A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1783

c5.1783

SŪRYA. The sun or its deity. He is one of the three chief deities in the Vedas, as the great source of light and warmth, but the references to him are more poetical than precise. Sometimes he is identical with Savitri and Āditya, sometimes he is distinct. “Sometimes he is called son of Dyaus, sometimes of Aditi. In one passage, Ushas, the dawn, is his wife, in another he is called the child of the dawns; he moves through the sky in a chariot drawn by seven ruddy horses or mares.” Sūrya has several wives, but, according to later legends, his twin sons the Aswins, who are ever young and handsome and ride in a golden car as precursors of Ushas, the dawn, were born of a nymph called Aswinī, from her having concealed herself in the form of a mare. In the Rāmāyaṇa and Purāṇas, Sūrya is said to be the son of Kasyapa and Aditi, but in the Rāmāyaṇa he is otherwise referred to as a son of Brahmā. His wife was Sañjnā, daughter of Viswa-karma, and by her he had three children, the Manu Vaivaswata, Yama, and the goddess Yamī, or the Yamunā river. His effulgence was so overpowering that his wife gave him Chhāyā (shade) for a handmaid, and retired into the forest to devote herself to religion. While thus engaged, and in the form of a mare, the sun saw her and approached her in the form of a horse. Hence sprang the two Aswins and Revanta. Sūrya brought back his wife Sanjnā to his home, and her father, the sage Viswa-karma, placed the luminary on his lathe and cut away an eighth of his effulgence, trimming him in every part except the feet. The fragments that were cut off fell blazing to the earth, and from them Viswa-karma formed the discus of Vishnu, the trident of Siva, the weapon of Kuvera, the lance of Kārttikeya, and the weapons of the other gods. According to the Mahā-bhārata, Karna was his illegitimate son by Kuntī. He is also fabled to be the father of Sani and the monkey chief Sugrīva. The Manu Vaivaswata was father of Ikshwāku, and from him, the grandson of the sun, the Sūrya-vansa, or Solar race of kings, draws its origin. In the form of a horse Sūrya communicated the White Yajur-veda to Yājnawalkya, and it was he who bestowed on Satrājit the Syamantaka gem. A set of terrific Rākshasas called Mandehas made an attack upon him and sought to devour him, but were dispersed by his light. According to the Vishnu Purāna he was seen by Sattrājita in "his proper form," "of dwarfish stature, with a body like burnished copper, and with slightly reddish eyes." Sūrya is represented in a chariot drawn by seven horses, or a horse with seven heads, surrounded with rays. His charioteer is Aruna or Vivaswat, and his city Vivaswatī or Bhāswatī. There are temples of the sun, and he receives worship. The names and epithets of the sun are numberless. He is Savitri, 'the nourisher;' Vivaswat, 'the brilliant;' Bhāskara, 'light-maker;' Dina-kara, 'day-maker;' Arha-pati, 'lord of day;' Loka-chakshuh, 'eye of the world;' Karma-sākshī, 'witness of the deeds (of men);' Graha-rāja, 'king of the constellations;' Gabhastimān, 'possessed of rays;' Sahasra-kirana, 'having a thousand rays;' Vikarttana, 'shorn of his beams' (by Viswa-karma); Mārtanda, 'descended from Mritanda,' &c. Sūrya's wives are called Savarnā, Swātī, and Mahā-vīryā.