VARUNA

He placed the sun in the sky, the intellect in hearts, the milk in cows, and caused the rivers to be born which, by virtue of his magical power, flow into the single sea without filling II. From his loftiest seat he sees all and spies with omniscience; the sun serves him as an eye. Guardian of moral order, he discovers and punishes the most secret faults, and thus the penitent sinner implores: “Loose from us the sin committed,” which is conceived as a snare with which VARUNA binds the guilty and punishes them with sickness and death. In the majority of Rigvedic hymns (v. RGVEDA) VARUNA is invoked together with MITRA, the solar god, to whom the same characteristics are attributed. To the two associated gods one often asks for the gift of rain: “Moisten us, O sovereigns, with the milk of heaven!” (Rgv., V, 63, 5).