Part 2 - Sūrya (The God of Atmosphere)

Sūrya is the most concrete of the solar deities that represents the simplest and most direct form. The bright orb of the Sun is praised highly in the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā.^[1]

In his luminous form, Sūrya is compared to the golden disc or ornament that shines in the sky:

ṛtasya śuci darśatamanīkaṃ rukmo na diva uditā vyadyaut/^[2]

Sāyaṇācārya interprets the passage thus:

uditā uditau sūryasyodaye sati uditaṃ tattejaḥ divaḥ antarikṣasya rukmo na bhūṣaṇamiva vyadyaut vidyotate prakāśate/^[3]

The atmospheric aspect of Sūrya is well-delineated in the Vedas.^[4] Sūrya shines in the firmament and enlightens the whole universe. He is called śukra for his brightness.^[5] The rising, the mounting and the setting of Sūrya is frequently referred to in the Vedic literature.^[6] Sūrya is the god with scorching heat and light.^[7] The moon and all the planets of the sky borrow their light away from the Sun and shine in the sky. For such Sūrya is called jyotiṣkṛt.^[8] The moon is called Āditya for taking its light away from the Sun.^[9]

It reflects the sunlight, falling on it and becomes visible to all:

tasmādenayoḥ sadṛśayoḥ satornatarāṃ candramā bhāti/ āttā hyasya bhāḥ/^[10]

The Aitareyabrāhmaṇa also, points out that the moon is born of the Sun:

ādityād vai candramā jāyate/^[11]

Sāyaṇācārya gives the interpretation of the relevant passage thus:

yā tithāvamāvāsyāmāditye praviṣṭaścandramāḥ śuklapakṣapratipadyādityājjāyate/^[12]

Sūrya creates the days and nights with its rising and setting.^[13] The Vedic seer observes that the Sun, as if, wears the dirty clothes at the night and in the morning he wears the clean clothes:

dve dradhasī satatī vasta ekaḥ keśī viśvā bhuvanāni vidvān/
tirodhāyaityasitaṃ vasānaḥ śukramā date anuhāya jāyai/^[14]

Sāyaṇācārya is more clear in interpreting the passage who states, i.e.

kīdṛśa eka ādityaḥ, keśī keśasamānaraśmiyukto viśvā bhuvanāni vidvānsarvāllokānsvaraśmibhiḥ prakāśayamānaḥ/ uktayorvastrayormadhye rātrirūpaṃ vastraṃ malinamahorūpaṃ tu śukram/ yadā rātrirūpamasitaṃ vastraṃ vasāno vartate tadā svātmarūpaṃ tirodhāya gacchati/ atha jāryai jīrṇāyā raviḥ paścādanuhāya tadasitaṃ vastraṃ parityajya śuklamahorūpaṃ śvetaṃ vastramādatte/^[15]

Here, the day and night are compared to the clothes with white and black colour, i.e. clean and dirty respectively. Sūrya wears both these types of clothes accordingly while actively participating in the process of the creation of the days and nights. In the Gopathabrāhmaṇa, the course of the earth around the Sun is referred to as the cause of day and night, but not the rising and setting of the Sun.^[16] He is extolled as the cause for the days and nights.^[17] In the Aitareyabrāhmaṇa also, it is stated that the Sun never sets nor rises. He appears to have set when night befalls. Again, in the morning, one regards the Sun to have risen, as if, he creates the day, and at that time the other part remains in darkness.^[18]

As soon as Sūrya rises, it illuminates the whole world with its light.^[19] In the Vedic texts, Sūrya is worshipped as the highest light.^[20] In the Upaniṣads, he is called as the lord of light.^[21]

Sūrya is worshipped as the light and the light is called as the Sun:

sūryo jyotirjyotiḥ sūryaḥ.^[22]

He is acclaimed as viśvajyoti.^[23] In the Vājasaneyisaṃhitā also, Sūrya is eulogized to bestow the all-pervading light.^[24] It is poetically conceived that all the constellations depart with the night like the thieves at the rising of the Sun.^[25] Several times in the Vedas, the dark-dispelling traits of Sūrya is mentioned. The darkness is imagined as the skin over the firmament and Sūrya is invoked to throw it out over the water.^[26] The obscure sunlight during the eclipse of the Sun is mythically described in the Vedas. Svarbhānu, a demon is said to have eclipsed the Sun with darkness while Atri restores the light of the Sun.^[27] Again, the defeat of Sūrya by Indra is also narrated as alluding to an eclipse in the Vedas.^[28]

In the Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad, Sūrya is invoked as that supreme power, which is capable of destroying the ignorance with his light. Sūrya is invoked to unveil the face of Satya Brahman by spreading his rays that is covered with the veil of ignorance.^[29]

In the Vedic literature, Sūrya is mentioned as moving on a car with one steed, i.e. etaśa,^[30] or seven mares called haritaḥ,^[31] or seven horses, i.e. aśva,^[32] or with indefinite number of steeds.^[33] His horses are commonly called ketavaḥ,⁴⁹ i.e. the rays of the Sun.

Sāyaṇācārya has clearly stated that saptaharitaḥ are simply his rays:

sapta saptasaṃkhyakāḥ haritaḥ aśvāḥ rasaharaṇaśīlā raśmayo vā/⁵⁰

The living beings on the earth are completely dependent on these rays.

Even after death also, as stated in the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, the sunrays lead man to Brahmaloka:

ā bharata śikṣataṃ vajrabāhu asmā indrāgnī avataṃ śacībhiḥ/
ime nu te raśmayaḥ sūryasya yebhiḥ sapitvaṃ pitaro na āsan//^[34]

Though Indrāgnī is the deity worshipped in the verse in point, yet Indra and Agni are none other than Sūrya. Sāyaṇācārya in his interpretation of the relevant passage states thus:

sūryātmana indrasya yebhiḥ raśmibhiḥ yaiḥ arcibhiḥ asmākaṃ pitaraḥ pūrvapuruṣāḥ sapitvaṃ sahaprāptavyaṃ sthānaṃ brahmalokamagacchan/ arcirādimārgena hi brahmalokamupāsakā gacchanti... tasmāt sūryasya raśmīnāṃ stavanenendrāgnyorubhayārapi stutiḥ siddhā/^[35]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

cf., udu tyaddarśataṃ vapurdiva eti pratihvare/ yadīmāśurvahati deva etaśo viśvasmai cakṣase aram// Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 7.66.14

[2]:

Ibid., 6.51.1

[3]:

Sāyaṇācārya, Ibid.

[4]:

cf., tanmitrasya varuṇasyābhicakṣe sūryo rūpaṃ kṛṇute dyorupasthe/ Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 1.115.5 utpurastātsūrya eti viśvadṛṣṭo adṛṣṭahā/ Ibid., 1.191.8 satyenottabhitā bhūmiḥ sūryeṇottabhitā dyouḥ/ Ibid., 10.85.1

[5]:

cf., taccakṣurdevahitaṃ śukramuccarat/ Ibid., 7.66.16 śukroʹsi bhrājoʹsi svarasi jyotirasi/ Atharvavedasaṃhitā, 2.11.5

[6]:

cf., vaiśvānarasya sumatau syāma rājā hi kaṃ bhuvanāmamiśrīḥ/ ito jāto viśvamidaṃ vi caṣṭe vaiśvānaro yatate sūryeṇa// Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 1.98.1

tatsūryasya devatvaṃ tanmahitvaṃ madhyā kartorvitatataṃ saṃ jabhāra/ yadedayukta haritaḥ sadhasthādādrātrī vāsastanute simasmai// Ibid., 1.115.4

Also vide. Ibid., 1.108.12; Atharvavedasaṃhitā, 1.29.5; 7.13.1; Kauṣītataki Upaniṣad, 2.7

[7]:

cf., eṣa vai sūryo ya eṣa tapati/ Śatapathabrāhmaṇa, 2.6.3.8

[8]:

cf., taraṇirviśvadarśato jyotiṣkṛdasi sūrya/ Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 1.50.4

[9]:

cf., …tadyadādatta, tasmādityaḥ/ Śatapathabrāhmaṇa, 11.8.3.11

[10]:

Ibid.

[11]:

Aitareyabrāhmaṇa, 45.5

[12]:

Sāyaṇācāry, Ibid.

[13]:

cf., vi dyāmeṣi rajaspṛthvahā mimāno aktubhiḥ/ paśyanjanmāni sūrya// Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 1.50.7²⁹ Taittirīyasaṃhitā, 3.2.2.2 ³⁰ Ibid.

[14]:

Taittirīyasaṃhitā, 3.2.2.2

[15]:

Ibid.

[16]:

cf., sa vā eṣa na kadācanāstameti nodayati/ tad yadenaṃ purastāt udayatīti manyate rātraiseva tadantaṃ gatvā// Gopathabrāhmaṇa, 2.4.10

[17]:

cf., idaṃ vapurnivacanaṃ janāsaścaranti yannadyastasthurāpaḥ/ dve yadīṃ bibhṛto māturanye iheha jāte yamyā sabandhū// Ibid., 5.47.5

śukraṃ te anyadyajataṃ te anyadviṣurūpe ahanī dyaurivāsī/ viśvā hi māyā avasi svadhāvo bhadrā te pūṣanniha rātirastu// Ibid., 6.58.1

… he pūṣan tvadīyamanyadekaṃ rūpaṃ śukraṃ nirmalaṃ divasasyotpādaksm/ tvadīyamanyadekaṃ rūpaṃ yajataṃ kevalaṃ yajanīyaṃ na prakāśakaṃ rātrerutpādakam/ ata eva viṣurūpe viṣamarūpe ahanī ahaśca rātriśca bhavataḥ/ ahorātrayornirmāṇe sūrya eva kartā…/ Sāyaṇācārya on Atharvavedasaṃhitā, 11.6.21

[18]:

cf., sa vā eṣa na kadācānastameti nodeti iti/ taṃ yadastametīti manyanteʹhna eva tadantamitvāʹthāʹʹtmāṇaṃ viparyasyate rātrīmevāvastātkuruteʹhaḥ parastāt iti… sa vā eṣa na kadācana nimrocati// Aitareyabrāhmaṇa, 14.6

[19]:

cf., taraṇirviśvadarśato jyotiṣkṛdasi sūrya/ viśvamā bhāsi rocanam// Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 1.50.4 yena sūrya jyotiṣā bādhase tamo jagacca viśvamudiyarṣi bhānunā/… Ibid. 10.37.4

[20]:

cf., sūryamaganma jyotiruttamam/ Chāndogyopaniṣad, 3.17.7

[21]:

…jyotiṣāṃ patiḥ/ Praśnopaniṣad, 2.9

[22]:

Vājasaneyisaṃhitā, 6.9

[23]:

Śatapathabrāhmaṇa, 8.7.1.15,16,17,22

[24]:

…viśvaṃjyotiryaccha/ Vājasaneyisaṃhitā, 15.58

[25]:

cf., apa tye tyāyavo yathā nakṣatrā yantyaktubhiḥ/ Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 1.50.2

[26]:

cf., vahiṣṭhebhirviharanyāsi tantumavavyayannasitaṃ deva vasma/ davidhvato raśmayaḥ sūryasya carmevāvādhustamo apsvaʹntaḥ// Ibid., 4.13.4

[27]:

cf., yattvā sūrya svarbhānustamasavidhyadāsuraḥ/akṣetravidyathā mugdho bhuvanānyadīdhayuḥ// svarbhānoradha yadindra māyā avo divo vartamānā avāhan/gūlhaṃ sūryaṃ tamasāpavratena turīyeṇa

[28]:

cf., eva svena bhāgadheyenopadhāvatiṃ sa evainaṃ varuṇapāśānmuñcati kṛṣṇa ekaśitipādbhavati vāruṇo hyeṣa devatayā samṛdhyai suvarbhānurāsuraḥ sūryaṃ tamasāʹvidhyattasmai devāḥ prāyaścittimaicchantasyañ yatprathamaṃ tamoʹpāghnantsā kṛṣṇāʹvirabhavadyaddvitīyañ sā phalgunī yattṛtīyañ sā valakṣī yadadhyasthādapākṛntantsāʹvirvasā/ Taittirīyasaṃhitā, 2.1.2.2

[29]:

cf., hiraṇmayena pātreṇa satyasyāpihitaṃ mukham/ tat tvaṃ pūṣan apavṛṇu satya-dharmāya dṛṣṭaye//

[30]:

cf., etaśo vahati dhūrṣu yuktaḥ/ Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 7.63.2

[31]:

cf., sapta svasāraḥ suvitāya sūrya vahanti harito rathe/ Ibid., 7.66.15

[32]:

cf., sapta yuñjati rathamekacakro aśvo vahati saptanāmā/ Ibid., 1.164.2

[33]:

cf., ahaṃ sūryasya pari yāmyāśubhiḥ paitaśebhirvahamāna ojasā/ Ibid., 10.49.7⁴⁹ cf., ketavaḥ prajñāpakāḥ sūryāśvāḥ yadvā sūryaraśmayaḥ/ Sāyaṇācārya, Ibid., 1.50.1⁵⁰ Sāyaṇācārya, Ibid.

[34]:

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā,1.109.7

[35]:

Sāyaṇācārya, Ibid.