As I mentioned last week, the gods of the Aryans were not like the animals figures of the
Harappans, but transcedent sky gods who actively helped them fight against their enemies.
These included both indigenous peoples and earlier immigrants to the area. The Vedic hymns
were the verses recited, for the most part, at sacrifices to Aryan gods, which they called devas.
The devas represented and controlled the forces of nature, they were divine power. However, the
powers which attracted the attention of the Aryans, when they came to South Asia, were the
cosmic in nature--the sky, the sun, the order of nature itself. Their two most important sky gods
were Varuna and Indra. Varuna was the guardian of the cosmic order, he created the world and
ruled it by the standard of rita--the proper course of things. Rita provided a structure for the
other celestial powers. Indra was the thunder god, famous for sucessful warfare and special
champion of the Aryan warrior. He was a figure of paramount prestige and popularity, a model
of what a warrior should be. These two gods were two sides of a divine rule--the active side
(Indra) and the passive side (Varuna). They representated active intervention to over come
obstacles and bestow bounty on men, and the eternal universal order. Varuna was to recede in
importance, as the Aryans fought to secure a foothold in the northwest plains. The warrior Indra
became the greatest of the devas.