Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/139

 The Prehistoric Gods 1:23

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“ The great guardian among these gods sees as if from anear. He that thinketh he is moving stealthilymall this the gods know. '

“Whose stands, walks, or sneaks about, and whoso goes slinking off, whose runs to cover ;—-—-if two sit to» gether and scheme, King Varuna is there as the third and knows it.

“Both this earth here belongs to King Varnna and also yonder broad sky, whose bounds are far away. The two oceans are Varuna’s loins ; yea, in this petty droP of water is he hidden.

“Whose should ﬂee beyond the heavens far away would yet not be free from King Varuna. From the sky his spies come hither; with a thousand eyes they do watch over the earth.

“ All this King Varuna does beholdmwhat is between the two ﬁrmaments, what beyond. Numbered of him are the winkings of men’s eyes. As a (winning) gamester puts down the dice, thus does he establish these (laws).”

Another hymn, Rig—Veda 7. 86, depicts Varuna as guardian of moral order, hence angry at the mis- deeds of men. The contrite attitude of his suppli- ant, a singer of the family of the Vasishthas, the authors of the seventh book of the Rig-Veda, has a strong Hebraic ﬂavor, and, like the preceding hymn, suggests many a passage of the Psalms: