VARUNA. - V. is the god of the starry sky, who presides over rta, the order both moral and cosmic.

He placed the sun in the sky, the intellect in hearts, milk in cows, and caused the rivers to be born which, by virtue of his magical power, pour into the single sea without filling it. From his most lofty seat the omniscient one sees and spies all things; the sun serves him as an eye. Guardian of the moral order, he discovers and punishes the most secret faults, and therefore the repentant sinner implores: "Loosen from us the sin committed," which is conceived as a snare with which V. binds the guilty and punishes him with disease and with death. In the greater number of Rigvedic hymns (v. VEDA) V. is invoked together with Mitra, the solar god, to whom the same characteristics are attributed. From the two associated gods one often asks the gift of rain: "Bathe us, O sovereigns, with the milk of heaven!" (Rgv., V, 63, 5).

Bibliography

BIBL.: H. Oldenberg, La religion du Veda, trans. by V. Henry, Paris 1903.

Ferdinando Belloni Filippi

@incollection{ec12_varuna, author = {Belloni, Filippi Ferdinando}, title = {Varuna}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {1035--1036}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/varuna} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

About this entry