Varuna, the vast and pure

The Vedic deities, Mitra and Varuna also appearing in the Avesta is an interesting aspect so far as their antiquity and supremacy is concerned. While the linkage of the four solar manifestations, Varuna, Aryama, Mitra, and Bhaga to the four Varnas or colours (somewhat corresponding to Kapila, Aruna, Pita, and Krishna - the four racial divisions found in the Vishnu Purana) is apparent, their popular transcription in the four/five brothers depicted in the Ramayana and Mahabharata or in the Vasudeva, Shankarsana/Balarama, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha conception, is insightful. Telescoping of these four primordial categories to Sat-Chit-Ananda or the three Gunas and similar other formulations speak of high exegetical flexibility.