The Development of Hindu Iconography c17.s2.2

c17.s2.2

Ṛgvedic hymns to Sūrya contain many epithets which had a hand in influencing many of his traits in the post-Vedic age. In some he is described as ‘the beautiful-winged celestial bird Garutmān’ (divya suparṇa Garutmān) while in one verse (R.V., VII, 77, 3) he is described as ‘a white brilliant steed brought by Uṣas’; from such descriptions originated the concept of Garuḍa, the mount of Viṣṇu, and Tārkṣya, the horse-mount of the Sun-god himself. Nay, the idea of the god riding on a chariot drawn by four or seven horses so frequently found in post-Vedic texts and illustrated in early reliefs has already been well formulated in Ṛgvedic hymns; he is more often described there as ‘moving on a car drawn by one, by several or by seven fleet and ruddy horses’ (I. 115, 3-4; VII. 60, 3; VII. 63, 2, etc.). The elaborate story current in the epics and the Purāṇas about Sūrya’s marriage with Viśvakarmā’s daughter Saṃjñā, her desertion of him after leaving with him her shadow (Chāyā) for her inability to bear his effulgence, Viśvakarmā’s attempt to reduce this in order that his daughter might endure it, had its origin in the Vedic myth about the marriage of Saraṇyu, the daughter of Tvaṣṭar, with Vivasvat, the Sun-god.¹