Part 3 - Sūrya, the Creator, the Preserver and the Destroyer

The Purāṇic Sūrya is delineated as the ultimate cause of everything, i.e. sarvabhūtātmā.^[1] He is the creator and the destroyer of the world.^[2] He is mentioned in the Purāṇas as the cause of the creation, dissolution and permanence, i.e. sṛṣṭisaṃhārasthitihetoḥ.^[3] Three worlds are created by him.^[4] Again, he has created the mountains and the rivers.^[5] He is mentioned as the cause of the heat, rain, cold and flood.^[6] All the creatures, i.e. the movable and the immovable, the animate or the inanimate are created from the Sun. For all these aspects, Sūrya is worshipped as the soul of the whole universe and of whole created beings, e.g. deva, tiryak, manuṣya, sarīsṛpa, vīrudha, etc.^[7]

The idea of worshipping the Sun-god as the soul of universe is indeed influenced by the Vedic thought:

sūrya ātmā jagatastasthūṣaśca/^[8] .

In the Vedas, the deity is worshipped as the soul of the universe, who directly causes the creation, survival of the created beings and the destruction of all.

The whole universe depends upon the Sun because of his power of generation.^[9]

The Sun absorbs the water by his bright rays:

tejobhiḥ sarvalokebhyaḥ ādatte raśmibhirjalam/^[10]

He absorbs it from the earth for eight months and in another four months again pours it to the earth in the form of the rain. Due to this aspect, he is mentioned in the Purāṇas, as the robber of the waters, i.e. vāritaskara.^[11] The corns grow from the rain and the whole universe subsists on it. Thus, being the creator of the rain, Sūrya stands as the cause of the food and the vegetation for the entire earth.^[12]

He is rightly called as the nectar for the vivification of plants:

yadrūpaṃ jīvanāyaikaṃ vīrudhāmamṛtātmakam/^[13]

Again, the connection of the Sun-god with the breath is mentioned in the Purāṇas. Without Sūrya no one can breathe and without the breath no one can survive in the world:

āprāṇāḥ prāṇinaḥ sarva āpaḥ śuṣyanti tejasā/
na cāmbhasā vinā sṛṣṭirviśvasyāsya bhaviṣyati//^[14]

The same idea originated in the Vedas where the Sun-god itself is called as the vitality:

asau vā ādityaḥ prāṇaḥ prāṇamevainānutsṛjati/^[15]

Thus, Sūrya survives the whole universe with his rays and heat.

He warms, matures, protects the universe and turns it into ashes:

tapasi pacasi viśvaṃ pāsi bhasmīkaroṣi/^[16]

The delineation of the Sun as the power of generation in the Purāṇas is indeed the replication of the Vedic tradition of worshipping the Sun as the generative force in the Vedas.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Padmapurāṇa, 1.77.31; Matsyapurāṇa, 97.11

[2]:

Bhaviṣyapurāṇa, 1.48.22

[3]:

Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, 100.2

[4]:

cf., ajāya lokatrayakāraṇāya bhūtātmane gopataye vṛṣāya/ Ibid., 104.4

[5]:

Bhaviṣyapurāṇa, 1.48.24

[6]:

cf., soʹyaṃ saptagaṇaḥ sūryamaṇḍale munisattama/ himoṣṇa-vārivṛṣṭīnāṃ hetutve samayaṃ gataḥ//

[7]:

cf., devatiryaṅmaṇuṣyāṇāṃ sarīsṛpasavīrudhām/ sarvajīvanikāyānāṃ sūrya ātmā dṛgīśvaraḥ// Bhā.

[8]:

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 1.115.1

[9]:

Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa, 2.22.25; Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, 101.20-22; Viṣ P,2.9.8-18

[10]:

Matsyapurāṇa, 125.31

[11]:

Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, 102.8

[12]:

Bhaviṣyapurāṇa, 1.53.6

[13]:

Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, 104.26

[14]:

Ibid., 103.3

[15]:

Taittirīyasaṃhitā, 5.5.2.5

[16]:

Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, 104.26