In X, 63, 2, the gods in general are represented as born from Aditi, the waters, and the earth: yé sthá gâtâ´h áditeh at-bhyáh pári yé prithivyâ´h té me ihá sruta hávam.

You who are born of Aditi, from the water, you who are born of the earth, hear ye all my call!

The number seven, with regard to the Âdityas, occurs also in

IX, 114, 3. saptá dísah nâ´nâ-sûryâh saptá hótârah ritvígah, devâ´h âdityâ´h yé saptá tébhih soma abhí raksha nah.

There are seven regions with their different suns, there are seven Hotars as priests, those who are the seven gods, the Âdityas, with them, O Soma, protect us!

The Seven Âdityas.

This number of seven Âdityas requires an explanation. To say that seven is a solemn or sacred number is to say very little, for however solemn or sacred that number may be elsewhere, it is not more sacred than any other number in the Veda. The often-mentioned seven rivers have a real geographical foundation, like the seven hills of Rome. The seven flames or treasures of Agni (V, 1, 5) and of Soma and Rudra (VI, 74, I), the seven paridhis or logs at certain sacrifices (X, 90, 15), the seven Harits or horses of the sun, the seven Hotar priests (III, 7, 7; 10, 4), the seven cities of the enemy destroyed by Indra (I, 63, 7), and even the seven Rishis (X, 82, 2; 109, 4), all these do not prove that the number of seven was more sacred than the number of one or three or five or ten used in the Veda in a very similar way. With regard to the seven Âdityas, however, we are still able to see that their number of seven or eight had something to do with solar movements. If their number had always been eight, we should feel inclined to trace the number of the Âdityas back to the eight regions, or the eight cardinal points of the heaven. Thus we read:

I, 35, 8. ashtaú ví akhyat kakúbhah prithivyâ´h.

The god Savitar lighted up the eight points of the earth (not the eight hills).

But we have seen already that though the number of Âdityas was originally supposed to have been eight, it was reduced to seven, and this could hardly be said in any sense of the eight points of the compass. Cf. Taitt. Âr. I, 7, 6.

As we cannot think in ancient India of the seven planets, I can only suggest the seven days or tithis of the four parvans of the lunar month as a possible prototype of the

[paragraph continues] Âdityas. This might even explain the destruction of the eighth Âditya, considering that the eighth day of each parvan, owing to its uncertainty, might be represented as exposed to decay and destruction. This would explain such passages as,

IV, 7, 5. yágishtham saptá dhâ´ma-bhih.

Agni, most worthy of sacrifice in the seven stations.

IX, 102, 2. yagñásya saptá dhâ´ma-bhih.

In the seven stations of the sacrifice.

The seven threads of the sacrifice may have the same origin: