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Because of his innumerable star-eyes, Varun : a was re- garded as omniscient. H

Because of his innumerable star-eyes, Varun : a was re- garded as omniscient. His knowledge and his function as a moral judge were the chief sources of his power, as he had no remarkable achievements to his credit. He watched over human beings: When two persons conversed, he was the in- visible third; when anyone sinned, Varun : a afflicted the trans- gressor with disease, and until the god relented, the victim would not be restored to health. In the solemn Varun : apragha ¯sa rite, a seasonal sacrifice, the sacrificer’s wife was required to confess her sin (i.e., conjugal infidelity) be- fore the officiating priest. This is a unique instance of confes- sion of sin in the early Vedic literature, and Varun : a was the god associated with this sacrifice. The punishment he meted out in such cases was called a “seizure,” hence the elaborate prayers to Varun : a for forgiveness of sins. In later literature Varun : a’s ethical role diminishes, but early texts frequently associate his majesty or supremacy with his function as upholder of the moral order referred to in the R : gveda as r :ta or, sometimes, dharma (i.e., “that which up- holds”) or satya (“truth”). In the Avesta this all-pervasive moral order that controls and regularly maintains the cosmic forces is arata, aˇ sa, urta, or arta; a cardinal concept in Zoro- astrianism, it is first mentioned in the Tel-el-Amarna Tablet (c. fourteenth century BCE). R : ta is Varun : a’s special domain, and it is often mentioned in connection with him. Another concept associated with Varun : a is the magical power known as ma ¯ya ¯; for example, Asura’s (i.e., Varun : a’s) ma ¯ya ¯. In the Vedic context ma ¯ya ¯ meant both wisdom and power. With his ma ¯ya ¯ Varun : a envelops the night and creates the dawn. Ma ¯ya ¯ predominantly links him with demons, for in later literature asura meant “demon,” and demons wielded ma ¯ya ¯. Varun : a’s dark associations bring him close to the pri- marily chthonic gods such as Yama, Nirr :ti, Soma, and Rudra. As a chthonic god, Varun : a is associated with snakes (indeed, in Buddhist literature he is sometimes called the “king of snakes”), with barren black cows, or with deformed and ugly creatures. His ritual symbols are dark, depraved, and deformed things or creatures. His son Bhr :gu is said to have descended into hell. His connection with Vasistha, however, goes back to Indo-Iranian times: In the Avesta, Asha Vahishta (Vedic, R : ta Va´ sis :t :ha) is one of the Amesha Spentas who were Ahura Mazda ¯’s active assistants. Varun : a is Soma’s brother. Of his wife, Varun : ani, nothing more than her name is known. The dynamic character of Varun : a’s mythological career subsided in the later Vedic literature, where he is associated with the celestial waters. In the epics and Puranas, however, his domain shifted from the firmament toward the earth, and he became the overlord of the terrestrial waters, rivers, streams, and lakes, but primarily of the ocean. He dwelt in royal splendor in an underwater palace. Like Poseidon, Greek god of the ocean, he is often associated with horses. Finally, he is relegated to the position of “lord of the West,” another dark and chthonic association. Here the circle of his mythological career closes, because as a dikpa ¯la (“lord of a quarter [of the sky]”) he is no more than a wholly passive god. BIBLIOGRAPHY Apte, V. M. “Varun : a in the R : gveda.” New Indian Antiquary (Bombay) 8 (1946):136–156. Deals with Varun : a’s Vedic background. Bhattacharji, Sukumari. Indian Theogony: A Comparative Study of Indian Mythology from the Vedas to the Puranas. Cambridge and New York, 1970. See especially pages 22–47. Dandekar, R. N. “Varun : a, Va´ sis :t :ha and Bhakti.” In Añjali: Papers on Indology and Buddhism, a Felicitation Volume Presented to Oliver Hector de Alwis Wijesekera on His Sixtieth Birthday, ed- ited by J. Tilakasiri, pp. 77–82. Peradeniya, Ceylon, 1970. Dumézil, Georges. Ouranos-Varuna. Paris, 1934. A comprehen- sive treatise on Varun : a and his Greek counterpart, Ouranos, and the traits they share. Hiersche, Rolf, “Zur Etymologie des Götternamens Varun : a.” Mitteilungen des Instituts für Orientforschung (Berlin) 4 (1956): 359–363. Explores Varun : a’s identity from the vari- ous derivations of his name. Kuiper, F. B. J. “The Bliss of Asa.” Indo-Iranian Journal 8, no. 2 (1964): 96–129. Lüders, Heinrich. Varun : a. 2 vols: Vol. 1, Varun : a und die Wasser. Vol. 2, Varun : a und das Rta. Göttingen, 1951–1959. Renou, Louis. “Varuna dans l’Atharvaveda.” Paideuma 7 (1960): 300–306 (Festgabe für Herman Lommel). Thieme, Paul. “Patañjali über Varun : a und die sieben Ströme.” In Mélanges présentés à Georg Morgenstierne à l’occasion de son soixante-dixième anniversaire, pp. 168–173. Wiesbaden, 1964. Thieme, Paul. “Varun : a in the Maha ¯bha ¯rata.” In Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Congress of Orientalists, edited by R. N. Dande- kar, vol. 3, p. 329. Poona, 1969. SUKUMARI BHATTACHARJI (1987) VASUBANDHU (fifth or fourth century CE) was an em- inent Indian Buddhist teacher. Said to be a younger brother of the great Ma ¯ha ¯yana teacher Asan ˙ga, Vasubandhu was first ordained in the H¯ ınaya ¯na Sarva ¯stivada school but later con- verted to the Maha ¯ya ¯na. Like his brother Asan ˙ga, Vasuband- hu became a great exponent of the Yoga ¯ca ¯ra-Vijña ¯nava ¯da teachings. He is believed to be the author of the Abhidharmako´ sa and many Ma ¯ha ¯yana treatises. Various problems continue to vex historians concerning the biography of Vasubandhu. The Bosoupandou fashi zhuan (Biography of Master Vasubandhu, T.D. no. 2049), translat- ed—or rather, compiled—by Parama ¯rtha (499–569), one of the main exponents of Yoga ¯ca ¯ra doctrine in China, is pre- served in the Chinese Tripit :aka and is the only complete bi- ography. Apart from this, fragmentary information is found in various Chinese sources, the most important of which are the writings of the great Chinese translator Xuanzang (600– VASUBANDHU 9525 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION, SECOND EDITION 664). Various histories of Buddhism written by Tibetan his- torians also give accounts of Vasubandhu’s life. But Chinese and Tibetan sources alike disagree with the Biography of Mas- ter Vasubandhu (hereafter Biography) in many places. More- over, two or three persons in Buddhist history bear the name Vasubandhu: According to some texts, a Vasubandhu is the twenty-first patriarch in the transmission of the Buddha’s Dharma; elsewhere, Puguang (one of the direct disciples of Xuanzang) refers to an “ancient Vasubandhu” who belonged to the Sarvastivada school; and both Puguang and Ya´ somitra, a commentator on the Abhidharmako´ sa, refer to a third, known as Sthavira-Vasubandhu. The identification of and relationship between these three persons is still unclear. BIOGRAPHY. Vasubandhu’s Biography can be divided into three sections. The first section is introductory. It begins with a legend of Purus :apura (modern Peshawar), the native city of Vasubandhu, and then introduces his family: his fa- ther, the brahman Kau´ sika, and the latter’s three sons, Asan ˙ga, Vasubandhu, and Viriñcivatsa. After a brief refer- ence to Viriñcivatsa’s life, an account is given of Asan ˙ga’s life, including the famous story of his meeting with the bodhisatt- va Maitreya in the Tusita Heaven. Vasubandhu’s life comprises the second section. It be- gins by sketching the history of the Sarva ¯stiva ¯da school in Kashmir and tells of the composition of the Abhidharma treatises and the great commentary on them, the Maha ¯vibha ¯s :a ¯, there. Knowledge of the Maha ¯vibha ¯s :a ¯’s con- tents was jealously kept secret from outsiders, the account al- leges, but somehow it became known in Ayodhya ¯ (near mod- ern Faiza ¯ba ¯d), a city far removed from Kashmir. At the time, Vasubandhu was residing in Ayodhya ¯, then the capital of the Gupta dynasty. Vindhyava ¯sin, a Sa ¯m : khya teacher and a dis- ciple of Va ¯rs :aganya, came to Ayodhya ¯ to challenge the Bud- dhists there to a debate while Vasubandhu and his colleague Manoratha were absent. Their fellow teacher Buddha-mitra thus had to meet the challenge alone, but because of his age he was defeated. This defeat deeply mortified Vasubandhu, who wrote a treatise, Parama ¯rthasaptatika ¯, in order to con- fute Vindhyava ¯sin. It was after this that Vasubandhu com- posed his magnum opus, the Abhidharmako´ sa (hereafter Ko´ sa), in six hundred verses (ka ¯rika ¯s). The Ko´ sa was an elo- quent summary of the purport of the Maha ¯vibha ¯s :a ¯, and it is reported that the Kashmiri Sarva ¯stiva ¯dins rejoiced to see in it all their doctrines so well propounded. Accordingly, they requested a prose commentary (bha ¯s :ya), which Vasu- bandhu wrote. But the Kashmiris soon realized, to their great disappointment, that the work in fact refuted many Sarva ¯stiva ¯da theories and upheld the doctrines of uploads/Litterature/ vasu-bandhu.pdf