Part 2 - Sūrya, the Saura cult and the Saura-purāṇa

The Saura-purāṇa begins with a certain philosophical problem during the discourse of the ṛṣis on the occasion of a sacrificial performance of king Pratardana at Kāmikāraṇya. After listening to the instruction of the divine voice (“daivavāṇī”) the ṛṣis, Bhṛgu and others, under the leadership of Manu, went to the Dvādaśāditya-kṣetra, which was mentioned as the eternal place of Sūrya. There Sūrya appeared before Manu after being eulogised by the latter. In response to the queries of Manu, Sūrya narrated the Saura-purāṇa^[1]

The Sūrya has been praised as “trilokacakṣu”, “aṃśumālin”, “akhileśa” etc. in the invocation of Manu. 

Moreover, he has been eulogised as Śiva, Viṣṇu, Brahmā and as oṃkāra etc.:

“tvaṃ śivastvaṃ harirdeva tvaṃ brahmā tvaṃ divaspatiḥ|
tvamoṅkāro vaṣaṭkāraḥ svadhā svāhā tvameva hi_||”^[2]

Apart from this there is another eulogy (stuti) of Sūrya by Manu in the fifty-third chapter of this Purāṇa. There it has been stated that, according to the Śruti, Sūrya knows the glories of Śiva alone exactly, no one else knows.^[3]  

Hence, Sūrya is the other form of Śiva: 

“tvamīśasyāparā mūrtiyato’si parameśvaraḥ”.^[4]

In the Purāṇas the major work of the Rudra-Śiva is to destroy (pralaya) the universe after every manvantara. The Saura-purāṇa describes the important role of Sūrya during that kind of naimittika pralaya (casual demolition).^[5] During the demolition, the universe is destroyed by the heat of Sūrya. The seven rays of Sūrya absorb the sea water. The whole universe with mountains, seas and islands are burned by the burning rays of Sūrya, the form of Rudra. After the burning of the earth, heaven and the hell, the whole of the universe become submerged in the water. The clouds originate from the sūryamaṇḍala and henceforth rain continuously.^[6] Therefore Sūrya has been eulogised as Rudra.

While dealing with the Saura-purāṇa one can obviously think about the cause of the title of this Purāṇa as such, because the very name may signify that it is a Purāṇa belonging to the Saurya sect, which is supposed to glorify the Sūrya. But, in fact the content is not like this. Belonging to the Pāśupata School of Śaivism, the Saura-purāṇa describes the glorification of Śiva and his consort Pārvatī: “sauraṃ śivakathāśritam”.^[7] It is therefore, important to investigate why the Saura-purāṇa has been so named in spite of glorifications made to Śiva.

As per the Puranic tradition, the Purāṇas are regarded as composed by Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa.^[8]  

But the Purāṇas also claim that even before Vyāsa the Purāṇas were narrated by Brahmā to the munis:

“purāṇaṃ sarvaśāstrānāṃ brahmanā smṛtam|
anantarañca vaktrebhyo vedāstasya vinirgatāḥ_||”^[9]

Giorcio Bonazzoli observes that there are at least three layers of recitation of the Purāṇas. However, several Purāṇas do never completely match with one another. In spite of that it can be stated that the Purāṇa “firstly refers to the revealing deity, the second one of the different traditions of the munis and ṛṣis and the third one to Vyāsa and his disciples. These three layers, besides separate in time, seem to fulfil also different purposes in the handling over.”^[10] After analysis of the major Purāṇas he shows that, the name of Vyāsa, Sūta, Śaunaka are in the third stage of the proposed layer. Brahmā or synonyms are in the first layer and Nārada etc. in the second layer.^[11]

In the Puranic tradition we can observe that the nomenclature of several Purāṇas are based on their narrators of first and second layer, such as the Vāyu-purāṇa, Matsya-purāṇa, Agni-purāṇa, Kūrma-purāṇa and so on. This observation is also applicable in the case of the title of the Saura-purāṇa 

Sūrya is the first narrator of this Purāṇa—

“…bhagavatā pūrvamādityenātmarūpiṇā|
purāṇaṃ kathitaṃ sauraṃ..”^[12]  

Manu narrates this Purāṇa as he had listened from Sūrya:

“vaktā yatra raviḥ sākṣācchrotā yasya suto manuḥ”.^[13]  

So, Manu should be considered as the narrator of second layer of this Purāṇa. The sūta Romaharṣaṇa, the pupil of Vyāsa, was the narrator of the final or third stage of this Purāṇa.^[14] This approach of the Saura-purāṇa is very much available in the Puranic canon as we have already mentioned.

Now, it makes us inquisitive in regard to the selection of Sūrya, the major deity of Saura sect, as the narrator of the Purāṇa belonging to the Pāśupatas. We have to investigate whether there was some sectarian approach while selecting of Sūrya as the narrator of the Saura-purāṇa

We know that, the major parts the Saura-purāṇa were composed during c. tenth to twelfth centuries CE most possibly in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent.^[15] During that time-frame (the early-medieval period) the worship of Sūrya was very famous in the respective part of the Subcontinent. Not only the literary documents, numismatics and archaeological evidences also attest the popularity of the Saura cult especially in the northern and western part of India.^[16] The present Multan (originally Mūlasthāna or Maitravana, Panjub) near the river Candrabhāgā, was a famous place of Sūrya-worship. The descriptions of that Sūrya-temple are found in the compositions of Xunag-zung (c. seventh century CE), Alberuni (c. eleventh century CE), Al Edrisi (twelfth centuries CE). Apart from that temple many ruins of Sūrya-temple have been reported between Multan to Kutch area datable from Gupta period onwards.^[17] So the most popular and powerful deity Sūrya might be established as a narrator of the Purāṇa related to Śiva or the Pāśupatas. In that way the acceptance of that Purāṇa to the mass (mainly the Sūrya-worshippers) would be increased.^[18] Thus the socio-cultural analysis behind the selection of Sūrya as a narrator of the Śaiva Purāṇa may be assumed.

Secondly, we have already discussed in the fourth chapter of this thesis how the Puranic Pāśupatas absorbed the Vedic (Smārta) and non-Vedic concepts in the same fold of theology (concept of Rudra-Śiva) as well as in the case of rituals. The urge to establish the Paśupata Śaivism as pro-Vedic by the Smārta Brāhmaṇas might have chosen Sūrya, the prominent Vedic deity as the narrator of this Purāṇa.^[19]

In fact, there are many verses in the Purāṇas to show their liberal and reconcilement approach, and simultaneously there are huge verses which can reveal their sectarian outlook directly or indirectly. S. A. Dange observed some clash as well as reconciliation between the Saura and the Śaiva cult.^[20] In addition to that we can also refer to the sectarian conflict between the two cults in the verses of the Kūrma-purāṇa for example. There, in the Dakṣa-yajña episode, sage Dadhīcī tried to establish Mahādeva as a supreme soul of Sūrya. He as the priest of the three Vedas, tried to preach Dakṣa as. He actually eulogised Śiva by the praise of Sūrya:

⁴³ The Sūrya-sūktas (such as 1. 115 and so on) of the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā reveals the antiquity of the sun worship. Among the Vedic deities Savitā, Puṣaṇa, Vivasvat, Bhaga, Mitra, Viṣṇu, Aryaman, Mārtaṇḍa, Dhātā, Rudra, Varuṇa etc. are considered collectively as the Ādityas. The variation regarding the number and names of the Ādityas sometimes differs in the Vedic literature. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa refers to the worship and eulogy (“Ādityahṛdaya-stotra”) of Sūrya by Rāma. There he has been eulogised as “sarvadevātmaka” i.e. the comprised form of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, Skanda, Indra, Kuvera etc. In the “Vanaparva” of the Vaiyāsika Mahābhārata. Yudhiṣṭhira eulogised Sūrya as comprehensive form of all deities. The glory of Sūrya has been described in the Mayūra’s Sūryaśataka, Varāhamihira’s Bṛhatsaṃhitā, Markaṇḍeya-purāṇa, Brahma-purāṇa, Śāmba-purāṇa etc. The earliest archaeological elements of Sūrya goes back to the c. second-first centuries BCE. 

According to J. N. Banerjea, the legends of some coins “suyamita” (Sūryamitra), “Bhānumita” (Bhānumitra) of Pāñcāladeśa, dated to c. first centuries BCE can be considered as the numismatic evidence of the existence of the Sūryaworshippers of the Saura sect. Ānandagiri mentions six sub-sects of the Sauras in his Saṃkaravijaya. Harṣavardhana (sixth century CE) describes himself along with his father Prabhākaravardhana and grandfather Ādityavardhana as the “Paramādityas”. According to scholars some aspects of Sūrya and his worship had been added from the people, who came from Śākadvipa (the middle Asia).

Some Puranic verses also attest that. See: J. N. Banerjea: Pañcopāsanā, pp. 291-20.

“so’yaṃ sākṣī tīvrocaiḥ kālātmā śāṃkarītanuḥ|
eṣa rudro mahādevaḥ kapālī ca ghṛṇī haraḥ||
ādityo bhagavān sūryo nīlagrīvo vilohitaḥ|
saṃstuyante sahasrāṃśu sāmagādhvaryuhotṛbhiḥ||
paśyainaṃ viśvakarmāṇaṃ rudramūrtiṃ trayīmayīm|”^[21]

But Dakṣa denied his opinion and other sages present in his sacrifice also supported him.^[22] However, Śiva is mentioned as the soul of Sūrya (“sūryātmā”) by the Pāśupatas found in the Saura-purāṇa too.^[23] The Śāmba-purāṇa describes how Rudra-Śiva was freed from sin after worshipping Sūrya for His excision of Brahmā’s fifth head.^[24] In another account it has been described that Sūrya gave a Kṛkabāku bird to Yama to relieve him from leprosy, which was caused by the curse of Chāyā. This account is available in the Matsya-purāṇa, Vāyu-purāṇa, Brahma-purāṇa, Harivaṃśa, Padma-purāṇa etc. The role of Sūrya was wellknown as the remover of leprosy. But the Liṅga-purāṇa replaced Sūrya by Śiva from that prime role.^[25] In the Liṅga-purāṇa Yama was removed from leprosy by the grace of Śiva.^[26] It may appear to be a sectarian conflict between the two cults.

Following the Puranic tradition the Saura-purāṇa describes Sūrya as one of the direct forms (“pratyakṣamūrtī”) of Śiva among the eight forms.^[27] Rudra-Śiva is mentioned there as the soul of Sūrya (“sūryātmā”).^[28] It has been stated that, Śiva is the soul of Sūrya, but Sūrya does not recognise him.

So the Purāṇa eulogises Sūrya, as one of the form of Śiva:

“sūrye tiṣṭhati yo devo na sūrya vetti śaṃkaram|
yasya sūrya bhavedrūpaṃ tasmai sūryātmane namaḥ ||”^[29]

Therefore, the Saura-purāṇa describes Sūrya as a form of Śiva. In spite of that, Sūrya is not considered as the highest god as Śiva is described there.

On the other hand, the Śāmba-purāṇa of the Sauras describes that, it is the Sūrya who is worshipped as Viṣṇu in the Śvetadvipa, as Maheśvara in the Kuśadvipa and as Brahmā in the Puskaradvipa. This Purāṇa also declares that these four divinities are in fact, one.^[30]

Apart from this sectarian conflict there are also available data which reveal their cultic reconciliation. The “Sṛṣṭi-khaṇḍa” of the Padma-purāṇa describes the worship of Sūrya in association with Śiva. 

In the vow called Āditya-śayana, the worship of Śiva is ordained there: 

“ādityaśayanaṃ nāma yathāva-cchaṃkarārcanaṃ”.^[31]  

The vow is to be performed when Sūrya enters in the Hasta constellation and it is held in the seventh day of a month. On that day Śiva and Pārvatī are enjoined to be worshiped by the names of god Sūrya, and the arcās (figure or image for worship) are the figure of plate (as Sūrya) or a small idol of Sūrya and a śiva-liṅga are also jointly worshipped.

It is also stated that there is no difference between the gods Sūrya and Śiva:

“umāmaheśvarau devārcayet sūryanāmabhiḥ|
sūryāṃca śivaliṅgaṃ ca bhaktitaḥ pūjayestathā ||”^[32]

The Matsya-purāṇa states:

“umāpateḥ revervāpi na bhedo dṛśyate kvacid”.^[33]

This sign of reconciliation can be found also in an unpublished segment of the Saura-purāṇa^[34] There Śiva describes the ritual of the Mārtaṇḍa-vrata to Pārvatī.^[35]

To choose Sūrya as a narrator of the glories of Śiva began in the Purāṇa/s and this trend was followed in other sacred literary traditions too. For example we can refer to the Sūryagītā (originally consisting of five chapters of the Karma-kāṇḍa of the Gurujñāna-vāsiṣṭha-tattva-sārāyaṇa). There Śiva is the immanent divinity. Enquired by Aruṇa, Sūrya preached the Sūryagīta.^[36]

The association of Śiva and Sūrya can be traced back to the Vedic literature. In the Śukla-yajurveda-saṃhitā (“Rudraṣṭādhyāyī”) Rudra has been treated as the form of Āditya. 

He is described as follows:

“asau yo’vasarpati nīlagrīvo vilohitaḥ|
utainaṃ gopā adṛśyannadṛśyannudahāryaḥ sa mṛḍyāti naḥ_||”^[37]

The commentator Uvaṭa confirms that Rudra is eulogised there as a form of Āditya: 

“ādityarūpeṇātra rudra stūyate”.^[38]

It is noteworthy that the Śaiva Purāṇas are very much influenced by the “Rudraṣṭādhyāyī”. We often find the epithets “nīlagrīva” or “vilohita” as the adjectives or the alternative names of Śiva in the Purāṇas.^[39] However, such type Vedic verses helps the Śaivas to establish the superiority of Śiva. On the other side, it opens a door of assimilation beyond the sectarian spirit. This aspect of reconciliation clearly exhibited in the concept of Pañcopāsana in the Indian subcontinent (and the South-east Asian countries too^[40]), and on the theology and iconography of the Mārtaṇḍa-bhairava, who is the composite form of Śiva and Sūrya. These concepts have mainly developed in the Tantric literature. The Śāradātilakatantra comprises of a beautiful description (“dhyāna-mantra”) of that composite form^[41], and that is not limited to the literary description only. There are many sculptures which also represent the composite form of Śiva and Sūrya.^[42]

Footnotes and references:

[back to top]

[1]:

Ibid., 1. 19b ff. — Saura-purāṇa

[2]:

Ibid., 1. 36b-37a.

[3]:

Ibid., 53. 4-7.

[4]:

Ibid., 53. 5a, also 53. 6.

[5]:

The naimittika pralaya is defined in the Saura-purāṇa as follow: “kalpānte yastu saṃhāro naimittika ihocyate” (Ibid., 33. 11b).

[6]:

Ibid., 33. 13-25.

[7]:

Ibid., 1. 14a.

[8]:

“aṣṭ̣ādaśapurāṇāni kṛtvā satyavatīsutaḥ”, Matsya-purāṇa, 53. 70; “aṣṭ̣ādaśa purāṇāni kṛṣṇena muninā’nagha”, Devībhāgavata-purāṇa, 1. 1. 3a. Valdev Upadhyaya: Op. cit., p. 63ff.

[9]:

Matsya-purāṇa, 53. 3. Also, Skanda-purāṇa, 5. 1. 24-25 etc.

[10]:

Giorcio Bonozzoli: “Puranic Paraṃparā”, Purāṇaṃ, vol. 3, part 1, p. 39.

[11]:

Ibid., pp. 35ff.

[12]:

Saura-purāṇa, 1.6. See also, 2.1.

[13]:

Ibid., 1. 17a.

[14]:

Ibid., 1. 5ff.

[15]:

R. C. Hazra: Op. cit., p. 127.

[16]:

V. C. Srivastava: Sun-worship in Ancient India, p. 348ff. Also see, S. R. Goyel: Paurāṇika Sects and Cults, pp. 232-33.

[17]:

S. R. Goyel: Op. cit., p. 232.

[18]:

See: Saura-purāṇa, 53. 4-5.

[19]:

The Sūrya-sūktas (such as 1. 115 and so on) of the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā reveals the antiquity of the sun worship. Among the Vedic deities Savitā, Puṣaṇa, Vivasvat, Bhaga, Mitra, Viṣṇu, Aryaman, Mārtaṇḍa, Dhātā, Rudra, Varuṇa etc. are considered collectively as the Ādityas. The variation regarding the number and names of the Ādityas sometimes differs in the Vedic literature. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa refers to the worship and eulogy (“Ādityahṛdaya-stotra”) of Sūrya by Rāma. There he has been eulogised as “sarvadevātmaka” i.e. the comprised form of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, Skanda, Indra, Kuvera etc. In the “Vanaparva” of the Vaiyāsika Mahābhārata. Yudhiṣṭhira eulogised Sūrya as comprehensive form of all deities. The glory of Sūrya has been described in the Mayūra’s Sūryaśataka, Varāhamihira’s Bṛhatsaṃhitā, Markaṇḍeya-purāṇa, Brahma-purāṇa, Śāmba-purāṇa etc. The earliest archaeological elements of Sūrya goes back to the c. second-first centuries BCE. 

[20]:

S. A. Dange: The Encyclopaedia of Puranic Beliefs and Practices, vol. 4, p. 1414-15. Ānandagiri mentions in the Saṃkaravija about the Sauras, who worshipped Sūrya in the form of Rudra-Śiva i.e. the destroyer of the universe (J. N. Banerjea: Pañcopāsanā, p. 304).

[21]:

Kūrma-purāṇa, 1. 15. 14b-16.

[22]:

Ibid., 1. 15. 17-19.

[23]:

Saura-purāṇa, 2. 54.

[24]:

Śāmba-purāṇa, 16. 26-33.

[25]:

The mention of Rudra as a good remover of diseases is found in the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā. The herbs given from his hand are cause to recover: “gāthapatiṃ medhapatiṃ rudraṃ jālāṣabheṣajam| tacchaṃyoḥ sumnamīmate||” (1. 43. 3)

[26]:

Dilipkumar Biswas: “Bhāratīya Sūrya-pūjāra Ekti Vaiśiṣṭ̣ya”, Sāhitya Pariṣada Partikā, vol. 57, issue. 1, pp. 35-36.

[27]:

Saura-purāṇa, 2. 54.

[28]:

Ibid., 1. 35a.

[29]:

Ibid., 2. 54.

[30]:

Śāmba-purāṇa, 26. 35-36.

[31]:

Padma-purāṇa, Sṛṣṭ̣i-khaṇḍa, 24. 66.

[32]:

Ibid., 24. 68.

[33]:

Encyclopaedia of Śaivism, p. 296.

[34]:

Manuscript No. G 8202 (See: Haraprasad Shastri: A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Govt. Collection Under the Care of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 5, pp. 758-61), Manuscript — folio nos. 25b-27a. Preserved in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata.

[35]:

See: Appendix 1.

[36]:

Parameswara Aiyar: “Imitations of the Bhagavad-gītā and Later Gītā Literature”, The Cultural Heritage of India, vol. 2, pp. 217-18.

[37]:

Rudrāṣṭādhyāyī, 16. 7.

[38]:

Yogīrāj Basu: Vedera Paricaya, p. 104. It is noteworthy here that, the another commentator Mahīdhara states: — “yo’sāvāditya-rūpo’vasarpati udayāsta-moyau kurvannirantaraṃ gacchati| enaṃ uta gopālā api vedokta-saṃskārahināḥ adṛśran paśyanti|” (Rudrāṣṭādhyāyī, commentary of 16. 7) Here he clearly indicates the non-Vedic attachment to the worship of Rudra as well as the Śaivism.

[39]:

Śiva has been praised by these names in the Saura-purāṇa, 61. 46a.

[40]:

The Tantric kūta-mantras, such as “oṃ hraṃ hraṃ saḥ śivasūryāya paramastejasvarūpāya namaḥ”, “oṃ hrāṃ hriṃ saḥ parama-śivādityāya namaḥ” etc. are conventional in Java which indicates the conceptual and cultic assimilation. (see: Himansu Bhusan Sarkar: Indian Influences on the Literature of Java and Bali, p. 60.

[41]:

“hemāmbhojaprabāla-pratimanija-ruciṃ cārukhaṭvāṅga-padmau| cakraṃ śaktiṃ sapāśaṃ śṛṇimaṇi-rucirāmkṣamālā-kapālaṃ|| hastāṃbhojair-dadhānaṃ trinayana-vilasadveda-vaktrābhirāmaṃ| mārtaṇḍaṃ vallabhārddhaṃ maṇimaya-mukuṭaṃ hāradiptaṃ bhajāmaḥ||” (Śāradātilakam, 64. 14)

[42]:

See: Priyanku Chakraborty: “Some Observations on the Puranic Relation of Śiva and Sūrya with Special Reference to the Saura-purāṇa”, Saṃskṛtavarttikā, pp. 123ff.