varuna and confine ( was Re: [tied] Mitanni and Matsya)

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We have discussed on various groups on Druh, the opposite of Rta. Rta is
the cosmic order or as later development shows, the impeccable Truth,
something much more meaningful than Satya. Druh is defined by Kupier as all
that is not in harmony with the divine laws of the Universe. The simple
meanings, mostly philological perhaps, such as malice or falsehood, in
themselves rise exclusive picture of ethical relations and their violations
between men. To avoid such ethical associations, Kupier wants that the word
Druh to be translated as wrongness, which however has been rejected by some
authors. Kuiper himself has agreed that this meaning is not satisfactory.



This pair of words describe Varuna which constitutes basically his
ambiguious character.

Varuna is generally seen as rtavrdha(VII.66.19), the Lord of Rta, the cosmic
order being the God of Cosmological Seas but it is also to be seen that he
is the prerunner for Yama and perhaps Vsnu ,(though the Vedic elements of
Vsnu are proved to be same as those of Puranic Vsnu, in spite of highly
sparse independent references to Him in RV) in punishing the violators of
the Cosmic Order.



He is to discover every violation of such cosmic order (AS I.10.2).



Varuna is is an adjective , palpably derived from Vr- enclose, confine,
restrict' ( in RV 7.82.6 varuna actually confines pravrnoti)



We come across several references to the varuna pasa (the noose of Varuna)
and the prayers to release from the same.



From the above, the aspect of Varuna to confine or enclose seems to be quite
strong.