From: vidynath@function.mps.ohio-state.edu (Vidhyarath K Rao)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Re: Indra, Mithra and Varuna
Date: 10 Nov 92 11:26:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: ogicse.45667
Distribution: world
Organization: Department of Mathematics, The Ohio State University

Once upon a time, it was customary to explain Vedic gods as
personifications forces of nature. According to this theory, Varuna is the
sky, Mitra is the sun (anyone not explained any other way is the sun in
this theory) and Indra is the storm and so on. This theory seems to still
popular among Indian authors (cf the follow-up a few days back).
European specilists either reject it (eg Dumezil and his "disciples") or
ignore it (Gonda etc). See books by Dumezil or Gonda's book on Mitra to
get references to critics.

Only other general theory that has been proposed is the one by Dumezil.
In his theory, Dumezil sees a tripartite ideology in all Indo-European
religions, excepting Greek. The three functions are sacerdotal, military
and production. Note that sacerdotal can include a kind of sacred
kingship. Varuna and Mitra belong to the first function and Indra to the
second.

Here is what a literal interpretation of RgVeda would suggest: Varuna and
Mitra are the kings of the gods. Sometimes Varuna alone is called the
Samrat (in TeX sa{\d m}r{\= a}{\d t}). Mitra is seldom addressed by himself
and it is not all that easy to figure out what he by himself is.

Varuna is (or Varuna and Mitra together are) the possessor par excellence
of the gods' maya. Here maya seems to mean supernatural and inexplicable
power. They are the guardians of "rta" (rta is one of those untranslatable
words; it means some thing like "order"). Varuna is the punisher of sins:
he binds the sinners with his noose; he sends diseases to afflict the
sinful. His power (magical power, not physical power) is irresitable and
his laws are obeyed by all, including the gods. He may not have been
considered to be expecially merciful. He has some affinity with the
"divine waters", but he is by no means the "god of waters/ocean" as he is
in Hinduism proper.

As I mentioned earlier, Mitra by himself is not a very distince figure.
Most of the time, Mitra and Varuna are invoked as a pair. This has led to
some controversy as to the character of Mitra. According Gonda, Mitra
is the one who puts things in order, and corrects wrongs. When invoked
together with Varuna, he shares in the attributes of Varuna.

Indra is the warrior par excellence. His weapon is the vajra, the
thunderbolt. His picture in the RgVeda is almost a double of Thor. Indra
is ruddy, prodigious eater and partial to the Soma drink (which may either
alcholoic [no defence ever given for this theory] or a mood altering
drug [from a mushroom, according to Wasson, who makes a very good case]).
He is the one who fights the enemys of gods, either alone or together
with the Maruts. He is invincible. Unlike his role in Hinduism, he is
not often called king in RgVeda, and unlike Varuna he is never called
samrat. (cf: In Mahabharata, Yudhishtira is the king, but in some of the
Jatakas, it is Arjuna who is styled the king.)

For more factual information, the best information is McDonnell's
Vedic Mythology, although it is set in the context of "natural forces
theory". But it gives the best summary of the facts, with few intrusions
of personal prejudices and theories. Dumezil hase not written
any summaries of their theories, and you will have to read his numerous
publications to get a sense of his theory. Other modern scholars don't
seem to have a theory as such.They tend to concentrate on the details,
content to leave the theorizing to the future generations.

-- 
Vidhyanath Rao			It is the man, not the method, that solves
nathrao+@osu.edu		the problem. - Henri Poincare
(614)-366-9341			[as paraphrased by E. T. Bell]