Surya, the Hindu sun god, is depicted as a radiant man with golden hair and arms, and is associated with Vishnu and Shiva. He has three wives and is worshipped through the devotional sun salutation. Surya is revered in ancient temples and his prayers are similar to those of other sun gods.
Surya is the main sun god in Hinduism. The word Surya is also used simply to refer to the sun, even outside a divine context. He is depicted as a beautiful, radiant man, with bright golden hair and golden arms as well. He is depicted with both two and four arms. When he has two hands he usually holds two lotuses, and when he has four hands he usually holds a conch shell, a lotus, a chakra and the fourth in the symbol of protection. He is carried across the sky in a chariot drawn by seven horses, one for each color of the rainbow and each colored chakra.
Surya has many different names, as well as being sometimes associated with the main gods Vishnu or Shiva. He is known as the Giver of Life, as Savita, the Ray, as Arka, the Firebird, as Ravi, the Creator of Light, as Bhaskar, Light, as Bhanu, the Creator of Day, as Divakar and the Lord of the Grahas, such as Grahapati.
Surya has three different wives: Ragyi, Prabha and Saranya. Of these, Saranya, sometimes known as Sangya, figures most heavily in Hindu myths. She bore Surya many children, including the lord of death, Yama, and her twin sister Yami, Vaivasvata Manu, and the divine knights, the Ashwins. Saranya even split into two women once, so that she could avoid having Surya’s constant glow on her face. Her shadow self, Chhaya, has given birth to a number of other children, including the planet Saturn, Shani Dev.
As the sun plays such an important role in daily life, Surya also plays a central role in daily worship. One of the most famous forms of this worship in the West is the devotional sun salutation, or Surya Namaskara. Ten different yogic postures make up a namaskara and a mantra is recited while a namaskara is being undertaken. There are twelve mantras for namaskara and it is suggested that a truly devout person complete nine complete cycles of these mantras, for a total of 108 Sun Salutations, each day.
The cult of Surya continues today and some of the most beautiful ancient temples in India are dedicated to him. The most famous of these is undoubtedly the Sun Temple at Konark which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are also important temples dedicated to Surya in Tamil Nadu, Arasavalli and Modhera.
The tone of most of the prayers to Surya is very reverent and bears many similarities to the worship of the sun gods in other religions, especially the Greek cult of Helios. One of the most famous prayers to Surya gives a good example of this reverent tone. It reads: “Through the firmament of advancing twilight, Laying to rest both immortal and undying, Carried in the golden chariot of him comes, the giver of life, god who watches over every creature.”
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