Varuna stands among the most theologically charged figures in the depth-psychology corpus — not merely a Vedic deity but a symbolic type that several major scholars deploy to illuminate sovereignty, cosmic order, and the moral structure of the psyche. Campbell treats Varuna as the supreme encompasser of the Ṛg Vedic universe, whose attribute (ṛta — cosmic order) prefigures all later Hindu metaphysics; paradoxically, Varuna receives fewer hymns than Indra yet surpasses him in majesty. Zimmer positions Varuna within a theological succession narrative: Indra displaced Varuna, who had already superseded Father Dyaus — a pattern of divine supersession that mirrors developmental stages in speculative thought. Eliade reads the rājasūya coronation rite as an earthly reproduction of Varuna’s primordial self-consecration, fixing the god as archetype of sovereignty whose ritual gestures must be reenacted. Harrison locates Varuna alongside Ahura Mazdā as twin guardians of ṛta/asha — cosmic righteousness — tracing a pre-separation Indo-Iranian ethical theology. Jung’s Psychological Types draws on Varuna as a parallel to ṛta itself, signaling the god’s function as embodiment of directing principle. Taken together, these treatments make Varuna a pivotal reference point for questions of sovereignty, cosmic law, moral order, and divine succession that run through comparative depth-psychological mythography.
in majesty above all, though hardly a dozen hymns were addressed to him exclusively, was the deity Varuṇa. Varuṇa’s name is from the verbal root vṛ, ‘to cover, to encompass’; for he encompasses the universe, and his attribute is sovereignty.
Campbell establishes Varuna as the supreme Vedic deity, whose name, root etymology, and attribute of encompassing sovereignty set him above numerically more celebrated gods.
, Oriental Mythology: The Masks of God, Volume II, 1962thesis
ascendancy over older, as Indra did over Varuna, and as Varuna, in an earlier age, had superseded the great father Dyaus, Father Heaven.
Zimmer situates Varuna within a theological succession — displaced by Indra, himself a displacer of Dyaus — as an index of evolving divine hierarchies in Indian speculative thought.
, Philosophies of India, 1951thesis
‘is only the terrestrial reproduction of the ancient consecration which Varuna, the first Sovereign, performed for his own benefit… if the king makes such and such a gesture, it is because in the dawn of time, on the day of his consecration, Varuna made it.’
Eliade presents Varuna as the archetypal sovereign whose primordial self-consecration is the mythic prototype endlessly reproduced in the royal rājasūya ritual.
, The Myth of the Eternal Return: Cosmos and History, 1954thesis
Varuna of the Veda, and Ahura Mazda of the Avesta, are divinities closely akin, and one of the most interesting parallels between Veda and Avesta is that both gods are described as ‘the spring of the rta, or righteousness.’
Harrison argues that Varuna and Ahura Mazdā share a common pre-separation Indo-Iranian identity as sources of cosmic righteousness (ṛta/asha), linking Vedic and Avestan moral theology.
, Themis: A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion, 1912thesis
the same is said of rta as of Varuna, the sky-god. Mitra also, the ancient sun-god, is brought into relation with rta.
Jung’s treatment of ṛta in Psychological Types positions Varuna as the deity whose qualities are functionally equivalent to cosmic law itself, making the god a personification of directed world-order.
, Psychological Types, 1921supporting
Thee, the plant, which the Gandharva dug up for Varuna, when his virility had decayed, thee, that causest strength, we dig up.
Jung’s Red Book footnote cites an Atharva-Veda charm invoking Varuna in a context of restored virility, indicating the god’s archaic association with vital force and regenerative power.
, The Red Book: Liber Novus, 2009supporting
the fire of Varuṇa (lord regent of ocean and of the western quarter) shall be ours!
Zimmer identifies Varuna as lord regent of ocean and the western quarter, illustrating the god’s cosmological assignment within the directional-elemental scheme of Vedic ritual hymns.
, Philosophies of India, 1951supporting
Varuna is God immanent in water. A good Hindu may not know how to explain this in contemporary terms, but he or she always feels that water is sacred, something to be treated with invariable respect.
Easwaran reads Varuna as the immanent divine presence in water, linking the god’s sovereignty over aquatic elements to a living Hindu ecological and spiritual ethic.
, The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living: A Verse-by-Verse Commentary, 1975supporting
See The Masks of God: Oriental Mythology, pp. 177 and index, ‘Varuna.’
Campbell’s cross-reference directs readers to his fuller treatment of Varuna in Oriental Mythology, confirming the god’s significance as a sustained point of comparative mythological analysis.
, Occidental Mythology: The Masks of God, Volume III, 1964aside
legend(s), see Christ-Anti-Christ; Gilgamesh; Hubert, St.; Jacob; Jew(s)/Jewish; Kronos; Noah; Roman(s); trees; Varuna
An index entry in Jung’s Dream Analysis seminar groups Varuna among legendary mythic figures cited in the course of teaching, signaling the god’s presence as comparative material in Jungian pedagogical contexts.
, Dream Analysis: Notes of the Seminar Given in 1928-1930, 1984aside