Sun (Surya)

Astronomical Introduction

The Sun is in fact a star, composed largely of hydrogen and helium. Its diameter is roughly 1.5 million kilometres, and its average distance from the Earth is 150 million kilometres. The Sun completes one rotation on its own axis in about thirty days. Even as it carries the other planets of the solar system around itself, the Sun, situated toward one edge of the Milky Way, in turn revolves around the galaxy's centre. Its temperature ranges from about 6,000 degrees centigrade at the outer layer to fifteen million degrees at the core. Through rays of many kinds, the Sun spreads heat and light in every direction, and this vast storehouse of energy still has the capacity to give light for another thirty billion years.

In the Indian astronomical tradition, Aryabhata stated in the fifth century that the Earth revolves around the Sun. In predictive astrology (phalita jyotisha), however, as seen from the Earth, the Sun appears to circle along the path of the sky, completing one circuit in a year. Though millions of miles distant from all the planets, it is this same Sun that nourishes the planets and the Earth, and makes them revolve around itself in ordered law. For this reason the Sun is called in Jyotisha the friend of the world. From the Vedic age onward, the Sun has been accorded special importance: the Sun is the supreme foundation of our life, the very soul of all things, moving and unmoving.

Puranic Account

According to the Puranas, Surya is the son of the sage Kashyapa and of Aditi, and he is the deity of the sky. His chariot is drawn by seven horses, whose colours are those of the Sun's seven rays of dawn light: violet, blue, azure, green, yellow, orange, and red. The chariot has a single wheel, signifying that the seven rays, when joined together, become one. Surya's chariot never halts; thus the work of creation proceeds regularly, without pause, sustained by him. His charioteer, Aruna, is ever at his side. His wife is Samjna, daughter of Vishvakarma, by whom he received a son, Yama, and a daughter, Yamuna. His second wife is Chhaya, from whom Shani was born.

Surya is regarded as a masculine graha, one of the nine "graspers" or celestial influencers of Jyotisha, and Chandra, the Moon, as a feminine one. The principal lineages of the Kshatriyas are accordingly known as the Surya-vansha (Solar dynasty) and the Chandra-vansha (Lunar dynasty).

According to the Prashna Upanishad, Prajapati brought forth a pair, rayi and prana (matter and life-breath), of which the Sun was the male and the Moon the female:

sa mithunam udapadayata: rayim cha pranam cha iti; etau me bahudha prajah karishyatah. adityo ha vai pranah, rayir eva chandramah. (Prashna Upanishad 1.4–5)

"He brought forth a pair, rayi and prana, thinking, 'these two will produce creatures for me in many ways.' The Aditya (Sun) verily is prana; rayi indeed is the Moon."

In the view of the Markandeya Purana, Lord Surya is Brahma embodied in the Rigveda, Vishnu as the presiding deity of the Yajurveda, and Shiva as the source of the Samaveda: in the morning he is in his Rik form, at midday in his Yajus form, and in the afternoon in his Saman form; he is thus the Trimurti, the threefold divine form, in himself.

The day on which the Sun changes rashi (zodiacal sign) is called Sankranti, and is held to be a sacred day.

The Person Influenced by Surya

Surya bears a valiant, grave, and commanding appearance. Such a person's complexion is wheatish, like copper; the height is somewhat above medium, but not very tall. The hair is sparse. One with a strong Sun is never deficient in limb. The bones are sturdy and powerful, and the arms long. The honey-coloured eyes hold a lion-like gleam, yet one that does not frighten. The face is long and broad.

Such a person is sattvika, of pure, luminous disposition. He keeps away from vices, and is temperate by nature. The Sun's constitution is pitta (the bilious humour), so these natives are radiant and hot-tempered, though an innocence shows on the surface. Full of humanity, such a person is firm of purpose and hardworking. It is in his nature to give commands, and he generally speaks little.

If the Sun is afflicted, the native is arrogant, wicked, a boaster, merciless, and quarrelsome by nature.

Influence on the Body

The Sun holds authority over the whole body, and especially over the right side, the right eye, the heart, and the bones. It governs purity of mind, strength of soul, patience, health, and the power to fight disease.

Diseases: weakness, an unsteady mind, head pain, bilious (pitta) fever, consumption, eye ailments, pain of the heart, and red leprosy.

Astronomical Details

Remedies

Worshipping the Sun with due rites on the seventh tithi (lunar day) of the bright fortnight (shukla paksha) of every month, and especially in the month of Chaitra, brings attainment of Suryaloka, the realm of the Sun. Worshipping the Sun on the sixth tithi of the bright fortnight of Chaitra or Kartika brings the blessing of an excellent son.

In India, worship of the Sun through Surya Namaskara or the Gayatri mantra is found from very ancient times. Among the world's other civilizations, the Sun was worshipped in many forms, chiefly in Mexico and Egypt, where an image of the Sun was kept in the royal temple. In Europe too, before Christianity, the worship of Mithra (Mitra) the Sun was current, and Greek legends are filled with the sun-god Apollo.

Surya is pleased by mantra-japa (repetition of mantras), by walking in the forest, by japa of the Gayatri, by the Aditya Hridaya Stotra, and by recitation of the Ramayana.