It does not follow, however, that any one hymn in which he is lauded is necessarily older than the hymn cited from the first book.

The earliest stage of religious development precedes the entrance into the Punj[=a]b.

It may even be admitted that at the time when the Vedic Aryans became Hindus, that is, when they settled about the Indus, Varuna was the great god we see him in the great hymn to his honor.

But while the relation of the [=A]dityas to the spirits of Ahura in Zoroaster's system points to this, yet it is absurd to assume this epoch as the starting point of Vedic belief.

Back of this period lies one in which Varuna was by no means a monotheistic deity, nor even the greatest divinity among the gods.