Elements of Hindu Iconography v4.c34.3

v4.c34.3

In the Purāṇic period different stories are given for the origin of the Aśvins. For example, the Varāhapurāṇa gives the following account of the birth of the Aśvins. Sūrya (the sun) married the girl named Saṃjñā who was offered by Tvaṣṭa and begot through her Yama and Yamunā. Saṃjñā, however, was able to bear no more the heat of Sūrya and resolved to run away from him. Leaving behind her her shadow (chḥāya) and assuming the form of a horse (baḍaba) repaired to Uttarakuru. By Chḥāyā, Sūrya had two children named Śani and Tapati. All the children of Sūrya were ill-treated by Chḥāyā and Yama and Śani complained against her to their father. For this they were cursed by Chḥāyā as the effect of which Yama had become the lord of the prētas, but the hard lot was mitigated by the