Mudgalapurana 2.13: navagraharathādivarṇanaṃ nāma trayodaśo'dhyāyaḥ

Homage to the glorious Gaṇeśa!

Mudgala said: / Produced from portions of the Sun's digits, twelve other suns / blaze from their chariot through the twelve months.

His chariot is occupied by gods, Ādityas, and sages, / by gandharvas, apsarases, yakṣa chieftains, serpents, and rākṣasas.

Dhātṛ, Aryaman, then Mitra, Varuṇa, the one named Śakra, / Vivasvat, then Pūṣan, Parjanya, and Aṃśu,

Bhaga, Tvaṣṭṛ, and Viṣṇu—these are the twelve suns; / mounted on the chariot, they blaze in sequence starting from spring.

Pulastya, Pulaha, then Atri, Vasiṣṭha, Aṅgiras, Bhṛgu, / Bharadvāja, Gautama, Kaśyapa, and Kratu,

Jamadagni, and Kauśika—these sages who expound Brahman / praise the god before him with various meters.

Rathakṛt, Rathaujāḥ, Rathacitra, Svabāhuka, / Rathasvana, then Varuṇa, Suṣeṇa, and Senajit,

Tārkṣya, Ariṣṭanemi, Rathajit, and Satyajit— / these chieftains hold the reins of the god of gods.

Then Heti, Praheti, Pauruṣeya, Vadha, / Sarpa, Vyāghra, Vyādha, Vāta, Vidyut, Divākara,

Brahmopeta, O Dakṣa, and another Yajñopeta— / these foremost rākṣasas proceed before him in sequence.

Vāsuki, Kaṅkanīra, Takṣaka the foremost serpent, / Elāpatra, Śaṅkhapāla, and the one named Airāvata,

Dhanañjaya, Mahāpadma, and another, Karkoṭaka, / Kambala and Aśvatara—these carry the Sun.

These are the serpents in the twelve months, O lord of creatures, in order. / Tumburu, Nārada, Hāhā, Hūhū, and Viśvāvasu,

Ugrasena, Vasuruci, and another, Avīvasu, / Citrasena, then Ūrṇāyu, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, O Prajāpati,

and Sūryavarcas—these twelve gandharvas are the singers in front. / Ghanastanī, Rambhā, and another, Puñjikasthalī,

Menakā, Sahajanyā, and Pramlocā, O Prajāpati, / Anumlocā, Ghṛtācī, Viśvācī, and Urvaśī,

another, Pūrvacitti, and Tilottamā— / they delight the Sun with tandava dances in spring and subsequent [seasons] in order.

Thus the deities dwell in the Sun for two months each in sequence; / with their splendor, they invigorate this Sun, the treasury of splendors.

The sages praise that Sun with words composed by themselves;

[...] gandharvas and apsarases attend upon him with songs and dances.

The chieftains, who are yakṣas, gather up the reins; / serpents bear the lord of gods, and rākṣasas march before him.

The Vālakhilyas escort the Sun around from dawn until dusk; / these [deities] shine heat, pour rain, give light, blow winds, and create.

When celebrated, they ward off the inauspicious deeds of living beings; / they constantly wander in heaven alongside the Sun,

continually seated on a chariot that moves at will with the speed of the wind, / raining, burning, and always gladdening creatures.

These [gods] protect all beings here at the end of a yuga; / having entered their form, the sun shines constantly.

He, the lord of creatures, is the cause of the orderly divisions of day and night; / the sun continually nourishes the ancestors, the gods, human beings, and others.

Thus this lord of day, a portion of Gaṇeśa, the god of gods, / himself the embodiment of Time, the Blessed Lord, regulates time.

And eight other planets are spoken of; bound to the Pole Star, they revolve; / nourished by the rays of the sun, [they revolve around] that sun by reins of wind.

The chariot of Soma has three wheels; his horses have the lustre of jasmine; / ten [horses] are yoked to the left and to the right—he, indeed, the maker of night.

Just as the sun traverses the lunar mansions according to its path, / so [Soma], possessing waxing and waning, constantly moves supported by the Pole Star.

During the bright fortnight, as the sun stands further away, / that Soma, being a single digit, is filled and continually increases thereafter.

O Dakṣa, the sun constantly replenishes with a single ray named Suṣumnā / the soma that was drunk by the gods in the dark fortnight.

Thus, nourished by the power of the sun, the body of the moon / is seen situated on the full-moon day, completely filled by the succession of days.

When he is full at the end of the half-month, all the deities, / being eaters of nectar, drink that soma consisting of nectar in proper order.

Then, in the fifteenth part, when a slight portion consisting of a digit remains, / the ancestors attend upon that last [digit] in the afternoon.

They drink for the duration of two lavas; that digit of his which remains, / meritorious and composed of svadhā and nectar, is the moon's essence of ambrosia.

That nectar of svadhā which issues from his rays on the new-moon day / brings satiety for a month to them; the ancestors are satisfied.

There is no destruction of Soma from the drinking of the god of ambrosia; / thus his waxing and waning are constantly caused by the sun.

The chariot of the son of Soma is yoked with four lions / having the speed of the wind; by means of them he travels everywhere.

Likewise, the chariot of the son of Bhṛgu is made of gold and drawn by eight horses; / and the splendid chariot of the son of the Earth is drawn by eight rams.

The chariot of Bṛhaspati is made of gold, with eight red horses; / and the chariot of Saturn is made of iron, with eight dark vultures.

The chariot of Svarbhānu is yoked with black lions, and that of Ketu with doves; / these indeed are described as the great chariots of the nine planets.

All are firmly bound to the Pole Star with care by reins of wind; / the stations of the planets, lunar mansions, and stars are always bound to the Pole Star.

He revolves and makes them revolve by reins of wind in all directions; / therefore this wheel of luminaries rests upon the Pole Star, O lord of creatures.

Om tat sat. Thus ends the thirteenth chapter, named 'Description of the Chariots of the Nine Planets and Others,' in the narrative of Ekadanta, in the second section of the glorious and venerable Maudgala Mahāpurāṇa, the ultimate Purāṇa-Upaniṣad.

Section 2, Chapter 14, page 32)