The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c16.s3.1

v1.c16.s3.1

In Sūrya we have the sun-god⁴ in his simplest and most direct form, and ten hymns of the Rigveda are devoted to him. His natural character is very obvious in all that is told of him: he is the eye of the sky or of Varuṇa and Mitra: he is far-seeing, the spy of the whole world who looks on the deeds of men and rouses them to action. He is an Āditya, but is also distinguished from the Ādityas. Like other gods he is a son of Dyaus. In the Puruṣasūkta he is made to be born from the eye of Puruṣa, and by an inversion of this idea the eye of the dead man is said to go to the sun. A late and absurd legend of the Atharvaveda makes the sun as Divākara born from the demon Vṛtra.