Encyclopedias & Dictionaries | Monier-Williams: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (p. 921) varuṇa, m. (once in the, TĀr. varuNa) 'All-enveloping Sky', N. of an Āditya (in the Veda commonly the night as Mitra over the day, but often celebrated separately, whereas Mitra is rarely invoked alone; Varuṇa is one of the oldest of the Vedic gods, and is commonly thought to correspond to the ...... of the Greeks, although of a more spiritual conception; he is often regarded as the supreme deity, being then styled 'king of the gods' or 'king of both gods and men' or 'king of the universe'; no other deity has such grand attributes and functions assigned to him; he is described as fashioning and upholding heaven and earth, as possessing extraordinary power and wisdom called māyā, assending his spies or messengers throughout both worlds, as numbering the very winkings of men's eyes, as hating falsehood, as seizing transgressors with his pAśa or noose, as inflicting diseases, especially dropsy, as pardoning sin, as the guardian of immortality; he is also invoked in the Veda together with Indra, and in later Vedic literature together with Agni, with Yama, and with Vishṇu; in, RV. iv, 1, 2, he is even called the brother of Agni; though not generally regarded in the Veda as a god of the ocean, yet he is often connected with the waters, especially the waters of the atmosphere or firmament, and in one place [RV. vii, 64, 2] is called with Mitra, sindhu-pati, 'lord of the sea or of rivers'; hence in the later mythology he became a kind of Neptune, and is there best known in his character of god of the ocean; in the, MBh. Varuṇa is said to be a son of Kardama and father of Pushkara, and is also variously represented as one of the Deva-gandharvas, as a Nāga, as a king of the Nagas, and as an Asura; he is the regent of the western quarter [cf. loka-pAla] and of the Nakshatra Śatabhishaj [VarBṛS.]; the Jainas consider Varuṇa as a servant of the twentieth Arhat of the present Avasarpiṇī), RV. &c. &c. (cf, IW. 10; 12 &c.); the ocean, VarBṛS.; water, Kathās.; the sun, L.; awarder off or dispeller, Sāy. on RV. v, 48, 5; N. of a partic. magical formula recited over weapons, R. (v.l. varaNa); the tree Crataeva Roxburghii, L. (cf. varaNa); pl. (prob.) the gods generally, AV. iii, 4, 6; (ā), f. N. of a river, MBh.
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