Varuna

Varuna appears in the book chiefly through its explanatory account of his place in Vedic and later mythology. The note identifies him as one of the oldest Vedic gods and describes a divine authority extending across both heaven and earth: he watches wrongdoing, commands messengers in both worlds, and can punish transgressors or pardon the penitent. It also marks a change in his later mythological identity, where he becomes the god of the sea.

Identity and Status

The commentary places Varuna among the earliest and most elevated Vedic deities, observing that he was often regarded as supreme. His significance is therefore not confined to a single natural domain: the account associates him with the ordering and governance of the cosmos, while acknowledging that later mythology gives him a more specifically maritime role. The note also compares his name and, in part, his character with those of an ancient Greek god, situating him within a broader history of divine traditions.

Powers and Jurisdiction

Varuna’s authority is described through both knowledge and enforcement. He upholds heaven and earth and possesses exceptional power and wisdom; his messengers travel through both worlds, and he is said to count even the winking of human eyes. The image makes his jurisdiction intimate as well as cosmic: human conduct remains within his awareness, not beyond it.

His punishment is associated with a deadly noose, which seizes transgressors. Yet the account does not portray judgment as unyielding: Varuna also pardons those who repent. The pairing of punishment and forgiveness presents his power as moral governance, capable both of restraining wrongdoing and of responding to penitence.

Changing Mythological Role

The note distinguishes Varuna’s older Vedic standing from his later association with the sea. Rather than treating these as identical descriptions, it records a shift in emphasis: a deity once regarded as a possible supreme ruler of the cosmic order is, in later mythology, especially identified with the maritime realm. The book’s evidence thus preserves both the breadth of his older authority and the more specialized role by which he became familiar in later tradition.