The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c11.97

v1.c11.97

This identification of Viṣṇu with the sun may be supported by a variety of arguments. In the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* he is expressly described to be Āditya: "He who is this Viṣṇu is sacrifice; he who (is) this sacrifice is the Āditya". (XIX. 1. 1-6.) In the same way he is identified with Agni, who is the terrene manifestation of the celestial orb. His name is derived from the root *viś* to pervade, i, e., the god who pervades the universe with his light. He is said to have set time in motion. "He has set in motion, like a rolling wheel, the revolutions of time (?) with four times ninety names (days)" (R V. I. 155. 6), which can be strictly applied to no other than the sun, who makes the four times ninety, or three hundred and sixty days of the year. Elsewhere he is said to "traverse the world," and "traverse it three times," to "thrice measure the mundane regions," all referring to the apparent diurnal motion of the sun. Again, the Brāhmaṇas reckon twelve Ādityas, sons of Aditi, by Dakṣa; and the last of these is named Viṣṇu in the *Mahābhārata* and other later works. The *Harivaṃśa*, not to detract from the rank of Viṣṇu, says, that "though he is the last born, he is not the last," and the *Mahābhārata* elsewhere adds, "though the latest born, he surpasses all the Ādityas in his attributes." (I. 2. 519; 2. 522.) The *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*, in the same way. Viṣṇu, "calls the greatest," *Viṣṇuḥ Paramaḥ*. Haug is not satisfied that the word *paramaḥ* in this verse is indicative of the celestial rank of Viṣṇu.⁴⁵ He takes it to imply the position of Viṣṇu, the sun, high in the sky in comparison to that of Agni, who is said to be lowest (*Agniravamaḥ*), because he is the god of the earth. But interpreted with the help of the *Mahābhārata*, there is nothing inconsistent in the attribution of the epithet in the sense of the greatest to Viṣṇu.