Vedic Literature > Atharva Veda > Deities or Gods

There are more than a hundred hymns to the various devās like Agni, Varuņa etc., which can be understood in many ways, especially as recepticles of psychological wisdom. The hymn to Varuņa, the lord of infinities and the Divine observer AV (4.16) is given here.

We give here only one verse dedicated to Agni in (7.71).

"Victorious Agni, we meditate on thee
Who is around us like a fort, and
Who destroys the treacherous foe, day by day."

We give below the hymn of Varuņa, the god of Vastness. Note particularly the epithet used in the last verse (Verse 8). He exist everywhere, he is divine, he is human.

 

 

ATHARVA VEDA (4.16)
THE DIVINE OBSERVER
 (Varuņa)

Rishi:  Brahma

 

The great Ruler of all these worlds,

  beholds as if from near at hand

the man who thinks he acts by stealth,

   The devās know all this of him.            (1)

 

When one stands or walks or moves in secret,

  or goes to his lying down or uprising,

when two sitting together take secret counsel,

  King Varuņa knows, being there the Third. (2)

 

This earth belongs to Varuņa, the King,

  and the heavens, whose ends are far apart.

Both the oceans are the loins of Varuņa,

  and he is merged within the small water-drop.         (3)

 

If one will go away beyond the heavens,

  still he cannot escape King Varuņa;

his envoys move about here from the heavens,

  and, thousand-eyed, they look upon the earth.   (4)

 

King Varuņa observes all that which lies

  between heaven and earth and beyond them;

the twinklings of men's eyes have been counted by him;

  as a dicer the dice, he measures everything.  (5)

 

These fatal snares of thine, O Varuņa,

  that stand stretched seven by seven and threefold,

let all these catch up the man who tells a lie,

  but pass by one who speaks the truth.          (6)

 

With a hundred nooses bind him, Varuņa,

  let him not who lies escape thee, Looker on men !

Let the mean fellow sit stretching his belly

  like a cask of which the bands have been cut.    (7)

 

Varuņa is that which exists alongside,

  Varuņa is that which exists crosswise,

Varuņa is of our own land, he is of

  foreign land Varuņa is divine, he is human.       (8)

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