Vishnupurana 3.2.2
The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition 3.2.2
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3.2.2
PARÁŚARA.--Sanjná, the daughter of Viśwakarman, was the wife of the sun, and bore him three children, the Manu (Vaivaswata), Yama, and the goddess Yamí (or the Yamuná river). Unable to endure the fervours of her lord, Sanjná gave him Chháyá as his handmaid, and repaired to the forests to practise devout exercises. The sun, supposing Chháyá to be his wife Sanjná, begot by her three other children, Śanaiśchara (Saturn), another Manu (Sávarńi), and a daughter Tapatí (the Tapti river). Chháyá, upon one occasion, being offended with Yama, the son of Sanjná, denounced an imprecation upon him, and thereby revealed to Yama and to the sun that she was not in truth Sanjná, the mother of the former. Being further informed by Chháyá that his wife had gone to the wilderness, the sun beheld her by the eye of meditation engaged in austerities, in the figure of a mare (in the region of Uttara Kuru). Metamorphosing himself into a horse, he rejoined his wife, and begot three other children, the two Áswins and Revanta, and then brought Sanjná back to his own dwelling. To diminish his intensity, Viśwakarman placed the luminary on his lathe, to grind off some of his effulgence; and in this manner reduced it an eighth, for more than that was inseparable. The parts of the divine Vaishńava splendour, residing in the sun, that were filed off by Viśwakarman, fell blazing down upon the earth, and the artist constructed of them the discus of Vishńu, the trident of Śiva, the weapon of the god of wealth, the lance of Kártikeya, and the weapons of the other gods: all these Viśwakarman fabricated from the superfluous rays of the sun.
3.2.2.n1
That is, her shadow or image. It also means 'shade.' The Bhágavata, however, makes both Sanjná and Chháyá daughters of Viśwakarman. According to the Matsya, Vivaswat, the son of Kaśyapa and Adití, had three wives, Rájní, the daughter of Raivata, by whom he had Revanta; Prabhá, by whom he had Prabhata; and by Sanjná, the daughter of Twasht́ri, the Manu and Yama and Yamuná. The story then proceeds much as in the text.
3.2.2.n2
Yama, provoked at her partiality for her own children, abused Chháyá, and lifted up his foot to kick her. She cursed him to have his leg affected with sores and worms; but his father bestowed upon him a cock, to eat the worms, and remove the discharge; and Yama, afterwards propitiating Mahádeva, obtained the rank of Lokapála, and sovereign of Tartarus.
3.2.2.n3
The Matsya says he trimmed the sun every where except in the feet, the extent of which he could not discern. Consequently in pictures or images the feet of the sun must never be delineated, under pain of leprosy, &c.
3.2.2.n4
The term is Śiviká, which properly means 'a litter,' The commentator calls it Astra, 'a weapon.'
3.2.2.n5
This legend is told, with some variations of no great importance, in the Matsya, Márkańd́eya, and Padma P. (Swarga Khańd́a), in the Bhágavata, and Hari Vanśa, &c.
Linked texts (1)
- Viṣṇupurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit