East European Slavs worshiped Varu as Perun

Oldest Tamil book Tolkappaiam dated to 1^st century BC mentions Varuna as one of the four Gods allocated four different land divisions of ancient Tamil country. This raised eye brows of many people because Varuna is not mentioned much in Tamil literature. Indra is mentioned from the oldest to the latest literature which I gave in my last post.

Agni, though not mentioned directly is mentioned in the Vedic rites of Brahmins in Tamil literature. 2000 year old Sangam Tamil literature praised the Brahmins as ‘’worshippers of three fires’’ (Muth Thee). And like I mentioned in my post on Indra, Agni is worshipped by Tamils in the form of Subramanya, who the Tamils called Murugan. The very Tamil word given to him in the oldest Tamil book is Seyon=Reddish. Agnijathar and Agni Bhu are few of Lord Murugan’s popular names. Agnijathar means Fire Born. Lord Skanda was born from the fire of Lord Shiva’s Third Eye.

Now let us look at Varuna. Varuna in the Vedas is a powerful god. He is the guardian of cosmic order (rta=rhythm=ruth=truth). Varuna is in charge of the oceans, water sources and rains. During times of drought Varuna Japa (Prayers to Varuna) is done. His vahana (vehicle) is shark fish or crocodile. Tamils believed his control over rains and worshipped him for rains. Oldest Tamil book Tolkappiam says he is the god of littoral areas/Neithal. Seaward people and fisher men worshipped him.

At lower level Varunan is in charge of the direction West where as Indra controls East. In Persian literature Varuna is the most powerful God. Mitra and Varuna are paired in Vedic hymns. This led to the belief of interpreting them as Day and Night, Sun and Moon, Light and Dark and Positive and Negative energy. Tamil saint Agastya is considered son of Varuna and Urvasi. This brings Varuna closer to Tamils. Agastya was the one who made a grammar for Tamil language.

We have a few references to Varuna in Tamil:

Barathavars are the people of the sea. They would not go to sea for fishing on full moon days. This coincides with the Vedic link of Varuna with the moon and Mitra with the sun. Barathavars may be related to Bharats of Rig Veda. But this requires further research. Varuna is associated with sea in Rig Veda (RV I-25) in many places.

Tamils used to plant the Shark bone in the sand on the sea shore and do Puja with flower garlands. They drink toddy extracted from palm and paddy. This happened on the full moon day. This confirms its Vedic origin: 1.Association with shark/sea monster2.Association of moon/full moon day 3.Association with sea 4. Association of the clan name bharats  and 5.Confirmation of Varuna as Tamil God by Tolkappiam(Porul.1-5). He used the Sanskrit name Varuna.

The Sanskrit word for sea Vaaranam has its origin in Varunan.

Pattinappalai lines 86 to 93 gives us the above information.

Read my earlier post ‘’Indra in Oldest Tamil Literature’’.

Valluvar and Varuna

Tamil’s greatest contribution to the world of literature is a book called Tirukkural. Tirukkural means a book of sacred couplets. There are 1330 couplets divided in to three chapters Dharma/virtue, Artha/wealth and Kama/love (Aram, Porul, Inpam in Tamil). They deal with all aspects of human life. One who reads it today would be surprised at its freshness and relevance to our own problems today. It was written by Valluvar 1500 years ago. He also praised Varuna without naming him. He placed the chapter on RAIN as the second one, next to GOD/Prayer.

Valluvar says in couplet 18:

‘’If rains fail, festivals of the year and the daily worship of the gods will cease’’.

I interpret it as the Sea festival to honour Indra and Varuna. The worship he mentions is the worship of Varuna. It is to be noted that he used the Sanskrit word Puja ( Pusanai in Tamil) in this couplet and in the very next couplet he jumps to the Bhagawad Gita phrase Dhana and Tapas (Dhanam, Thavam in Tamil). He boldly used the Sanskrit words to start his couplet, which was not practised during Sangam period.

Couplet 19:

‘’Charity and devotional practices will not be observed in the world unless rain falls.’’

I have given umpteen examples in my previous 570 + posts that the Aryan Dravidian Race theory is a fraudulent one that was imposed by vested interests. This Varuna worship in the southern most part of India also debunks the race theory.

Swami_48@yahoo.com; Pictures are taken from various sites. Those who use my articles are requested to give full credit to the blog or the author London Swaminathan.Thanks.

Read my earlier articles:

Indra in the Oldest Tamil Book

Date of Tolkappiam