Posts Tagged ‘Varuna’

Varuṇa: Guardian of West

Varuna (Sanskrit वरुण varuṇa) is the god of water and is always worshipped in a kalasha (water vessel) with the jala bija वं (vaṁ).

When the day is divided into two halves (horā) being the daytime and night time, then the two āditya presiding over these halves are Indra (day, Sun, dakṣiṇāyana) and Varuṇa[1] (night, Moon, uttarāyana). These deities are also the guardians of the eastern and western quarters of the universe representing sunrise and sunset which divide the day into horā (half). Varuṇa corresponds to the dark (night) half of the sky and represents the ‘Dark Sun’ (sun in night sky below the horizon) as it travels back from West to East during the night. Hence, Varuṇa is an āditya. He is the lord of the celestial ocean that manifests at night with glowing stars.

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