The Arctic Home in the Vedas c10.8.3

c10.8.3

But the Saṁhitâ does not give the number and names of the eight Âdityas, and this omission is supplied by the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa (I, 1, 9, 1 f.). The Brâhmaṇa tells us that Aditi cooked the oblation four times, and each time the gods gave her the remnant of the oblation. Four pairs of sons were thus born to her; the first pair was Dhâtṛi and Aryaman, the second Mitra and Varuṇa, the third Aṁsha and Bhaga and the fourth Indra and Vivasvat. But the Brâhmaṇa does not explain why the eighth son was called Mârtâṇḍa, and cast away. The Taittirîya Âraṇyaka, I, 13, 2-3, (cited by Sâyaṇa in his gloss on Rig. II, 27, 1, and X, 72, 8), first quotes the two verses from the Rig-Veda (X, 72, 8 and 9), which give the legend of Aditi but with a slightly different reading for the second line of the second verse. Thus, instead of *tvat punaḥ Mārtaṇḍam ā abharat* (she brought again Mārtaṇḍa thither for birth and death), the *Āraṇyaka* reads *tat parā Mārtaṇḍam ā abharat* (she set aside Mārtaṇḍa for birth and death). The *Āraṇyaka* then proceeds to give the names of the eight sons, as Mitra, Varuṇa, Dhātṛi, Aryaman, Amsha, Bhaga, Indra and Vivasvat. But no further explanation is added, nor are we told which of these eight sons represented Mārtaṇḍa. There is, however, another passage in the *Āraṇyaka* (I, 7, 1--6) which throws some light on the nature of these Ādityas.¹ The names of the suns here given are different.