Part 1 - Eulogy of the Sun-god in the Purāṇas

Sūrya is indeed a natural phenomenon that is deified as deity in the Purāṇas following the Vedic tradition. Due to his immense power, the deity is eulogized with great importance right from Vedic times. The Vedic texts were familiar with the eulogy of the deity with different traits. But in the Purāṇas, some other modes of worshipping the deity were developed, and along with the recitation of the mantras dedicated to the Sun, these modes of worship also have introduced. The deity is worshipped as one of the five prominent deities in the Purāṇas.

The Sun-god is worshipped as a sectarian deity in the Purāṇas. The worship of the Sun in the Purāṇic period has given rise to independent cult called the Saura-cult. The glimpses of the sectarianism relating to the Saura-cult can be observed in the two Epics, the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata.

The Rāmāyaṇa informs about a region on the mountain Cakravān, where, Viśvakarmā installed a cakra, i.e. the Sun-god having one thousand spokes, i.e. the thousand rays of the deity:

caturbhāge samudrasya cakravānnāma parvataḥ/
tatra cakrasahasrāraṃ nirmitaṃ viśvakarmaṇā//^[1]

The Viśvedevas, Maruts, Vasus and other gods worshipped the Sun-god there,^[2] and the hill was always blessed with the grace of the Sun.^[3] Again, a reference is found in the Rāmāyaṇa about the ascetic Sun-worshippers, those resided near the river Mandākinī, who adored the deity with arms upwards.^[4] The Mahābhārata has referred to the thousand and eight numbers of the Sun-worshippers met with in the camp of the Pāṇḍus.^[5]

Due to his prominence as an atmospheric deity, the Sun-god has been worshipped right from the Vedic age. The numerous aspects of the deity have given rise to independent forms of the Sun, e.g. Sūrya, Savitṛ, Mitra, Varuṇa, Dakṣa, etc., in the Vedic pantheon. Of these, Mitra, Varuṇa, Dakṣa, etc., have constituted a special class of gods, called the Ādityas. The Ṛgvedasaṃhitā primarily mentions the six Ādityas,^[6] viz. Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Varuṇa, Dakṣa and Aṃśa, which have developed elsewhere as eight,^[7] and finally have numbered as the twelve Ādityas, and have been identified as the twelve months of the year.^[8]

They are called Ādityas, as because they are born from the Aditi, the divine mother:

ādityaḥ eva tāvat kasmāt āditya ucyate…aditeḥ putra iti vā/
aditirdevamātā tasyāḥ putraḥ/
soʹyamāditeyaḥ sannāditya ityucyate/^[9]

The tradition of worshipping the Sun-god in his various forms is maintained in the Epic and the Purāṇic period. The different epithets and characteristics of the deity have given rise in the post-Vedic period different forms of the Sun.^[10] In the Yuddhakāṇḍa of the Rāmāyaṇa, Rāma was advised by the sage Agastya to worship and satisfy the Sun-god with the recitation of the Ādityahṛdaya.^[11] The Ādityahṛdaya is mentioned as the old mystery, i.e. guhyaṃ sanātanam, by which the enemies can be conquered in the battlefield.^[12] In the hymn, the Sun-god is eulogized with his various names, e.g. Āditya, Savitṛ, Sūrya, Khaga, Pūṣan, Bhānu, Divākara, Haridaśva, Saptasapti, Śambhū, Tvaṣṭṛ, Mārtaṇḍa, Aṃśumān, Hiraṇyagarbha, Śiśira, Tapana, Ahaskara, Ravi, Agnigarbha, Kavi, etc.^[13] Again, in the Mahābhārata, one hundred and eight names of the Sun-god are specified.^[14] They are, Sūrya, Aryaman, Bhaga, Tvaṣṭṛ, Pūṣan, Arka, Savitṛ, Ravi, Aja, Kāla, Mṛtyu, Kha, Śukra, Budha, Prabhākara, Indra, Vivasvat, Soma, Viṣṇu, Rudra, Skanda, Tejasāṃpati, Dharmadhvaja, etc. All these hundred and eight names of the Sun direct different aspects and activities of the deity. The tradition of worshipping the deity in his one hundred and eight names is continued up to the Purāṇas,^[15] and moreover, somewhere in the Purāṇic texts, they are mentioned as more than thousand.^[16]

Along with such development, gradually, the Vedic approach of worshipping the Sun-god also has become changed. The Rāmāyaṇa refers to the Sandhyopāsanā, in worship of the deity.^[17] In the Mahābhārata, along with the invocations or hymns or the mantras, the deity is worshipped with the offerings of arghya, flower-garlands and scents and with vows and fasts, and ascetic penances of various kinds. The mighty king Saṃvaraṇa worshipping Sūrya with all these articles achieved his daughter Tapatī, as the reward of his devotion.^[18] All these modes of worshipping the Sun-god have fully developed in the Purāṇic period, and in the Purāṇas, the deity is found worshipped as an independent deity with different modes and appellations.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Rāmāyaṇa, 4.42.27

[2]:

cf., ādityamupatiṣṭanti taiśca sūryābhipūjitaḥ/ Ibid.,4.42.42

[3]:

cf., ādityena prasannena śailo dattavaraḥ purā//tenaivamuktaḥ śailendraḥ sarva eva tadāśrayāḥ/ matprasādādbhaviṣyanti divā rātrau ca kāñcanāḥ// Ibid., 4.42.38,39

[4]:

cf., ādityamupatiṣṭhante niyamādūrdhvabāhavaḥ/ Ibid., 2.95.7

[5]:

cf., sahasrānucarān saurān sahasraṃ cāṣṭa cāparān/ Mahābhārata, 7.82.16

[6]:

cf., imā gira ādityebhyo ghṛtasnūḥ sanādrājabhyo juhvā juhomi/ śṛṇotu mitro aryamā bhago nastuvijāto varuṇo dakṣo aṃśaḥ// Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 2.27.1

[7]:

cf., aṣṭau putrāso aditerya jātāstanvaspari/ Ibid., 10.72.8 aṣṭayoniraditiraṣṭaputrā…/ Atharvavedasaṃhitā,8.9.21

[8]:

cf., ādityaevaikaviṃśatyāyatanaṃ dvādaśamāsāḥ…// Pañcaviṃśabrāhmaṇa, 10.1.10;

[9]:

Durgācārya on Nirukta, 2.13

[10]:

Mahābhārata, 7.82.16

[11]:

Rāmāyaṇa, 6.105.2,3

[12]:

Ibid., 6.105.4

[13]:

Ibid., 6.105.10-15

[14]:

Mahābhārata, 3.3.18-28

[15]:

Skandapurāṇa, 1.2.43.18-30

[16]:

Brahmapurāṇa, 31

[17]:

Rāmāyaṇa, 2.64.34

[18]:

Mahābhārata, 1.173