InHinduism,Adityas (Sanskrit:आदित्य,lit. 'of Aditi'IAST:ĀdityaSanskrit pronunciation:[aːd̪ɪt̪jɐ]) refers to a group of majorsolar deities, who are the offspring of the goddessAditi.[1] The nameAditya, in the singular, is taken to refer to thesun godSurya. Generally, Adityas are twelve in number and consist of Vivasvan (Surya),Aryaman,Tvashtr,Savitr,Bhaga,Dhatr,Mitra,Varuna,Amsha,Pushan,Indra andVishnu (in the form ofVamana).[2]
They appear in theRig Veda, where they are 6–8 in number, all male. The number increases to 12 in theBrahmanas. TheMahabharata and thePuranas mention the sageKashyapa as their father.[2] In each month of the year a different Aditya is said to shine.
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The Aditya have been described in theRig Veda as bright and pure as streams of water, free from all guile and falsehood, blameless, perfect.
This class of deities has been seen as upholding the movables and immovableDharma.Adityas are beneficent gods who act as protectors of all beings, who are provident and guard the world of spirits and protect the world. In the form ofMitra-Varuna, the Adityas are true to the eternal Law and act as the exactors of debt.[4]
In present-day usage inSanskrit, the term Aditya has been made singular in contrast to VedicAdityas, and is being used synonymously withSurya, the Sun. The twelve Adityas are believed to represent the twelve months in the calendar and the twelve aspects of Sun. Since they are twelve in number, they are referred as DvadashAdityas.[5]
The 12 Adityas are basically the monthly suns, corresponding to the approximately 12 lunations in a solar year.[b] These are also called the 12 purushas, pertaining to the 12 lunar months of the year. Here the months refer to the lunar months. In astronomy thelunar months with a solarsankranti are said to have an Aditya or purusha. The month without a sankranti is said to be neuter and an extra month or theintercalary lunar month.
The Ādityas are one of the principal deities of theVedic classicalHinduism belonging to the solar class. In the Vedas, numerous hymns are dedicated toMitra,Varuna,Savitr, etc.
In hymn 7.99 of theRigveda,Indra-Vishnu produces the sun, his discus a vestige of his solar creation, equivalent to the sun. TheVishnu Purana identifies the discusSudarshana Chakra with the following: 'thoughts, like the chakra, flow faster than even the mightiest wind.'
TheGayatri mantra, which is regarded as one of the most sacred of the Vedic hymns is dedicated to Savitr, one of the principal Ādityas. The Adityas are a group of solar deities, from theBrahmana period numbering twelve. The ritual ofSurya Namaskaram, performed byHindus, is an elaborate set of hand gestures and body movements, designed to greet and revere the Sun.
The sun god in Hinduism is an ancient and revered deity. In later Hindu usage, all the Vedic Ādityas lost identity and metamorphosed into one composite deity,Surya, the Sun. The attributes of all other Ādityas merged into that of Surya and the names of all otherĀdityas became synonymous with, or epithets of, Surya.
TheRamayana hasRama as a direct descendant of the Surya, thus belonging to theSuryavamsha or the Solar dynasty.Karna from theMahabharata, is the son of thePandava motherKunti and Surya.
The sun god is said to be married to the goddessSanjna. She is depicted in dual form, being both sunlight and shadow, personified. The goddess is revered in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The charioteer of Surya isAruna, who is also personified as the redness that accompanies the sunlight in dawn and dusk. The sun god is driven by a seven-horsed Chariot depicting the seven days of the week and the seven colours of rainbow which are seen due to the dispersion bySurya's rays.
Surya Namaskaram, theSalute to the Sun orSun Salutation, is worship of sun[6] which is also included as a practice inyoga as exercise incorporating a flow sequence of some twelve gracefully linkedasanas.[7][8] Similar exercises were in use in India, for exampleamong wrestlers. The basic sequence involves moving from a standing position intoDownward andUpward Dog poses and then back to the standing position, but many variations are possible. The set of 12 asanas is dedicated to the solar deitySurya. In some Indian traditions, the positions are each associated with a differentmantra.
Makar Sankranti is a festival dedicated to sun worship in India and by theHindu diaspora.
Chhath (Hindi:छठ, also calledDala Chhath) is an ancient Hindu festival dedicated to Surya, the chief solar deity, unique toBihar,Jharkhand and theTerai. This major festival is also celebrated in the northeast region ofIndia,Madhya Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh, and parts ofChhattisgarh. Hymns to the Sun can be found in the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism. Practiced in different parts of India, the worship of the Sun has been described in the Rigveda. There is another festival called Sambha-Dasami, which is celebrated in the state ofOdisha for thesurya.
The sun is prayed to by South Indians during the harvest festival.[9] InTamil Nadu, theTamil people worship the sun god during theTamil month ofThai, after a year ofcrop farming. The month is known as the harvesting month and people pay respects to the sun on the first day of theThai month known asThai pongal, or Pongal, which is a four-day celebration.[10] It is one of the few indigenous forms of worship by theTamil people irrespective of religion.[11]
The lists that composed the Adityas in religious texts are not always consistent, and vary greatly across iterations through a combination of factors. In theRigveda,[2] the Adityas are seven or eight in number. In theSatapatha Brahmana, the number of Adityas is eight in some passages, and in other texts of the sameBrahmana, twelve Adityas are mentioned.[12]: 102 In theChandogya Upanishad, Aditya is a name ofViṣṇu in his avatar asVāmana, and his mother isAditi. The Adityas in theVishnu Purana[13] are twelve in number. In theBhagavata Purana, the Adityas are associated with each month of the year, it is a different Aditya who shines as the Sun-God (Surya).[14] According to theLinga Purana,[15] the Adityas are twelve in number, again.
| Aditya (including other names) | Placements | Actions (Bhagavata Purana) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rigveda | Brahmanas | Upanishads | Vishnu Purana | Bhagavata Purana | Linga Purana | ||
| Varuna Varuṇa | 1 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 5 | he is in the waters and | |
| Mitra | 2 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | he is in the moon and in the oceans | |
| Aryaman | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | he is in the wind | ||
| Daksha Dakṣa | 4 | ||||||
| Bhaga | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | he is in the body of all living beings | |
| Amsha Ansa Aṃśa Amshuman | 6 | 10 | 10 | 10 | he is again in the wind | ||
| Savitr Savitṛ | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | |||
| Surya | 7[16][17] | 9 | |||||
| Martanda | 8 | ||||||
| Yama | 1 | ||||||
| Indra Śakra | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | he destroys the enemies of the gods | ||
| Ravi | 4 | ||||||
| Dhata Dhatri Dhūti Dhātṛ | 6 | 6 | 2 | 6 | he creates living beings | ||
| Arka | 9 | ||||||
| Daksha Dakṣa | 12 | ||||||
| Vishnu Viṣṇu Vāmana | 1 (as Vamana) | 1 | 1 | 2 | he destroys the enemies of the gods | ||
| Tvashtr Tvastar Tvashtha Tvaṣṭṛ | 4 | 4 | he lives in the trees and herbs | ||||
| Vivasvat Vivasvan | 9 | 8 | 9 | he is in fire and helps to cook food | |||
| Pushan Pushya Pūṣan | 12 | 5 | 12 | he makes foodgrains grow | |||
| Parjanya | 3 | he showers down rain | |||||
| Brahma | 1 | ||||||
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Adityas are responsible for proper functioning of the universe and in Hindu cosmology they are given lordship over celestial constellations, callednakshatras inJyotish. Nakshatras are forces of universal intelligence which are intertwined with the birth-death cycle of life, identity of all created beings, events and day to day consciousness in our lives. In India, atKonark, in the state ofOdisha, a temple is dedicated to Surya. TheKonark Sun Temple has been declared aUNESCOWorld Heritage Site. Surya is the most prominent of thenavagrahas or nine celestial objects of the Hindus.Navagrahas can be found in almost all Hindu temples.
Adityas manage theShakti of the nakshatras. Here are a few examples.
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