁷), and as drawn by well-yoked steeds (5, 62⁴). Mitra and Varuṇa mount their car in the highest heaven (5, 63¹). The poet prays that he may see Varuṇa's car on the earth (1, 25¹⁸).

c5.s1.t2.3

Mitra and Varuṇa's abode is golden and situated in heaven (5, 67²; 1, 136²) and Varuṇa sits in his mansions (*pastyāsu*) looking on all deeds (1, 25¹⁰. ¹¹). His and Mitra's seat (*sadas*) is great, very lofty, firm with a thousand columns (5, 68⁵; 2, 41⁵) and their house has a thousand doors (7, 88⁵). The all-seeing sun rising from his abode, goes to the dwellings of Mitra and Varuṇa to report the deeds of men (7, 60¹⁻³), and enters their dear dwelling (1, 152⁴). It is in the highest heaven that the Fathers behold Varuṇa (10, 14⁸). According to the ŚB. (11, 6, 1) Varuṇa, conceived as the lord of the Universe, is seated in the midst of heaven, from which he surveys the places of punishment situated all around him¹.

c5.s1.t2.4

The spies (*spaśaḥ*) of Varuṇa are sometimes mentioned. They sit down around him (1, 24¹³). They behold the two worlds; acquainted with sacrifice they stimulate prayer (7, 87³). Mitra's and Varuṇa's spies whom they send separately into houses (7, 61³), are undeceived and wise (6, 67⁵). In the AV. (4, 16⁴) it is said that Varuṇa's messengers descending from heaven, traverse the world; thousand-eyed they look across the whole world. The natural basis of these spies is usually assumed to be the stars; but the RV. yields no evidence in support of this view. The stars are there never said to watch, nor are the spies connected with night. The conception may very well have been suggested by the spies with whom a strict ruler on earth is surrounded². Nor are spies peculiar to Varuṇa and Mitra, for they are also attributed to Agni (4, 4³), to Soma (9, 73⁴⁻⁷. here perhaps suggested by the previous mention of Varuṇa), to demons combated by Indra (1, 33⁸), and to the gods in general (10, 10⁸). In one passage the Ādityas are said to look down like spies from a height (8, 47¹¹). That these spies were primarily connected with Mitra and Varuṇa is to be inferred from the fact that the Iranian Mithra also has spies, who are, moreover, called by the same name (*spaś*) as in the Veda³. The golden-winged messenger (*dūta*) of Varuṇa once mentioned in the RV. (10, 123⁶), is doubtless the sun.

c5.s1.t2.5

Varuṇa alone, or conjointly with Mitra, is often called a king (*rājā*), like the other leading deities and Yama (1, 24⁷·⁸ &c.)⁴. He is king of all, both gods and men (10, 132⁴; 2, 27¹⁰), of the whole world (5, 85³), and of all that exists (7, 87⁶). Varuṇa is also a self-dependent ruler (2, 28¹), a term generally applied to Indra. Much more frequently Varuṇa, alone or mostly in association with Mitra, is called a universal monarch (*samrāj*). This term is also applied to Agni a few times and oftener to Indra. Counting the passages in which Varuṇa and Mitra together are so called, it is connected with Varuṇa nearly twice as often as with Indra. Considering that for every eight or ten hymns celebrating Indra only one is dedicated to Varuṇa in the RV., the epithet may be considered peculiarly appropriate to Varuṇa.

c5.s1.t2.6

The attribute of sovereignty (*kṣatra*) is in a predominant manner appropriated to Varuṇa, generally with Mitra and twice with Aryaman also. Otherwise it is applied only once respectively to Agni, Bṛhaspati, and the Aśvins. Similarly the term ‘ruler’ (*kṣatriya*) in four of its five occurrences refers to Varuṇa or the Ādityas and once only to the gods in general. The epithet *asura* (§ 67) is connected with Varuṇa, alone or accompanied by Mitra, oftener than with Indra and Agni; and, taking account of the proportion of hymns, it may be said to be specially applicable to Varuṇa⁵. Mitra and Varuṇa are also called the mysterious and noble lords (*asurā aryā*) among the gods (7, 65²).

c5.s1.t2.7

The divine dominion of Varuṇa and Mitra is often referred to with the word *māyā*⁶. This term signifies occult power, applicable in a good sense to gods or in a bad sense to demons. It has an almost exact parallel in the English word ‘craft’, which in its old signification meant ‘occult power, magic’, then ‘skilfulness, art’ on the one hand and ‘deceitful skill, wile’ on the other. The good sense of *māyā*, like that of *asura* (which might be rendered by ‘mysterious being’) is mainly connected with Varuṇa and Mitra, while its bad sense is reserved for demons. By occult power Varuṇa standing in the air measures out the earth with the sun as with a measure (5, 85⁵), Varuṇa and Mitra send the dawns (3, 61⁷), make the sun to cross the sky and obscure it with cloud and rain, while the honied drops fall (5, 63⁴); or (ibid. ³·⁷) they cause heaven to rain and they uphold the ordinances by the occult power of the Asura (here = Dyaus or Parjanya)⁷. And so the epithet *māyin*, ‘crafty’, is chiefly applied to Varuṇa among the gods (6, 48¹⁴; 7, 28⁴; 10, 99¹⁰. 147⁵).

c5.s1.t2.8

In marked contrast with Indra, Varuṇa has no myths related of him, while much is said about him (and Mitra) as upholder of physical and moral order. Varuṇa is a great lord of the laws of nature. He established heaven and earth and dwells in all the worlds (8, 42¹). The three heavens and the three earths are deposited within him (7, 87⁵). He and Mitra rule over the whole world (5, 63⁷) or encompass the two worlds (7, 61⁴). They are the guardians of the whole world (2, 27⁴ &c.). By the law of Varuṇa heaven and earth are held apart (6, 70¹; 7, 86¹; 8, 41¹⁰). With Mitra he supports earth and heaven (5, 62³), or heaven, earth, and air (5, 69¹·⁴). He made the golden swing (the sun) to shine in heaven (7, 87⁵). He placed fire in the waters, the sun in the sky, Soma on the rock (5, 85²). He has made a wide path for the sun (1, 24⁸; 7, 87¹). Varuṇa, Mitra, and Aryaman open paths for the sun (7, 60⁴). The order (*ṛta*) of Mitra and Varuṇa is established where the steeds of the sun are loosed (5, 62¹). The wind which resounds through the air is Varuṇa's breath (7, 87²).

c5.s1.t2.9

By Varuṇa's ordinances (*vratāni*) the moon shining brightly moves at night, and the stars placed up on high are seen at night but disappear by day (1, 24¹⁰). In another passage (8, 41³) it is said that Varuṇa has embraced (*pari ṣaṣvaje*) the nights, and by his occult power has established the mornings or days (*usraḥ*). This can hardly indicate a closer connexion with night than that he regulates or divides night and day (cp. 7, 66¹¹). In fact it is the sun that is usually mentioned with him, and not the moon or night. Thus in the oldest Veda Varuṇa is the lord of light both by day and by night, while Mitra, as far as can be judged, appears as the god of the celestial light of day only.

c5.s1.t2.10

In the later Vedic period of the Brāhmaṇas Varuṇa comes to be specially connected with the nocturnal heaven⁸. Thus Mitra is said to have produced the day and Varuṇa the night (TS. 6, 4, 8³); and the day is said to belong to Mitra and the night to Varuṇa (TS. 2, 1, 7⁴)⁹. This view may have arisen from a desire to contrast Mitra, who was still felt to be related to the sun, with Varuṇa whose natural basis was more obscure. The antithesis between the two is differently expressed by the ŚB. (12, 9, 2¹²), which asserts that this world is Mitra, that (the celestial) world is Varuṇa.

c5.s1.t2.11

Varuṇa is sometimes referred to as regulating the seasons. He knows the twelve months (1, 25⁸)¹⁰; and the kings Mitra, Varuṇa, and Aryaman are said to have disposed the autumn, the month, day and night (7, 66¹¹).

c5.s1.t2.12

Even in the RV. Varuṇa is often spoken of as a regulator of the waters. He caused the rivers to flow; they stream unceasingly according to his ordinance (2, 28⁴). By his occult power the rivers swiftly pouring into the ocean do not fill it with water (5, 85⁶). Varuṇa and Mitra are lords of rivers (7, 64²). Varuṇa is already found connected with the sea in the RV., but very rarely, perhaps owing to its unimportance in that collection. Varuṇa going in the oceanic waters is contrasted with the Maruts in the sky, Agni on earth, and Vāta in air (1, 161¹⁴)¹¹. The statement that the seven rivers flow into the jaws of Varuṇa as into a surging abyss (8, 58¹²), may refer to the ocean¹². Varuṇa is said to descend into the sea (*sindhum*) like Dyaus (7, 87⁶)¹³. It is rather the aerial waters that he is ordinarily connected with. Varuṇa ascends to heaven as a hidden ocean (8, 41⁸). Beholding the truth and falsehood of men, he moves in the midst of the waters which drop sweetness and are clear (7, 49³). Varuṇa clothes himself in the waters (9, 90² cp. 8, 69¹¹. ¹²). He and Mitra are among the gods most frequently thought of and prayed to as bestowers of rain. Varuṇa makes the inverted cask (of the cloud) to pour its waters on heaven, earth, and air, and to moisten the ground, the mountains then being enveloped in cloud (5, 85³˙ ⁴). Mitra and Varuṇa have kine yielding refreshment and streams flowing with honey (5, 69²). They have rainy skies and streaming waters (5, 68⁵). They bedew the pasturage with ghee (= rain) and the spaces with honey (3, 62¹⁶). They send rain and refreshment from the sky (7, 64²). Rain abounding in heavenly water comes from them (8, 25⁶). Indeed, one entire hymn (5, 63) dwells on their powers of bestowing rain. It is probably owing to his connexion with the waters and rain, that in the fifth chapter of the Naighaṇṭuka Varuṇa is enumerated among the deities of the atmospheric as well as those of the celestial world. In the Brāhmaṇas Mitra and Varuṇa are also gods of rain¹⁴. In the AV. Varuṇa appears divested of his powers as a universal ruler, retaining only the control of the department of waters. He is connected with the waters as Soma with the mountains (AV. 3, 3³). As a divine father he sheds rain-waters (AV. 4, 15¹²). His golden house is in the waters (AV. 7, 83¹). He is the overlord of waters, he and Mitra are lords of rain (AV. 5, 24⁴· ⁵). In the YV. he is spoken of as the child (*śiśu*) of waters, making his abode within the most motherly waters (VS. 10, 7). The waters are wives of Varuṇa (TS. 5, 5, 4¹). Mitra and Varuṇa are the leaders of waters (TS. 6, 4, 3²).

c5.s1.t2.13

Varuṇa's ordinances are constantly said to be fixed, the epithet *dhṛtavrata* being preëminently applicable to him, sometimes conjointly with Mitra. The gods themselves follow Varuṇa's ordinances (8, 41⁷) or those of Varuṇa, Mitra, and Savitṛ (10, 36¹³). Even the immortal gods cannot obstruct the fixed ordinances of Mitra and Varuṇa (5, 69⁴ cp. 5, 63⁷). Mitra and Varuṇa are lords of order (*ṛta*) and light, who by means of order are the upholders of order (1, 23⁵). The latter epithet is mostly applied either to them and sometimes the Ādityas or to the gods in general. They are cherishers of order or right (1, 2⁸). Varuṇa or the Ādityas are sometimes called guardians of order (*ṛtasya gopā*), but this term is also applied to Agni and Soma. The epithet 'observer of order' (*ṛtāvan*), predominantly used of Agni, is also several times connected with Varuṇa and Mitra.

c5.s1.t2.14

Varuṇa's power is so great that neither the birds as they fly nor the rivers as they flow, can reach the limit of his dominion, his might, and his wrath (1, 24⁶). Neither the skies nor the rivers have reached (the limit of) the godhead of Mitra and Varuṇa (1, 151⁹). He embraces the All and the abodes of all beings (8, 41¹· ⁷). The three heavens and the three earths are deposited in him (7, 87⁵). Varuṇa is omniscient. He knows the flight of birds in the sky, the path of ships in the ocean, the course of the far-travelling wind, and beholds all the secret things that have been or shall be done (1, 25⁷⁻ ⁹· ¹¹). He witnesses men's truth and falsehood (7, 49³). No creature can even wink without him (2, 28⁶). The winkings of men's eyes are all numbered by Varuṇa, and whatever man does, thinks, or devises, Varuṇa knows (AV. 4, 16²· ⁵). He perceives all that exists within heaven and earth, and all that is beyond: a man could not escape from Varuṇa by fleeing far beyond the sky (AV. 4, 16⁴· ⁵). That Varuṇa's omniscience is typical is indicated by the fact that Agni is compared with him in this respect (10, 11¹).

c5.s1.t2.15

As a moral governor Varuṇa stands far above any other deity. His wrath is roused by sin, the infringement of his ordinances, which he severely punishes (7, 86³· ⁴). The fetters (*pāśāḥ*) with which he binds sinners, are often mentioned (1, 24¹⁵. 25²¹; 6, 74⁴; 10, 85²⁴). They are cast sevenfold and threefold, ensnaring the man who tells lies, passing by him who speaks truth (AV. 4, 16⁶). Mitra and Varuṇa are barriers, furnished with many fetters, against falsehood (7, 65³). Once Varuṇa, coupled with Indra, is said to tie with bonds not formed of rope (7, 84²). The term *pāśa* is only once used in connexion with another god, Agni, who is implored to loosen the fetters of his worshippers (5, 2⁷). It is therefore distinctive of Varuṇa. According to Bergaigne the conception of Varuṇa's fetters is based on the tying up of the waters, according to Hillebrandt on the fetters of night¹⁵. But is seems to be sufficiently accounted for by the figurative application of the fetters of criminals to moral guilt. Together with Mitra, Varuṇa is said to be a dispeller, hater, and punisher of falsehood (1, 152¹; 7, 60⁵. 66¹³). They afflict with disease¹⁶ those who neglect their worship (1, 122⁹). On the other hand, Varuṇa is gracious to the penitent. He unties like a rope and removes sin (2, 28⁵; 5, 85⁷˙⁸). He releases not only from the sins which men themselves commit, but from those committed by their fathers (7, 86⁵). He spares the suppliant who daily transgresses his laws (1, 25¹) and is gracious to those who have broken his laws by thoughtlessness (7, 89⁵). There is in fact no hymn to Varuṇa (and the Ādityas) in which the prayer for forgiveness of guilt does not occur, as in the hymns to other deities the prayer for worldly goods.

c5.s1.t2.16

Varuṇa has a hundred, a thousand remedies, and drives away death as well as releases from sin (1, 24⁹). He can take away or prolong life (1, 24¹¹. 25¹²; 7, 88⁴. 89¹). He is a wise guardian of immortality (8, 42²), and the righteous hope to see in the next world Varuṇa and Yama, the two kings who reign in bliss (10, 14⁷).

c5.s1.t2.17

Varuṇa is on a footing of friendship with his worshipper (7, 88⁴⁻⁶), who communes with him in his celestial abode and sometimes sees him with the mental eye (1, 25¹⁸; 7, 88²).

c5.s1.t2.18

What conclusions as to the natural basis of Varuṇa can be drawn from the Vedic evidence which has been adduced? It is clear from this evidence, in combination with what is said below about Mitra (§ 13), that Varuṇa and Mitra are closely connected with the sun, but that the former is the much more important deity. Mitra has in fact been so closely assimilated to the greater god that he has hardly an independent trait left. Mitra must have lost his individuality through the predominant characteristics of the god with whom he is almost invariably associated. Now, chiefly on the evidence of the Avesta, Mitra has been almost unanimously acknowledged to be a solar deity (§ 13). Varuṇa must therefore have originally represented a different phenomenon. This according to the generally received opinion, is the encompassing sky. The vault of heaven presents a phenomenon far more vast to the eye of the observer than the sun, which occupies but an extremely small portion of that expanse during its daily course. The sky would therefore appear to the imagination as the greater deity. The sun might very naturally become associated with the sky as the space which it traverses every day and apart from which it is never seen. The conception of the sun as the eye of heaven is sufficiently obvious. It could not very appropriately be termed the eye of Mitra till the original character of the latter had become obscured and absorbed in that of Varuṇa. Yet even the eye of Sūrya is several times spoken of in the RV. (p. 30). The attribute of ‘far-seeing’, appropriate to the sun, is also appropriate to the sky, which might naturally be conceived as seeing not only by day but even at night by means of the moon and stars. No real difficulty is presented by the notion of Varuṇa, who has become quite separate from his physical basis¹⁷, mounting a car in the height of heaven with Mitra. For such a conception is easily explicable from his association with a solar deity; besides every leading deity in the RV. drives in a car. On the other hand, the palace of Varuṇa in the highest heavens and his connexion with rain are particularly appropriate to a deity originally representing the vault of heaven. Finally, no natural phenomenon would be so likely to develope into a sovereign ruler, as the sky. For the personification of its vast expanse, which encompasses and rises far above the earth and on which the most striking phenomena of regular recurrence, the movements of the luminaries, are enacted, would naturally be conceived as watching by night and day all the deeds of men and as being the guardian of unswerving law. This development has indeed actually taken place in the case of the Zeus (= Dyaus) of Hellenic mythology. What was at first only an appellative of the sky has here become the supreme ruler of the gods dwelling in the serene heights of heaven, who gathers the clouds, who wields the thunderbolt, and whose will is law.

c5.s1.t2.19

The phenomena with which the two greatest gods of the RV. were originally connected, largely accounts for the difference in their personality. Varuṇa as concerned with the regularly recurring phenomena of celestial light, is the supreme upholder of law in the moral as well as the physical world. His character as such afforded no scope for the development of myths. Indra as the god fighting in the strife of the elements, was conceived by the militant Vedic Indian as a sovereign of the warrior type. Owing to his close connexion with the meteorological phenomena of the thunderstorm, which are so irregular in time and diversified in feature, the character of Indra on the one hand shows traits of capriciousness, while on the other he becomes the centre of more myths than any other deity of the RV. The theory of Roth as to the supersession of Varuṇa by Indra in the Rigvedic period, is dealt with below (§ 22).

c5.s1.t2.20

With the growth of the conception of Prajāpati (§ 39) as a supreme deity, the characteristics of Varuṇa as a sovereign god naturally faded away, and the dominion of the waters, only a part of his original sphere, alone remained to him. Thus he ultimately became in post-Vedic mythology an Indian Neptune, god of the Sea.

c5.s1.t2.21

The hypothesis recently advanced by Oldenberg¹⁸ that Varuṇa primarily represented the moon, cannot be passed over here. Starting from the assertion that the characteristic number of the Ādityas was seven and that their identity with the Ameṣaspentas of the Avesta is an assured fact, he believes that Varuṇa and Mitra were the moon and sun, the lesser Ādityas representing the five planets, and that they were not Indo-European deities, but were borrowed during the Indo-Iranian period from a Semitic people more skilled in astronomy than the Aryans. The character of Varuṇa when borrowed must further have lost much of its original significance and have already possessed a highly ethical aspect. For otherwise a distinctly lunar deity could hardly have thrown Mitra, who was clearly understood to be the sun, into the shade in the Indo-Iranian period, or have developed so highly abstract a character as to account for the supreme position, as a moral ruler, of Ahura Mazda in the Avesta and of Varuṇa in the Veda. This hypothesis does not seem to account at all well for the actual characteristics of Varuṇa in the RV. It also requires the absolute rejection of any connection between Varuṇa and οὐρανός¹⁹.

c5.s1.t2.22

¹⁸ Weber, ZDMG. 9, 242; 18, 268. —

c5.s1.t2.23

¹⁹ ORV. 286, n. 2. —

c5.s1.t2.24

It has already been mentioned that Varuṇa goes back to the Indo-Iranian period (§ 5), for the Ahura Mazda of the Avesta agrees with him in character²⁰ though not in name. The name of *Váruṇa* may even be Indo-European. At least, the long accepted identification of the word with the Greek οὐρανός, though presenting phonetic difficulties, has not been rejected by some recent authorities on comparative philology²¹.

c5.s1.t2.25

²⁰ Cp. Roth, ZDMG. 6, 72; Eggers, Mitra 54—7; Oldenberg, ZDMG. 50, 48. —

c5.s1.t2.26

²¹ OST. 5, 60.

c5.s1.t2.27

But whether the word is Indo-European or the formation of a later period²², it is probably derived from the root *var*, to cover²³, thus meaning 'the encompasser'. Sāyaṇa (on RV. 1, 89³) connects it with this root in the sense of enveloping or confining the wicked with his bonds²⁴, or commenting on TS. 1, 8, 16¹, in that of enveloping 'like darkness' (cp. *TS.* 2, 1, 7⁴). If the word is Indo-European, it may have been an attribute of *dyaus*, the ordinary name of 'sky', later becoming the regular appellative of sky in Greece, but an exalted god of the sky in India²⁵.

c5.s1.t2.28

— 5 BDA. 120—1; ORV. 163. — 6 BRV. 3, 81; v. Bradke, ZDMG. 48, 499—501; ORV. 163. 294. — 7 Cf. BDA. 55. 60. — 8 OST. 5, 70; Roth, PW. s. v. Varuṇa; BRV. 3, 116 ff.; v. Schroeder, WZKM. 9, 119. — 9 Cf. TB. 1, 7, 10¹; Sāyaṇa on RV. 1, 893; 2, 388; 7, 87¹; TS. 1, 8, 16¹. — 10 Cp. WVB. 1894, p. 38. — 11 Bollensen, OO. 2, 467. — 12 Roth, Nirukta, Erl. 70—1. — 13 Cp. Roth, ZDMG. 6, 73. — 14 Hillebrandt, Varuṇa und Mitra 67, note. — 15 Cp. HRI. 68. — 16 Varuṇa's later connexion with dropsy is traced by Hillebrandt, p. 63 f. and ORV. 203 even in the RV., a view opposed by BRV. 3, 155. — 17 Cp. Oldenberg, ZDMG. 50, 61. — 18 ORV. 285—98. — 19 Cp. v. Schroeder, WZKM. 9, 116—28; Macdonell, JRAS. 27, 947—9. — 20 Roth, ZDMG. 6, 69 ff. (cp. OST. 5, 72); Whitney, JAOS. 3, 327; but Windischmann (Zoroastrische Studien p. 122) held Ahura Mazda to be purely Iranian, and Spiegel, Av. Transl. 3, introd. iii., sees no similarity between Ahura Mazda and Varuṇa; cp. Sp.AP. 181. — 21 Brugmann, Grundriss 2, 154; Prellwitz, Etym. Wörterbuch d. gr. Spr. — 22 Cp. v. Schroeder, WZKM. 9, 127. — 23 Hillebrandt 9—14; v. Schroeder, WZKM. 9, 118, n. 1; HRI. 66, note; 70; cp. also Sonne, KZ. 12, 364—6; ZDMG. 32, 716 f.; Bollensen, ZDMG. 41, 504 f.; Geldner, BB. 11, 329; MM., Chips 4², xxiii f. — 24 Cp. GVS. 2, 22, note; Oldenberg, ZDMG. 50, 60. — 25 Macdonell, JRAS. 26, 628.

c5.s1.t2.29

Roth, ZDMG. 6, 70—4; 7, 607; JAOS. 3, 341—2. Weber, IS. 17, 212 f.; OST. 5, 58—75; LRV. 3, 314—6; GRV. 1, 34; Hillebrandt, Varuṇa und Mitra, Breslau 1877; BRV. 3, 110—49; MM., India 197—200; BRI. 16—9; GPVS. I, 142. 188; WC. 98—103; Kerbaker, Varuṇa e gli Aditya, Napoli 1889; Bohnenberger, Der altindische Gott Varuṇa, Tübingen 1893; ORV. 189—95. 202—3. 293—8. 336, n. 1; ZDMG. 50, 43—68; HRI. 61—72; JAOS. 16, cxlviii ff.; 17, 81, note; Foy, Die königliche Gewalt, Leipzig 1895, p. 80—6 (Die Späher Varuṇa's).

c5.s1.t2.30

§ 13. Mitra. — The association of Mitra with Varuṇa is so predominant that only one single hymn of the RV. (3, 59) is addressed to him alone. The praise of the god is there rather indefinite, but the first verse at least contains something distinctive about him. Uttering his voice (*bruvāṇaḥ*) he brings men together (*yātayati*) and watches the tillers with unwinking eye (*animiṣā*, said also of Mitra-Varuṇa in 7, 60⁶).

c5.s1.t2.31

In another passage (7, 36²) almost the same words are applied to Mitra who 'brings men together, uttering his voice', in contrast with Varuṇa who is here called 'a mighty, infallible guide'. This seems a tolerably clear reference to Mitra's solar character, if we compare with it another verse (5, 82⁹) where it is said that the sun-god Savitṛ 'causes all creatures to hear him and impels them'. In the fifth verse of the hymn to Mitra the god is spoken of as the great Āditya 'bringing men together'. This epithet (*yātayaj-jana*) is found in only three other passages of the RV. In one of these it is applied to Mitra-Varuṇa in the dual (5, 72²), in another to Mitra, Varuṇa, and Aryaman (1, 136³), and in the third (8, 91¹²) to Agni, who 'brings men together like Mitra'. The attribute therefore seems to have properly belonged to Mitra. The hymn to Mitra further adds that he supports heaven and earth, that the five tribes of men obey him, and that he sustains all the gods. Savitṛ is once (5, 81⁴) identified with Mitra because of his laws, and elsewhere (Vāl. 4³) Viṣṇu is said to take his three steps by the laws of Mitra. These two passages appear to indicate that Mitra regulates the course of the sun. Agni who goes at the head of the dawns produces Mitra for himself (10, 84); Agni when kindled is Mitra (3, 5⁴); Agni when born is Varuṇa, when kindled is Mitra¹ (5, 3¹). In the AV. (13, 3¹³) Mitra at sunrise is contrasted with Varuṇa in the evening, and (AV. 9, 3¹⁸) Mitra is asked to uncover in the morning what has been covered up by Varuṇa². These passages point to the beginning of the view prevailing in the Brāhmaṇas, that Mitra is connected with day and Varuṇa with night. That view must have arisen from Mitra having been predominantly conceived as allied to the sun, Varuṇa by antithesis becoming god of night³. The same contrast between Mitra as god of day and Varuṇa as god of night is implied in the ritual literature, when it is prescribed that Mitra should receive a white and Varuṇa a dark victim at the sacrificial post (TS. 2, 1, 7⁴. 9¹; MS. 2, 57)⁴. The somewhat scanty evidence of the Veda showing that Mitra is a solar deity, is corroborated by the Avesta and Persian religion in general. Here Mithra is undoubtedly a sun-god or a god of light specially connected with the sun⁵.

c5.s1.t2.32

¹ Eggers 16—19. — [^2] Hillebrandt 67. — [^3] Oldenberg thinks that the special connexion of Varuṇa with night is old: ZDMG. 50, 64—5. — [^4] Hillebrandt 67. 90; ORV. 192, note. — [^5] Sp.AP. 183; ORV. 48. 190; Eggers 6—13. — [^6] Hillebrandt 113—4; Eggers 70. — [^7] Eggers 42—3. — [^8] Eggers 53—6. KHF. 13; Roth, ZDMG. 6, 70 ff.; PW.; OST. 5, 69—71; Windischmann, Mithra, Leipzig 1859; GW. s. v. Mitra; Hillebrandt, Varuṇa und Mitra 111—36; BRV. 3, 110—29; Bollensen, ZDMG. 41, 503—4; Weber, IS. 17, 212; BRI. 17; ORV. 190—2; Bohnenberger 85; A. Eggers, Der arische Gott Mitra, Dorpat 1894 (Dissertation); v. Schroeder, WZKM. 9, 118; HRI. 71; Oldenberg, SBE. 46, 241. 287. ¹ Cp. ZDMG. 7, 475—6. — ² Otherwise HVM. 1, 345, note 3. — 3 Cp. ZDMG. 2, 223; 7, 82. — 4 BRV. 1, 6; 2, 2. — 5 EHNI, Yama 134. — 6 KZ. 12, 358; J. SCHMIDT, KZ. 26, 9. —

c5.s1.t2.33

The etymology of the name is uncertain⁶. However, as the word also often means ‘friend’ in the RV. and the kindly nature of the god is often referred to in the Veda, Mitra even appearing as a god of peace (TS. 2, 1, 8⁴)⁷, while in the Avesta Mithra is on the ethical side of his character the guardian of faithfulness⁸, it must have originally signified ‘ally’ or ‘friend’ and have been applied to the sun-god in his aspect of a beneficent power of nature.

Cites (7)