Devalok
From the epics · 2 tellings · Pan-India

The gods install Varuna as lord of the waters

In the Krita age the gods ask Varuna to rule the rivers and the ocean as Indra rules them, and Narada later describes his white hall under the sea.

Who is in it

  • Varuna made lord of rivers and ocean
  • Indra the comparison: as he guards the gods
  • Narada describes Varuna's hall

Texts: Mahabharata

The story, beat by beat

  1. The gods approach Varuna and ask him to be lord of all rivers as Indra is their own protector.
  2. They tell him the ocean will be under his rule and he will wax and wane with Soma.
  3. Varuna agrees and is installed with due rites as lord of the waters and of all water creatures.
  4. He protects seas, lakes and rivers thereafter.
  5. Narada describes his hall built by Vishvakarma within the waters, where rivers, oceans, Nagas and Daityas attend him and his queen.

kingship ocean installation

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Mahabharata, Shalya Parva 47

Pan-India All traditions

At a ford on the Saraswati the story is told that in the Krita age all the gods asked Varuna, who lives in the ocean, to be lord of the rivers as Indra is lord of the gods. He agreed and they installed him by rite as lord of all waters and aquatic creatures.

The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer § shalya.47

Primary text (translation)

Mahabharata, Sabha Parva 9 (Varuna's hall)

Pan-India All traditions

Narada describes Varuna's assembly hall: white, built by Vishvakarma within the waters, set with jewelled trees. Varuna sits with his queen, the noose his weapon; the Adityas, the great Nagas, the Daityas, the four oceans and the rivers by name (Ganga, Yamuna, Narmada, Sindhu, Godavari, Kaveri and more) wait on him, with his minister Sunabha.

What is different here:

A description of the court rather than the installation.

The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer § sabha.9

Sources: The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer

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