Vedic Mythology c5.s2.38

c5.s2.38

It has been maintained by ROTH³⁷ followed by WHITNEY (JAOS. 3, 327) that the preeminence of Varuṇa as belonging to an older order of gods was in the course of the Rigvedic period transferred to Indra. This view is based partly on the fact that not a single entire hymn in the tenth book is addressed to Varuṇa, while Indra is celebrated in forty-five. There are, however, two hymns (126, 185) of book X, in which Varuṇa is lauded with two other Ādityas, and in many single verses of that book Varuṇa is invoked or referred to along with other deities. The argument from the number of hymns is not very cogent, as in all the earlier books of the RV. far more hymns are addressed to Indra than to Varuṇa. In book III no hymn is devoted to Varuṇa but 22 to Indra, and in book II there is only one to Varuṇa and 23 to Indra. Moreover, these two books added together are considerably shorter than the tenth alone. It is, however, true that Varuṇa is much less frequently mentioned in the last book than in the earlier books of the RV. Beyond this fact there seems to be no direct and decisive proof of the supersession of Varuṇa by Indra during the composition of the RV. One hymn (4, 42) of the earlier part, describing in the form of a dialogue the rivalry between Indra and Varuṇa has, however, been regarded (GKR. 27) as characteristically indicating a transition from an older period in the relative importance of the two gods. The conclusion is perhaps hardly justified by the statements of another (cp. GRV. 2, 401) of the last book (10, 124)³⁸. At the same time it must be remembered that on the one hand Varuṇa seems to have occupied a more important position than Indra in the Indo-Iranian period, while on the other, Indra in the Brāhmaṇas (AB. 8, 12) and in the epics has become chief of the Indian heaven and even maintains this position under the Purāṇic triad Brahmā-Viṣṇu-Śiva, though of course subordinate to them³⁹. Varuṇa meanwhile had become divested of his supreme powers by the time of the AV. (p. 26). Thus there must have been at least a gradually increasing popularity of Indra even in the Rigvedic age. By Benfey (OO. 1, 48) and Bréal (Hercule et Cacus 101) Indra in the Vedas is considered rather to have superseded the ancient Dyaus. This may perhaps with greater probability be maintained with regard to the Indo-Iranian Trita Āptya. For Trita though rarely mentioned in the RV. is there described as performing the same exploits as Indra, occasionally appearing even as the more important personage in the myth (§ 23).