Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t2.7

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).