Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c10.55

c10.55

Another instance is that of Tapatī, wife of the Paurava king Saṃvaraṇa. She was daughter of Sūra, Sūrya, or Tapana.⁶ These words are treated as meaning ‘the sun’,⁷ and a fable is told how Saṃvaraṇa’s priest, a Vasiṣṭha, went to the sun and obtained Tapatī for him.⁸ But those words were probably the name of a man, for other names of the sun were used as personal names, such as Prabhākara, Divākara and Bhānu. Sūrya appears to have been a real name, for the Sūryas are spoken of along with the Bhṛgus and Kaṇvas,⁹ and the patronymic Saurya is assigned to three rishis, the alleged authors of hymns x, 37, 158 and 170. But Tapatī’s father being confused with the sun, she became the sun’s daughter, and accordingly she is foisted into the myth of the sun and his wives as his daughter along with his sons Manu Vaivasvata, Yama and the Aśvins,¹⁰ confusing historical tradition with mythology and all with an utter disregard of chronological consistency.