Varuna

Varuna is the Aditya of Ashwina and one of the most ancient gods of the Rig Veda. There he is the guardian of rta, the cosmic order, a watchful sovereign whose spies are said to see all that happens, and who binds those who break their word. The hymns treat him as lord of the waters and of the night sky, so the light tied to him is the sun's reflection on water and the glint of stars rather than the direct blaze of day.

He is regularly invoked together with Mitra, and tradition reads the pair as friendship and binding law, two aspects of one moral order. In later Puranic literature his prominence fades and he becomes the guardian of the western quarter and of the ocean, with the makara as his mount and a noose as his emblem. This movement from supreme sovereign to regional guardian is one of the best known shifts in the history of Hindu devotion, and it is why he sits somewhat apart from the other Adityas.

Devotional practice in his name is simple: offerings of water at twilight and a respect for promises made at water's edge. His temples are rare. A Varuna shrine in Tamil Nadu is the one commonly cited, and the water worship of the great river festivals preserves his memory more widely than any individual temple. Because the different Puranas give differing lists of the twelve Adityas, his ninth position and month are one traditional arrangement among several.