his command, and he has made the depths of the sea. His ordinances are fixed and unassailable; through their operation the moon walks in brightness, and the stars, which appear in the nightly sky, vanish in daylight. The birds flying in the air, the rivers in their sleepless flow, cannot attain a knowledge of his power and wrath. But he knows the flight of the birds in the sky, the course of the far travelling wind, the paths of ships on the ocean, and beholds all the secret things that have been or shall be done. He witnesses men's truth and falsehood." [**]

The following is a metrical version of one of the hymns of the Rig-Veda as given by Dr. Muir:-- [*+]

"The mighty lord on high our deeds as if at hand espies;
The gods know all men do, though men would fain their deeds disguise:
Whoe'er stands, whoe'er moves, or steals from place to place,
Or hides him in his secret cell, the gods his movements trace.
Wherever two together plot, and deem they are alone,
King Varuna is there, a third, and all their schemes are known.
This earth is his, to him belong those vast and boundless skies,
Both seas within him rest, and yet in that small pool he lies.
Whoever far beyond the sky should think his way to win,
He could not there elude the grasp of Varuna the king.
His spies descending from the skies glide all this world around;
Their thousand eyes, all scanning, sweep to earth's remotest bound.
Whate'er exists in heaven and earth, whate'er beyond the skies,
Before the eye of Varuna the king unfolded lies.
The secret winkings all he counts of every mortal's eyes;
He wields this universal frame as gamester throws his dice.
Those knotted nooses which thou flingst, O god! the bad to snare,
All liars let them overtake, but all the truthful spare."

Professor Roth says of this hymn, "There is no hymn in the whole Vedic literature which expresses the divine omniscience in such forcible terms;" and it would not

be easy to find in any literature many passages to surpass it in this respect.

In other hymns we learn that the affairs of men are under his control; he is asked to prolong life, to punish transgressors; and a hope is held out that the righteous shall see him reigning in the spirit world in conjunction with Yama, the ruler of that region. Varuna in fact has attributes and functions ascribed to him in the Vedas, of a higher moral character than any other of the gods, and therefore men call upon him for pardon and purity. "Release us," they say, "from the sins of our fathers, and from those which we have committed in our own persons." And again, "Be gracious, O mighty god, be gracious. I have sinned through want of power; be gracious."