CHAPTER VI.

SUN OR LIGHT DEITIES.

1. SURYA.

SURYA and Savitri are two names by which the Sun is commonly addressed in the Vedic hymns. Sometimes one name is used exclusively, sometimes they are used interchangeably, and sometimes they are used as though they represented quite distinct objects. It is supposed that Savitri refers to the sun when invisible; whilst Surya refers to him when he is visible to the worshippers. This at any rate gives some reason for the two names being employed, though it may not explain the case satisfactorily in every instance.

Although the hymns in which Surya is addressed are not very numerous, his worship was most common in the olden time, and has continued to the present hour. It is to him that the Gayatri, the most sacred text of the Vedas, is addressed at his rising by every devout Brahman. Simple in its phraseology, this short verse is supposed to exert magical powers. It is as follows:--

"Let us meditate on that excellent glory of the divine Vivifier;
May he enlighten (or stimulate) our understandings." [**]

As a specimen of the language employed in some of the later writings in reference to this verse, read the

following few lines from the Skanda Purana":--"Nothing in the Vedas is superior to the Gayatri. No invocation is equal to the Gayatri, as no city is equal to Kasi (Benares). The Gayatri is the mother of the Vedas, and of Brahmans. By repeating it a man is saved. By the power of the Gayatri the Kshetriya

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SURYA

[paragraph continues] (Warrior caste) Vishvamitra became a Brahmarsi (Brahman saint), and even obtained such power as to be able to create a new world. What is there indeed that cannot be effected by the Gayatri? For the Gayatri is Vishnu, Brahma, and Siva, and the three Vedas." [**]

[paragraph continues] With promise of such blessings, it is not to be wondered at that the worship of Surya should continue.

The following translation [**] of hymns from the Rig-Veda gives a fair specimen of the language used in addresses to Surya