The god of water in the Vedas is Varuna. Hinduism iconography, minor deities, dik-palas, varuna
VARUNA (VARUNA)
Varuna was highly respected during the Vedic period. He is the lord of the Adityas, the "eternally existing" sons of Aditi, personifying Infinity. During the Vedic period, Varuna was the presiding deity. He is “the one who makes the sun shine in the skies; the winds blow only when he breathes; he lays out the beds of rivers that flow at his command, and creates the depths of the sea; his demands are indisputable and irrefutable; thanks to him, the moon passes through the night sky in radiance and stars appear on it, disappearing during the day; he knows the directions of flight of birds in the sky, the roads of the wind traveling everywhere, the courses of ships in the ocean, the secrets of all things and events are revealed - those that have happened, those that are happening and those that are about to happen; he testifies to human truth and lies.”
Varuna, who was the all-encompassing deity in the Vedic period, was gradually supplanted by the warlike Indra. During the Puranic period, Varuna turned from the supreme deity into the god of the ocean, the counterpart of Neptune. His duties also include looking after the various demons that abundantly inhabit the water element. After such an overthrow, new images of Varuna began to appear. In them, the deity usually sits on a diamond throne next to his wife, surrounded by a retinue of gods and goddesses of various rivers, lakes and streams.
Varuna is the Guardian of the western side of the world.
Iconographic representation.
Varuna has a beautiful anthropomorphic shape, white color, sitting on the legendary sea monster Makara (the head and front legs of an antelope, the body and tail of a fish). Varuna can be depicted as either two-armed or four-armed. In one of his right hands he always holds a lasso (loop).
Varuna [Skt. ], ancient Indian god, one of the most important and ancient in the Vedic pantheon. Despite the fact that V.’s image attracted the attention of many. researchers, it remains unclear, contradictory and difficult to understand. In the Vedas, 10 hymns are addressed to V. and many more are addressed to V. together with other gods. Often in them V. is called a king, almighty, autocrat (for example, RV II.28). Based on the fact that in some hymns of the Rig Veda V. appears as initially the supreme god, but then pushed aside by Indra (IV. 42; X. 124), assumptions were made about his autochthonous, pre-Aryan origin (Shendge, Dandekar), but most researchers believes that V.'s image is Indo-European. roots and is related to such characters as the Greek. sky god Uranus, Hittite sea deity Aruna.
V. is closely associated with Mithras, the ancient deity of the treaty. The union of Mithra and V. (despite the fact that V. is often called an asura) can be compared with a pair of good deities of ancient Iran. Avestas - Mithra and Ahura Mazda. In Vedic texts, Mitra and V. are often combined into the paired deity Mitra-Varuna, representing a unity of opposites according to the principle of binary oppositions: they are opposed to each other as light and day (Mitra) - darkness and night (V.), their own, close - to someone else's , distant, sun and fire - moon and water, etc. According to the theory of J. Dumezil about the tripartite division of social functions in the pantheon, the Mitra-Varuna couple embodies the magical-legal function in the Vedic religion: they are the establishers and guardians of moral laws and world order (rita), and Mithra here personifies the merciful aspect of law, and V. - the punitive. Of all the gods of the Vedic pantheon, it is V. who is primarily associated with such moral categories as sin and retribution.
Dr. features of V.'s image are its connection with magic (Maya), with the celestial sphere, with the kingdom of death and with the water element. V. controls cosmic waters (the world ocean of ancient Indian cosmogony), heavenly (rains), earthly (rivers, seas) and underground. V. sends dropsy to his enemies and vow breakers. In post-Vedic mythology, V. acts as the spouse (or brother) of river goddesses; his abode is located in the depths of the west. ocean.
V. has almost no anthropomorphic features, personifies the vault of heaven: the sun and stars are his eyes, vigilantly monitoring people’s behavior; night and day are his clothing. V.'s main attributes are a noose (used to catch sinners and enemies), a lotus, a sea shell and a precious bowl; his mount (vahana) is the sea monster Makara.
In post-Vedic times, V. is mentioned in many ways. mythological plots, but plays minor roles in them. In the XIII book. The Mahabharata tells how V. kidnaps Bhadra, the wife of the sage Utathya, for which the latter, by the power of his asceticism, drains the ocean, V.’s abode, and forces him to return Bhadra. In the ancient legend of Shunakhshepa, reproduced in the Ramayana and Puranas, V. gives the childless king Harischandra a son on the condition that he sacrifice him; the king does not fulfill his vow, and V. sends dropsy to him; The king's son should be replaced by Shunakhshepa, the son of a beggar Brahman, but he, having prayed to the gods, is saved at the last moment. In the Mahabharata (III book) V. gives a weapon (noose) and a war chariot to the hero Arjuna; in the Markandeya Purana, V. participates in the creation of the Great Goddess (Devi, Durga, Kali) and supplies her with her battle noose. Like many others. other gods of the Vedic pantheon, who have lost their significance in Hinduism, V. is part of the group of lokapalas (guardian deities of the world) and patronizes the West.
Lit.: Dumezil G. Ouranos-Varuna: Etude de mythologie comparée indo-européenne. P., 1934; idem. Mitra-Varuna, Indra, les Nasatya comme patrons des trois fonctions cosmiques et socials // Studia Linguistica. Oxf., 1947. Vol. 1; Lommel N. Das Varuna und Fluch-Gedicht. Atharva-veda 4, 16 // ZDMG. 1938. Bd. 92. S. 462-463; Renou L. Varuna dans I "Atharvaveda // Festgabe für N. Lommel. Wiesbaden, 1960. S. 122-128; Thieme P. Patanjali über Varuna und die sieben Strome // Indo-Iranica: Mélanges presentés à G. Morgenstierne. Wiesbaden, 1964. P. 168-178; idem. King Varuna // German Scholars on India. Varanasi, 1973. P. 333-349; Elizarenkova T. Ya. Once again about Vedic god Varune // Tr. in Oriental Studies. Tartu, 1968. T. 1. P. 113-122; Gonda J. The Dual Deities in the Religion of the Veda. Amst., 1973; Shendge M. J. The Civilized Demons: The Harappans in Rigveda. New Delhi, 1977; Kuiper F. B. Varuna and Viduљaka. Amst. e. a., 1979; Dandekar R. N. Vedic Mythological Tracts // idem. Selected Writings. Delhi, 1979. Vol. 1; Dumezil J. Supreme gods Indo-Europeans. M., 1986; Toporov V. N. Varuna // Myths of the peoples of the world. M., 19912. T. 1. P. 217-218.
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In ancient Indian mythology, a god associated with cosmic waters, the guardian of truth and justice, the chief of the Adityas. Along with Indra, the greatest of the gods of the Vedic pantheon.
In the Vedas 10 hymns are dedicated to Varuna, in addition, numerous hymns are dedicated to Varuna together with Mitra. Only Varuna and Indra are called "almighty." Varuna:
As the German Indologist G. Lüders showed, the main feature of Varuna is the connection with cosmic waters in all their diversity:
Varuna pours out cosmic waters, liberates waters, paves the way for streams, covers the ocean, fills the sea with water, surveys the flow of rivers, is in rivers, in the sea; rivers are his sisters (there are seven of them).
Varuna is rather strict towards people and is generally far from them (cf. his non-anthropomorphism), however Varuna is favorable towards singers. Varuna does not so much bestow benefits on people as he watches over them and protects them from evil inclinations:
Varuna is the embodiment of world order (rta), truth. He looks out for truth and lies, looks for the guilty, punishes them (in particular, he sends dropsy to sinners; a rope or noose is his weapon against sinners) and forgives sins. He is the guardian of the highest law and the guarantee of lawfulness in the world.
In the Vedic hymns, Varuna is associated with Aditi (his mother), Agni and Soma, Manyu, Ushas, Indra (a number of hymns are dedicated to Varuna and Indra together). However, there are few mythological stories related to Varuna in the Vedas, and they are known only in fragments.
In addition to the cosmogonic motif of the golden embryo (sun) in the world ocean, connecting Mithra with Varuna, the Rigveda more or less fully presents only one mythological plot - the story of Varuna’s relationship with Vasishtha:
The sage and singer Vasishtha, who was once the favorite of Varuna, angered the formidable god and fell out of favor; he begs Varuna to save him from punishment, but Varuna sends a fatal disease to Vasishtha - dropsy.
Even less clear is the story of the rishi Trita, who finds himself at the bottom of a deep well and calls out for justice and intercession to Agni and Varuna; Wed motif of Trita Varuna being carried into the sea. Varun has a wife, Varunani or Varuni, who was later considered to be the goddess of wine.
In the post-Vedic period Varuna loses his leading position in the pantheon of gods, becomes one of the guardians of the world (lokapala) and is usually associated with the West, subordinate to the supreme triad of gods of the Hindu pantheon. After the overthrow of Nahusha from the heavenly throne, Brahma, according to epic sources, granted power over the universe to Indra and those who helped him return from exile (Varuna, Yama, Agni or Soma). In the tale of Nahusha, Varuna calls upon Indra to return and defeat Nahusha. At the same time, in the post-Vedic era, Varuna continues to be considered the lord of waters; but its power is significantly limited, and its connection with the moral law is almost completely obscured. But the image of Varun is strongly anthropomorphized, he acquires numerous connections, including family ones, and becomes part of big number plot schemes, however, rarely playing a major role in them.
In epics and puranas(mostly) the most famous stories involving Varuna are as follows.
Varuna kidnaps Bhadra, daughter of Soma, wife of the sage Utathya, and takes her to his palace at the bottom of the sea; Having learned about the kidnapping of his wife, Utathya sends the sage Narada to Varuna, but Varuna drives him away; Utathya turns to the Sarasvati River with a request not to feed the ocean with water, and he himself drains the ocean; Varuna is forced to submit and return his wife to her husband. Varuna gives him a son and demands that he be sacrificed; after a number of delays, the decision is made to sacrifice Varuna to Shunakhshepu.Wed. also plots associated with the sons or brother of Varuna (Agastya, Vasishtha, Bhrigu, Vivasvat, etc.) or with the kingdom of Varuna (for example, the legend of the nagas), which, along with his palace, is described more than once in the epic. A closer connection between Varuna and the lower kingdom, death is established (the loop becomes its main attribute); Varuna appears surrounded by snakes. Brahmans, on the contrary, emphasize the ritual aspect of Varuna (its connection with the Rajasuya sacrifice, Shat.-br. II 196; V 4, 3, 1, etc.).
The evolution of the image of Varuna (in particular, such moments as his being pushed aside by Indra and his close connection with Mithra) allows us to restore some details of the formation of this deity.
The combination Mithra - Varuna (despite the fact that Varuna is an asura) is undoubtedly related to the ancient Iranian Mithra - Ahuramazda, which reliably guarantees the Indo-Iranian character of this pair. Researchers compared the very name Varuna with the Hittite sea deity Aruna, with ancient Greek god sky Uranus, finally, with the Slavic Volos (Veles), Lithuanian Velnyas, etc. Therefore, while maintaining a number of ambiguities, Indo-European parallels to this name are undoubted.
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one of the most ancient and therefore gods of the Vedic pantheon (see VEDAS), leading the Aditya group together with his brother Mitra; both embody magico-legal. function of the tribal system. V. plays the role of guardian of space and morals. the law of puma, the punisher of sinners, to whom he sends diseases. Its natural basis is unclear, but it is definitely associated with the primordial cosmic. waters and night darkness. In the Rig Veda, Indra competes with V. and pushes him aside. In post-Vedic mythology, V. becomes the god of waters and is included in the group of locals. His abode is located in the depths of the west. ocean, demons who died in battles with the gods go into it under the power of V. The main attribute of V. is a noose (even in the Vedas, for catching sinners, later - demons), others (in iconography) are a lotus, a shell, a bowl with diamonds. V. is often depicted surrounded by river goddesses, of whom he acts as the husband and ruler. The wife of V. Varuni, the personification of an intoxicating drink, is mentioned. The great sages Vasishta and Agastya are called his sons. Vahana V. - sea monster Makara.
V. Erman
Meanings in other dictionaries
Varuna
(i.e., enveloping, embracing, in Greek Ουρανoς) - in the Sanskrit sacred books this is the name of one of the heavenly gods; in the Vedas he is glorified as the first god (Adityas), the creator and preserver of the world, and also as a righteous and gentle judge, punishing sins and rewarding virtue. Some of the best hymns of the Rig Veda are addressed to him. In later mythology, he is primarily the god of waters and...
Varuna
In the Vedic religion, the greatest, along with Indra, of the gods. In the Vedas he appears as the creator (demiurge) and guardian of the world, a formidable judge god, punisher and rewarder. In the post-Vedic period, he became the deity of the water elements. ...
Varuna
(Old Indian Varuna), in ancient Indian mythology, a god associated with cosmic waters, the guardian of truth and justice, the chief of the Adityas; along with Indra, the greatest of the gods of the Vedic pantheon. V. is dedicated to Yu hymns, in addition, numerous hymns are dedicated to V. together with Mithras. Only V. and Indra are called “almighty.” V. is also an autocrat, a king (over the world, over gods and people) over everything...
Varna
(species, genus, color) - the name of the four social communities, or ranks, into which the population was divided ancient india. Taken together, V. represented a hierarchy of statuses that did not coincide with property, class, or politics. division of the company. The eldest was V. Brahmans - scientists, priests and teachers, associated with her White color; second in rank - V. Kshatriyas - warriors, rulers and nobility (red color...
Varna-ashrama-dharma
the law of periods of life, according to which a person belonging to one of the 3 higher varnas (brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya) must first lead the life of a student (brahmacharin), then enter into married life and become a householder (grihastha), then lead the life a hermit (vanaprastha) and in the last stage give up all worldly attachments and become a wandering ascetic (sannyasin). The order of the first three ashr...