English: TRIBUTES TO A FEW OF THE LESS COMMONLY PICTURED
VARUNA, the guardian of sacred law and order.
FROM THE RIG VEDA:
"And I ask my own heart, `When shall I be close to Varuna? Will he enjoy my offering and not be provoked to anger? When shall I see his mercy and rejoice?'
I ask myself what that transgression was, Varuna, for I wish to understand. I turn to the wise to ask them. The poets have told me the very same thing: `Varuna has been provoked to anger against you.'
O Varuna, what was the terrible crime for which you wish to destroy your friend who praises you? Proclaim it to me so that I may hasten to prostrate myself before you and be free from sin, for you are hard to deceive and are ruled by yourself alone." (pp. 213-214)
VEDIC DEITIES
Source of all images: http://members.xoom.it/kundalini/kundalini_eng/
(downloaded Oct. 1999)
The website owner says he got these images from a 19th-century textbook on Hinduism.
Source of all text: The Rig Veda; An Anthology, trans. Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (New York: Penguin, 1981)