Bhagavad Gita · Mahabharata Codex

Varuna

वरुण · varuṇa

Lord of the waters and guardian of the west

The bow Gandiva was his before it was Arjuna's.

In the oldest hymns Varuna is the sovereign who watches over cosmic order and sees every human act. Later he is chiefly lord of the ocean and all who live in it. When Agni needed weapons for Krishna and Arjuna at the burning of the Khandava forest, it was Varuna who supplied the bow Gandiva, the inexhaustible quivers and the chariot with its monkey banner.