Elements of Hindu Iconography v4.c26.39

v4.c26.39

(the sun) was once so powerful that his heat was causing damage to the world. Viśvakarman, the celestial mechanic, contrived to abstract a portion of the solar glory and rendered him innocuous. ‘From the power taken away from Sūrya, Viśvakarman fashioned’ the śaktyāyudha for the use of Subrahmaṇya. It is worth noting that a portion of the solar glory was transferred to Subrahmaṇya, who, according to the Bhavishyat-purāṇa, took his seat near Sūrya when the daityas attacked him and when the gods rallied round him for his support. The same purāṇa informs us that the dvārapālakas of Subrahmaṇya are Sūrya under the name of Rājña and Śiva under the name of Srausha. These facts coupled with the information regarding the origin of Subrahmaṇya distinctly point to its origin to the sun-myth. We saw in the first instance that Agni was invoked by the rishis for receiving the oblations in their yajña and that he descended from the sun; the Mahābhārata states that on the day the rishis began their yajña the sun and the moon were together, that is, the day was a new-moon day; beginning from the pratipada day the seed of Agni was gathered for six days and on the shashṭhi tithi Subrahmaṇya of the colour of the rising sun came into existence. His dvārapālakas, we saw above, are Sūrya and Śiva (who is the same as Agni or Rudra).