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Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t3: § 14. Sūrya

Vedic Mythology c5.s1.t3

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§ 14. Sūrya

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Ten entire hymns of the RV. may be said to be devoted to the celebration of Sūrya specifically. It is impossible to say how often the name of the god occurs, it being in many cases doubtful whether only the natural phenomenon is meant or its personification. Since his name designates the orb of the sun as well, Sūrya is the most concrete of the solar deities, his connexion with the luminary never being lost sight of. The adorable light of Sūrya in the sky is as the face (*anīka*) of great Agni (10, 7³). The eye of Sūrya is mentioned several times (5, 40⁸ &c.), but he is himself equally often called the eye of Mitra and Varuṇa (p. 23) or of Agni as well (1, 115¹); and once (7, 77³) Dawn is said to bring the eye of the gods. The affinity of the eye and the sun is indicated in a passage where the eye of the dead man is conceived as going to Sūrya (10, 16³ cp. 90³. 158³· ⁴). In the AV. he is called the ‘lord of eyes’ (AV. 5, 24⁹) and is said to be the one eye of created beings and to see beyond the sky, the earth, and the waters (AV. 13, 1⁴⁵). He is far-seeing (7, 35⁸; 10, 37¹), all-seeing (1, 50²), is the spy (*spaś*) of the whole world (4, 13³), beholds all beings and the good and bad deeds of mortals (1, 50⁷; 6, 51²; 7, 60². 61¹. 63¹· ⁴). Aroused by Sūrya men pursue their objects and perform their work (7, 63⁴). Common to all men, he rises as their rouser (7, 63²· ³). He is the soul or the guardian of all that moves or is stationary (1, 115¹; 7, 60²). He has a car which is drawn by one steed, called *etaśa* (7, 63²), or by an indefinite number of steeds (1, 115³; 10, 37³. 49⁷) or mares (5, 29⁵) or by seven horses (5, 45⁹) or mares called *haritaḥ* (1, 50⁸· ⁹; 7, 60³) or by seven swift mares (4, 13³).

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Sūrya’s path is prepared for him by Varuṇa (1, 24⁸; 7, 87¹) or by the Ādityas Mitra, Varuṇa, Aryaman (7, 60⁴). Pūṣan is his messenger (6, 58³). The Dawn or Dawns reveal or produce Sūrya as well as Agni and the sacrifice (7, 80². 78³). He shines forth from the lap of the dawns (7, 63³). But from another point of view Dawn is Sūrya’s wife (7, 75⁵).

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He also bears the metronymic Āditya, son of Aditi (1, 50¹². 191⁹; 8, 90¹¹) or Āditeya (10, 88¹¹), but he is elsewhere distinguished from the Ādityas (8, 35¹³⁻¹⁵). His father is Dyaus (10, 37¹). He is god-born (ibid.). The gods raised him who had been hidden in the ocean (10, 72⁷). As a form of Agni he was placed by the gods in heaven (10, 88¹¹). According to another order of ideas he is said to have arisen from the eye of the world-giant Puruṣa (10, 90³). In the AV. (4, 10⁵) the sun (*divākara*) is even described as having sprung from Vṛtra.

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Various individual gods are said to have produced the sun. Indra generated him (2, 12⁴ &c.), caused him to shine or raised him to heaven (3, 44²; 8, 78⁷). Indra-Viṣṇu generated him (7, 99⁴). Indra-Soma brought up Sūrya with light (6, 72²); Indra-Varuṇa raised him to heaven (7, 82³). Mitra-Varuṇa raised or placed him in heaven (4, 13²; 5, 63⁴. ⁷). Soma placed light in the Sun (6, 44²³; 9, 97⁴¹), generated Sūrya (9, 96⁵. 110⁵), caused him to shine (9, 63⁷), or raised him in heaven (9, 107⁷). Agni establishes the brightness of the sun on high (10, 3²) and caused him to ascend to heaven (10, 156⁴). Dhātṛ, the creator, fashioned the sun as well as the moon (10, 190³). The Aṅgirases by their rites caused him to ascend the sky (10, 62³). In all these passages referring to the generation of Sūrya the notion of the simple luminary doubtless predominates.

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In various passages Sūrya is conceived as a bird traversing space. He is a bird (10, 177¹· ²), or a ruddy bird (5, 47³), is represented as flying (1, 191⁹), is compared with a flying eagle (7, 63⁵) and seems to be directly called an eagle (5, 45⁹)¹. He is in one passage called a bull as well as a bird (5, 47³) and in another a mottled bull² (10, 189¹ cp. 5, 47³). He is once alluded to as a white and brilliant steed³ brought by Uṣas (7, 77³). Sūrya's horses represent his rays (which are seven in number: 8, 61¹⁶), for the latter (*ketavaḥ*), it is said, bring (*vahanti*) him. His seven mares are called the daughters of his car (1, 50⁹).

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Elsewhere Sūrya is occasionally spoken of as an inanimate object. He is a gem of the sky (7, 63⁴ cp. 6, 51¹) and is alluded to as the variegated stone placed in the midst of heaven (5, 47³ cp. ŚB. 6, 1, 2³). He is a brilliant weapon (*āyudha*) which Mitra-Varuṇa conceal with cloud and rain (5, 63⁴), he is the felly (*pavi*) of Mitra-Varuṇa (5, 62²), or a brilliant car placed in heaven by Mitra-Varuṇa (5, 63⁷). The sun is also called a wheel (1, 175⁴; 4, 30⁴) or the 'wheel of the sun' is spoken of (4, 28²; 5, 29¹⁰).

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Sūrya shines for all the world (7, 63¹), for men and gods (1, 50⁵). He dispels the darkness with his light (10, 37⁴). He rolls up the darkness as a skin (7, 63¹). His rays throw off the darkness as a skin into the waters (4, 13⁴). He triumphs over beings of darkness and witches (1, 191⁸· ⁹ cp. 7, 104²⁴). There are only two or three allusions to the sun's burning heat (7, 34¹⁹; 9, 107²⁰); for in the RV. the sun is not a maleficent power⁴, and for this aspect of the luminary only passages from the AV. and the literature of the Brāhmaṇas can be quoted⁵.

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Sūrya measures the days (1, 50⁷) and prolongs the days of life (8, 48⁷). He drives away sickness, disease, and every evil dream (10, 37⁴). To live is to see the Sun rise (4, 25⁴; 6, 52⁵). All creatures depend on Sūrya (1, 164¹⁴). and the sky is upheld by him (10, 85¹). The epithet 'all-creating' (*viśva-karman*) is also applied to him (10, 170⁴; cp. § 39). By his greatness he is the divine priest (*asuryaḥ purohitaḥ*) of the gods (8, 90¹²). At his rising he is prayed to declare men sinless to Mitra-Varuṇa and other gods (7, 60¹. 62²). He is said, when rising, to go to the Vṛtra-slayer Indra and is even styled a Vṛtra-slayer himself when invoked with Indra (8, 82¹· ²· ⁴).

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The only myth told about Sūrya is that Indra vanquished him (10, 43⁵) and stole his wheel (1, 175⁴; 4, 30⁴). This may allude to the obscuration of the sun by a thunderstorm.

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In the Avesta, the sun, *hvare* (= Vedic *svar*, of which *sūrya*⁶ is a derivative and to which Gk. ἠέλιος⁷ is allied) has swift horses, like Sūrya, and is called the eye of Ahura Mazda⁸.

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⁷ BRUGMANN, Grundriss 1, 218. —

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⁸ Sp.AP. 1, 190—1; cp. OLDENBERG, ZDMG. 50, 49. Nirukta 12, 14—16; OST. 5, 151—61; GKR. 55—6; BRI. 20; KRV. 54—5. 145; BRV. 1, 7; HVM. 1, 45; HVBP. 29—30; ORV. 240—1; HRI. 40—6.

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§ 15. Savitṛ. — Savitṛ is celebrated in eleven whole hymns of the RV. and in parts of others, his name being mentioned about 170 times. Eight or nine of these are in the family books, while all but three of those to Sūrya are in the first and tenth. Savitṛ is preëminently a golden deity, nearly all his members and his equipment being described by that epithet. He is golden-eyed (1, 35⁸), golden-handed (1, 35⁹. ¹⁰), golden-tongued (6, 71³), all these epithets being peculiar to him. He has golden arms (6, 71¹· ⁵; 7, 45²), and is broad-handed (2, 38²) or beautiful-handed (3, 33⁶). He is also pleasant-tongued (6, 71⁴) or beautiful-tongued (3, 54¹¹), and is once called iron-jawed (6, 71⁴). He is yellow-haired (10, 139¹), an attribute of Agni and Indra also. He puts on a tawny garment (4, 53²). He has a golden car with a golden pole (1, 35²· ⁵), which is omniform (1, 35³), just as he himself assumes all forms (5, 81²). His car is drawn by two radiant steeds or by two or more brown, white-footed horses (1, 35²· ⁵; 7, 45¹).

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Mighty splendour (*amati*) is preëminently attributed to Savitṛ, and mighty golden splendour to him only (3, 38⁸; 7, 38¹). This splendour he stretches out or diffuses. He illumines the air, heaven and earth, the world, the spaces of the earth, the vault of heaven (1, 35⁷· ⁸; 4, 14². 53⁴; 5, 81²). He raises aloft his strong golden arms, with which he blesses and arouses all beings and which extend to the ends of the earth (2, 38²; 4, 53³·⁴; 6, 71¹·⁵; 7, 45²). The raising of his arms is characteristic, for the action of other gods is compared with it. Agni is said to raise his arms like Savitṛ (1, 95⁷); the dawns extend light as Savitṛ his arms (7, 79²), and Bṛhaspati is implored to raise hymns of praise as Savitṛ his arms (1, 190³). He moves in his golden car, seeing all creatures, on a downward and an upward path (1, 35²· ³). He impels the car of the Aśvins before dawn (1, 34¹⁰). He shines after the path of the dawn (5, 81²). He has measured out the earthly spaces, he goes to the three bright realms of heaven and is united with the rays of the sun (5, 81³· ⁴). The only time the epithet *sūrya-raśmi* is used in the RV. it is applied to Savitṛ: ‘Shining with the rays of the sun, yellow-haired, Savitṛ raises up his light continually from the east’ (10, 139¹). He thrice surrounds the air, the three spaces, the three bright realms of heaven (4, 53⁵: cp. Viṣṇu, § 17). His ancient paths in the air are dustless and easy to traverse, on them he is besought to protect his worshippers (1, 35¹¹). He is prayed to convey the departed spirit to where the righteous dwell (10, 17⁴). He bestows immortality on the gods as well as length of life on man (4, 54²). He also bestowed immortality on the Ṛbhus, who by the greatness of their deeds went to his house (1, 110²· ³). Like Sūrya, he is implored to remove evil dreams (5, 82⁴) and to make men sinless (4, 54³). He drives away evil spirits and sorcerers (1, 35¹⁰; 7, 38⁷).

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Like many other gods Savitṛ is called *asura* (4, 53¹). He observes fixed laws (4, 53⁴; 10, 34⁸. 139³). The waters and the wind are subject to his ordinance (2, 38²). He leads the waters and by his propulsion they flow broadly (3, 33⁶ cp. Nir. 2, 26). The other gods follow his lead (5, 81³). No being, not even Indra, Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman, Rudra, can resist his will and independent dominion (2, 387. 9; 5, 82²). His praises are celebrated by the Vasus, Aditi, Varuṇa, Mitra and Aryaman (7, 38³· 4). Like Pūṣan and Sūrya, he is lord of that which moves and is stationary (4, 53⁶). He is lord of all desirable things, and sends blessings from heaven, air, earth (1, 24³; 2, 38¹¹). He is twice (1, 123³; 6, 71⁴) even spoken of as 'domestic' (*damūnas*), an epithet otherwise almost entirely limited to Agni. Like other gods, he is a supporter of the sky (4, 53²; 10, 149⁴). He supports the whole world (4, 54⁴). He fixed the earth with bonds and made firm the sky in the rafterless space (10, 149¹).

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Savitṛ is at least once (1, 22⁶) called 'child of Waters' (*apāṃ napāt*), an epithet otherwise exclusively belonging to Agni. It is probably also applied to him in 10, 149² ² . Yāska (Nir. 10, 32) commenting on this verse regards Savitṛ here as belonging to the middle region (or atmosphere) because he causes rain, adding that the sun (*Āditya*, who is in heaven) is also called Savitṛ³. It is probably owing to this epithet and because Savitṛ's paths are once (1, 35¹¹) said to be in the atmosphere, that this deity occurs among the gods of the middle region as well as among those of heaven in the Naighaṇṭuka. Savitṛ is once called the *prajāpati* of the world (4, 53²). In the ŚB. (12, 3, 5¹) people are said to identify Savitṛ with Prajāpati; and in the TB. (1, 6, 4¹) it is stated that Prajāpati becoming Savitṛ created living beings⁴. Savitṛ is alone lord of vivifying power and by his movements (*yāmabhiḥ*) becomes Pūṣan (5, 82⁵). In his vivifying power Pūṣan marches, beholding all beings as a guardian (10, 139¹). In two consecutive verses (3, 62⁹· ¹⁰) Pūṣan and Savitṛ are thought of as connected. In the first the favour of Pūṣan who sees all beings is invoked, and in the second, Savitṛ is besought to stimultae (cp. Pūṣan, p. 36) the thoughts of worshippers who desire to think of the excellent brilliance of god Savitṛ. The latter verse is the celebrated *Sāvitrī*, with which Savitṛ was in later times invoked at the beginning of Vedic study⁵. Savitṛ is also said to become Mitra by reason of his laws (5, 81⁴). Savitṛ seems sometimes (5, 82¹· ³; 7, 38¹· ⁶) to be identified with Bhaga also, unless the latter word is here only an epithet of Savitṛ. The name of Bhaga (the good god bestowing benefits) is indeed often added to that of Savitṛ so as to form the single expression *Savitā Bhagaḥ* or *Bhagaḥ Savitā*⁶. In other texts, however, Savitṛ is distinguished from Mitra, Pūṣan, and Bhaga. In several passages Savitṛ and Sūrya appear to be spoken of indiscriminately to denote the same deity. Thus a poet says: 'God Savitṛ has raised aloft his brilliance, making light for the whole world; Sūrya shining brightly has filled heaven and earth and air with his rays' (4, 14²). In another hymn (7, 63) Sūrya is (in verses 1. 2. 4) spoken of in terms (e. g. *prasavitṛ*, vivifier) usually applied to Savitṛ, and in the third verse Savitṛ is apparently mentioned as the same god. In other hymns also (10, 158¹⁻⁴; 1, 35¹⁻¹¹· 124¹) it is hardly possible to keep the two deities apart. In passages such as the following, Savitṛ is, however, distinguished from Sūrya. 'Savitṛ moves between both heaven and earth, drives away disease, impels (*veti*) the sun' (1, 35⁹). Savitṛ declares men sinless to the sun (1, 123³). He combines with the rays of the sun (5, 81⁴) or shines with the rays of the sun (10, 139¹ cp. 181³; 1, 157¹; 7, 35⁸· ¹⁰). With Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Savitṛ is besought to vivify the worshipper when the sun has risen (7, 66⁴).

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According to Yāska (Nir. 12, 12), the time of Savitṛ's appearance is when darkness has been removed. Sāyaṇa (on RV. 5, 81⁴) remarks that before his rising the sun is called Savitṛ, but from his rising to his setting, Sūrya. But Savitṛ is also sometimes spoken of as sending to sleep (4, 53⁶; 7, 45¹), and must therefore be connected with evening as well as morning. He is, indeed, extolled as the setting sun in one hymn (2, 38); and there are indications that most of the hymns addressed to him are meant for either a morning or an evening sacrifice⁷. He brings all two-footed and four-footed beings to rest and awakens them (6, 71² cp. 4, 53³; 7, 45¹). He unyokes his steeds, brings the wanderer to rest; at his command night comes; the weaver rolls up her web and the skilful man lays down his unfinished work (2, 38 3·4). Later the west was wont to be assigned to him (ŚB. 3, 2, 3¹⁸), as the east to Agni and the south to Soma.

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² Cp. v. Bradke, ZDMG. 40. 355; HRI. 48. —

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⁷ HRI.

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The name Savitṛ has all the appearance of being a word of purely Indian formation. This is borne out by the fact that the root *sū*, from which it is derived, is continually used along with it in a manner which is unique in the RV. Some other verb would nearly always be used to express the same action in connexion with any other god. In the case of Savitṛ not only is the root itself used, but also several derivatives (such as *prasavitṛ* and *prasava*) constituting a perpetual play on the name⁸. These frequent combinations show clearly that the root has the sense of stimulating, arousing, vivifying. A few examples may here be given in illustration of this peculiar usage. ‘God Savitṛ has aroused (*prāsāvīt*) each moving thing’ (1, 157¹). ‘Thou alone art the lord of stimulation’ (*prasavasya*: 5, 81⁵). ‘Savitṛ bestowed (*āsuvat*) that immortality on you’ (1, 110³). ‘God Savitṛ has arisen to arouse (*savāya*) us’ (2, 38¹). ‘Thrice a day Savitṛ sends down (*soṣavīti*) boons from the sky’ (3, 56⁶). ‘Do thou, o Savitṛ, constitute (*suvatāt*) us sinless’ (4, 54³). ‘May we being sinless towards Aditi through the influence (*save*) of Savitṛ possess all boons’ (5, 82⁶). ‘Send away (*parā sava*) evil dream, send away all calamities, bestow (*āsuva*) what is good (ib. 4. 5). ‘May Savitṛ remove (*apa sāviṣat*) sickness’ (10, 100⁸). With this verb Savitṛ is specially often besought to bestow wealth (2, 56⁶ &c.). This use of *sū* is almost peculiar to Savitṛ; but it is two or three times applied to Sūrya (7, 63 2·4; 10, 37⁴). It also occurs with Uṣas (7, 77¹), with Varuṇa (2, 28⁹), with the Ādityas (8, 18¹), and with Mitra, Aryaman coupled with Savitṛ (7, 66⁴). This employment being so frequent, Yāska (Nir. 10, 31) defines Savitṛ as *sarvasya prasavitā*, ‘the stimulator of everything’.

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³ Cp. Roth, Nirukta Erl. 143; OST. 4, 96. 111. —

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⁴ Weber, Omina und Portenta 386. 392. —

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⁶ BRV. 3, 39. —

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The fact that in nearly half its occurrences the name is accompanied by *deva*, god, seems to show that is has not yet lost the nature of an epithet, meaning ‘the stimulator god’. At any rate, the word appears to be an epithet of Tvaṣṭṛ in two passages (3, 55¹⁹; 10, 10⁵), where the juxtaposition of the words *devas tvaṣṭā savitā viśvarūpa* and the collocation with *deva* indicate that Savitṛ is here identical with Tvaṣṭṛ.

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⁵ Whitney in Colebrooke’s essays. rev. ed. 2, 111. —

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We may therefore conclude that Savitṛ was originally an epithet of Indian origin applied to the sun as the great stimulator of life and motion in the world, representing the most important movement which dominates all others in the universe, but that as differentiated from Sūrya he is a more abstract deity. He is in the eyes of the Vedic poets the divine power of the sun personified, while Sūrya is the more concrete deity, in the conception of whom the outward form of the sun-body is never absent owing to the identity of his name with that of the orb (cp. 1, 35⁹. 124¹).

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¹ HRI. 44. —

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Oldenberg⁹, reversing the order of development generally recognized, thinks that Savitṛ represents an abstraction of the idea of stimulation and that the notion of the sun, or of the sun in a particular direction, is only secondary in his character¹⁰.

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46. — ⁸ ROTH, op. cit. 76. — ⁹ ORV. 64—5. — ¹⁰ MACDONELL, JRAS. 27, 951—2; v. SCHROEDER, WZKM. 9, 125.
WHITNEY, JAOS. 3, 324; OST. 5, 162—70; ROTH, PW.; ZDMG. 24, 306—8; GRV. I, 49; GW. s. v.; KRV. 56; BRV. 3, 38—64; HVBP. 33.

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