The point of view taken by Barth deserves comment. He says:[89] "It has sometimes been maintained that the Varuna of the hymns is a god in a state of decadence. In this view we can by no means concur; ... an appeal to these few hymns is enough to prove that in the consciousness of their authors the divinity of Varuna stood still intact." If, instead of 'still intact,' the author had said, 'on the increase, till undermined by still later philosophical speculation,' the true position, in our opinion, would have been given. But a distinction must be made between decadence of greatness and decadence of popularity. It has happened in the case of some of the Vedic inherited gods that exactly in proportion as their popularity decreased their greatness increased; that is to say, as they became more vague and less individual to the folk they were expanded into wider circles of relationship by the theosophist, and absorbed other gods' majesty.[89] Varuna is no longer a popular god in the Rig Veda. He is already a god of speculation, only the speculation did not go far enough to suit the later seers of Indra-Savitar-hood. Most certainly his worship, when compared in popularity with that of Agni and Indra, is unequal. But this is because he is too remote to be popular. What made the popular gods was a union of near physical force to please the vulgar, with philosophical mysticism to please the priest, and Indra and Agni fulfilled the conditions, while awful, but distant, Varuna did not. In stating that the great hymn to Varuna is not typical of the earliest stage of religious belief among the Vedic Aryans, we should add one word in explanation. Varuna's traits, as shown in other parts of the Rig Veda, are so persistent that they must be characteristic of his original function. 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. The fact, noticed by Hillebrandt, that the Vasishtha family are the chief praisers of Varuna, may also indicate that his special elevation was due to the theological conceptions of one clan, rather than of the whole people, since in the other family books he is worshipped more as one of a pair, Varuna and Mitra, heaven and sun. ADITI.