Sun Worship and Mythology (Introduction)

In the Hindu religion, the Sun (i.e. Sūrya) is one of the prominent gods. Among the gods worshipped by the people, God Sūrya occupies an important place. The idea of existence of Sūrya is found in the earliest literature i.e. Vedic literature in which Sūrya is found to be worshipped by people as a god.

The term sūrya is derived from sṛ or from sū or from svīr which in a sense means ‘to move’ or ‘to stimulate’ or ‘to promote well’^[1] respectively.

It has been stated by Yāska in his Nirukta thus—

sūryaḥ sartervā suvatervā svīryatervā^[2].

Yāska, the author of the Nirukta, states the abode of the deity Sūrya as—

tiśra eva devatā iti nairuktāḥ / agniḥ pṛthivīstānaḥ vāyurvendro vā antarikṣasthānaḥ, sūryo dyusthānaḥ /^[3].

I.e. the Nairuktas mention only three deities, viz. Agni, Vāyu or Indra and Sūrya. Agni’s place is on the earth, Vāyu’s or Indra’s place is in the air and Sūrya’s place is in the sky.

In the Ṛgveda Sūrya is also described as the eyes of Mitra, Varuṇa and Agni and the soul of that which moves and does not move:

sūrya ātmā jagatastasthuṣaṡca //^[4]

The Śatapathabrāhmaṇa^[5] and the Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad state that God Sūrya has twelve forms and these twelve gods identify the twelve months of the year—

katama ādityā iti / dvādaśa vai māsāḥ saṃvatsarasya eva ādityāḥ ete hīdaṃ sarvam ādadānā yanti / te yadidaṃ sarvam ādadānā yanti / tasmādādityā iti /^[6]

The sun hath filled the air, the earth and heaven.^[7] Kātyāyana also expresses the greatness of Sūrya by his words:

ekaiva vā mahānātmā devatā tat sūrya ityācakṣate.^[8]

The Purāṇic literature describes different traditions of Sun-worship. The worship of Sun is found in many early and later Purāṇas like the Viṣṇupurāṇa (3 rd-4 th Cent. A.D.), the Vāyupurāṇa (3 rd Cent. A.D.), the Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa (3 rd-5 th Cent. A.D.), the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa (3 rd-4 th Cent. A.D.) etc. Amongst the later Purāṇas, the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa (500 A.D.-1200 A.D.), the Skandapurāṇa (700 A.D.)^[9] etc. mentions the Sun-god.

In the Vedic literature, the god Āditya is revealed as having twelve synonyms.

According to Bhāgavatapurāṇa, the names of twelve Ādityas are—

1. Dhātā,
2. Aryamā,
3. Mitra,
4. Varuṇa,
5. Indra,
6. Vivasvān,
7. Tvaṣṭṛ,
8. Viṣṇu,
9. Aṃśumān,
10. Bhaga,
11. Puṣya and
12. Parjanya.^[10]

The Liṅgapurāṇa, also talks about twelve Ādityas, viz.

1. Viṣṇu,
2. Indra,
3. Dhātā,
4. Bhaga,
5. Tvaṣṭā,
6. Aṃśumān,
7. Varuṇa,
8. Mitra,
9. Vivasvān,
10. Pūṣā,
11. Savitṛ and
12. Aryaman.

The Viṣṇupurāṇa mentions the twelve names of Āditya as—

1. Aṃśa,
2. Aryaman,
3. Bhaga,
4. Duti,
5. Mitra,
6. Pūṣan,
7. Śakra,
8. Savitṛ,
9. Tvaṣṭṛ,
10. Varuṇa,
11. Viṣṇu and
12. Vivasvat.

This Purāṇa states that Sūrya lived in Śākadvipa, where paring off his body by Viśvakarman took place. There were temples dedicated to Sun-god and people belonging to the four varṇas, namely Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya, Vaiśya and Śūdra offered worship to him. The Agnipurāṇa mentions that the Sun-god is another manifestation of Lord Viṣṇu. The Matsyapurāṇa describes the worship of four Gods, viz. Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Sūrya and Śiva without regarding them as non-different from each other. The Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa considers Sun-god as the cause of all activities of the world. He is the creator of day, night, months, seasons, fruits, vegetables, food, flowers, medicine etc. He is the controller of grahas and nakṣatras.

The Sun-worship is vividly described in nine chapters (ch. 99th–ch. 107th) of the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa.

Here, Sūrya is worshipped as having the three forms of Brahmā, Maheśvara (Śiva) and Viṣṇu.

brāhmī māheśvarī caiva vaiṣṇavī caiva te tanuḥ /
tridhā yasyā sarūpantu bhārobhāsvān prasidatu//^[11]

The Purāṇas contain different legendary and mythological accounts of gods’ origin. As such the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa is also one of those Purāṇas that narrates several myths.

In this Purāṇa we get available materials on the mythology of Sūrya and these materials can be divided in to the following four parts—

[1. The Birth of Sūrya (Mārtaṇḍa)]

[2. Description of Solar Family]

[3. Description of God Sūrya]

[4. Worship of Sūrya]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Lakshman Sarup (ed.), The Nighaṇṭu and the Nirukta, p.189

[2]:

Nirukta, 12.14

[3]:

Ibid., 7.5

[4]:

Ṛgveda, 1.115.1

[5]:

Śatapathabrāhmaṇa, 6.1.2.8

[6]:

Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad, 3.9.5

[7]:

R. T. H. Griffith, The Hymns of the Ṛgveda, p. 76

[8]:

Sarvānukramaṇī, 2.4.10

[9]:

V. C. Srivastava, Sun Worship in Ancient India, p. 204-205

[10]:

Bhāgavatapurāṇa, 12.11.27-49

[11]:

Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, 106.71