Lord Jhulelal: An Analytical Study
by Thakkar Harish Gopalji | 2018 | 62,623 words
This thesis studies Lord Jhulelal, the most important deity revered by Sindhis in India and beyond. Traditional views hold Lord Jhulelal as an incarnation of Vedic Deity Varuna (the river God). Historically, Jhulelal is a binding force for the Sindhi community who had to leave Sindh during the partition of India in order to settle at distant places...
Part 12 - Forthright Varuna
A Ramayana episode can be narrated here to highlight the forthright nature of Varuna.
It goes like this: Lord Rama and his army of Vanars (Vanarsena) worked to construct a bridge from Rameshwar to Lanka. This was required for the army to travel all the way to Ravana's kingdom known as Lanka in those days in order to rescue Queen Sita who was imprisoned by Ravana forcefully. Lord Rama at the bark of sea at Rameshwar performed the Pooja of Varuna and praised him, after which he requested Varuna to make a way in the sea for the army of Rama. However, even after three days of a request from Rama, there was no response from Varuna. Therefore, on the advice of some of the generals, Rama put a very powerful arrow on his bow and he told Varuna in clear terms that if the request for giving way to his army is not granted, then be prepared for confrontation and consequences.
Lord Rama being Avatar of Vishnu, it was not possible for Varuna to neglect his message. He appeared before Rama in human form and told him that I am grateful to you for making this request and I am very happy to see you in person. At the same time, I beg your pardon that I cannot accept your request as it would result into the breaking of the cosmic law. The ocean cannot be dried up or cannot be shifted to fulfill your need even if I am the Master of oceans as it would be in disagreement with the world order. Lord Rama was in fact pleased with Varuna's frankness and did agree with his explanation. Further, Varuna assured Lord Rama that he would not create any obstacle in the work of building a bridge over the ocean to be carried out by Rama's army and would offer all the co-operation from his side.
The forthright attitude of Varuna is clearly reflected in the above story and no doubt Varuna can be called as guardian of cosmic laws/cosmic order.
He is in charge of protection of worldly order. Not only does he feel that others follow the worldly order, but he himself also does not transgress it. This story from Ramayana supports this in clear-cut terms.