Sun
Centre, sovereignty, illumination, authority, identity, consciousness, father, king, ātman, heart, spine, vitality, heat, light, sight, vision, clarity, purpose, direction, will, selfhood, individuality, dignity, honour, confidence, courage, leadership, command, rulership, government, power, status, rank, recognition, reputation, fame, prominence, visibility, responsibility, legitimacy, nobility, integrity, truth, order, law, hierarchy, judgement, discernment, constancy, independence, self-reliance, ambition, achievement, glory, brilliance, radiance, fire, purification, exposure, revelation, day, time, life-force, health, constitution, fatherhood, lineage, ancestry, inheritance, soul, spirit, centre of gravity, and the power that organizes everything around itself.
The Sun is mature, commanding and dignified. He has a strong, well-proportioned body and a prominent or powerful appearance. He stands upright with his spine straight. His complexion is reddish, coppery or dark red, his eyes are honey-coloured or tawny, penetrating and commanding. His hair is coarse or curly and tends to thin out with age or disappear altogether leaving a bald spot. His bones are strong and prominent, his chest is broad and his bearing is upright and authoritative. He dresses simply but with dignity, favouring clean, fine or regal clothing. His constitution is hot, dry and predominantly pitta.
He is proud, independent, ambitious, courageous, authoritative, direct, honourable, dignified and strong-willed. He naturally wants to stand on his own feet, lead rather than follow and be recognized for what he does. A healthy Sun is confident, principled, generous, responsible, clear-minded, purposeful and capable of leadership. An afflicted Sun is arrogant, domineering, vain, intolerant, self-centred, overly proud, easily offended and excessively concerned with status, authority and recognition.
Sun through the Signs & Nakshatras
Aries · Taurus · Gemini · Cancer · Leo · Virgo · Libra · Scorpio · Sagittarius · Capricorn · Aquarius · Pisces
Sun through the Houses
1st house· 2nd house · 3rd house · 4th house · 5th house · 6th house · 7th house · 8th house · 9th house · 10th house · 11th house · 12th house
Natural Significations
The Sun is the soul, the subject, the centre, the self, the source. Some refer to it as the ego, but it’s actually one’s sense of individuality, personal power, authorship and authority. It gives light, heat and life to the world, but it also gives order and direction. He sets the pace of the day, the seasons and the year. Without a second though, we rely on the Sun; the whole world arranges itself around the Sun’s schedule. He allows us to plan ahead and gives a sense of direction. He gives confidence, trust certainty.
The Sun represents kings, rulers, governments, fathers and people in positions of authority. He doesn’t just hold power, he establishes order, he gives people something to strive for. The Sun is self-governed, self-directed, sovereign.He inspires, leads, goes first, gets picked first, and goes forth with a sense of certainty even if he has to stand alone.
Astrologically, the Sun is somewhat beyond malefic and benefic. As the source & centre of everything he is undoubtedly benefic, but if you get to close he will crush you like an ant without notice. Vedic Astrologers call him cruel: he is hot, dry and harsh; he burns whatever he touches. His light is so bright, he outshines the rest by such incredible and obvious magnitude that he has to go to the other side of the world before we can even see the others.
He is an outward moving force, he represents what we project forward. He illuminates the world with light and intellect; he lights up the whole spectrum of colours, he exposes what was hidden in the dark.
When the Sun is weak or badly afflicted, the problem can be quite different: the centre does not hold. Direction becomes uncertain, authority is sought outside oneself, or the person struggles with questions of identity, purpose and recognition. The same authority that establishes order can become pride, domination and tyranny when taken too far. Solar power naturally separates the centre from everything surrounding it. The king sits on the throne alone.
This gives the Sun an interesting relationship with individuality and isolation. To stand at the centre of one’s own life requires a certain independence. Leadership carries responsibility, and authority inevitably creates distance. The Sun therefore represents both the dignity of sovereignty and the loneliness that can accompany it. The Sun is one without a second.
What is at the centre of this life, and what does everything else revolve around?
| Attribute | Sun |
| Sanskrit | Surya |
| Own sign | Leo |
| Mūlatrikoṇa | Leo 0°–20° |
| Exaltation | 10°Aries |
| Debilitation | 10° Libra |
| Nakshatras ruled | Krittika, Uttara Phalguni, Uttara Ashadha |
| Vimshottari period | 6 years |
| Natural friends | Moon, Mars, Jupiter |
| Natural neutral | Mercury |
| Natural enemies | Venus & Saturn |
Health
Solar health problems tend toward pitta heat, inflammation, fever, burning, dryness, exhaustion and conditions aggravated by excessive heat. The Sun is a hot, dry and penetrating; he tends to burn, inflame, dehydrate or exhaust the tissues it afflicts. This overlaps somewhat with Mars, but Mars is sharper, more violent and associated with injury, bleeding, infection and acute inflammation. The Sun is more like sustained heat: Mars is the flame; the Sun is standing in it too long.
The Sun has a strong traditional association with the heart, circulation, vitality, bones and eyesight, particularly the right eye in men and left eye in women. As the Sun represents the central life force of the body, its condition can be examined in relation to general vitality, constitutional strength and the body’s ability to maintain energy. Afflictions involving the Sun may therefore be examined in conditions involving the heart, circulation, blood pressure, eyesight, weakness of the bones, fevers and disorders caused or aggravated by excessive heat.
The heart is especially solar. Just as the Sun occupies the centre of the solar system and distributes light and heat outward, the heart occupies a central position in the body and continually distributes blood throughout it. Leo, the Sun’s own sign, is traditionally associated with the heart, upper back and spine. Solar afflictions can therefore relate with weakness or strain involving the heart, circulation, upper back and spinal column.
The Sun also connects with the eyes and vision. Light makes sight possible, and damage to the Sun can therefore signify poor eyesight, inflammation or sensitivity of the eyes and deterioration of vision. Excessive solar influence can produce redness, burning and light sensitivity, while a weakened Sun can indicate diminished vision or vitality of the eyes.
His ailments tend to be hot, burning, inflammatory, drying or exhausting: high fevers, heat exhaustion, dehydration, sunstroke, inflammatory conditions, burning sensations and excessive acidity or bile. Strong solar affliction may produce a constitution that burns through its resources too quickly, while a weak Sun can show poor vitality, low resistance, weak recuperative power and difficulty maintaining consistent energy.
The Sun also represents the body’s basic vitality and power to resist disease. When strong and well placed, it can contribute to robust constitution, warmth, good circulation, strong digestion and the ability to recover from illness. When seriously afflicted, the person may suffer periods in which vitality itself seems diminished. The Sun gives life, but excessive Sun scorches it; too little Sun leaves the system without sufficient warmth, strength or vitality.
Sign ruled by the Sun
The Sun rules Leo and the first 20° is his mūlatrikoṇa: Sovereignty, authority, leadership, dignity, confidence, recognition, reputation, creativity, self-expression, fatherhood, government and the individual’s relationship with power. Leo is the royal sign: the throne, the ruler and the centre around which others organize themselves.
The Sun stands alone in the sky and everything else revolves around it. Leo therefore concerns the development of an independent identity, personal authority and the courage to stand visibly behind one’s actions. Unlike Aries, which asserts itself through action and conquest, Leo establishes itself through presence, dignity and sovereignty.
The Sun’s Nakshatras
Kṛttikā: 26°40′ Aries – 10° Taurus: Kṛttikā means the cutters and is associated with Agni, fire. This is the Sun’s power of discrimination, his decision making power where he puts things the the test, cuts them up, removes whatever doesn’t belong and divides things so that everything is in it’s rightful place. Authority begins with the ability to discriminate, take action and do something about it.
Uttara Phālgunī: 26°40′ Leo – 10° Virgo: Here the Sun becomes civilized, contractual and socially responsible. Its deity Aryaman is one of the Ādityas and is associated with hospitality, patronage, friendship, agreements, marriage contracts and the obligations that bind people together. This is solar authority expressed not simply as personal power but as honour, generosity and responsibility toward others. The king does not merely rule; he gives protection, keeps agreements and supports those under his patronage.
Uttara Āṣāḍhā: 26°40′ Sagittarius – 10° Capricorn: The final solar nakshatra concerns enduring victory, established authority and principles that survive the immediate struggle. Its deities are the Viśvadevas, the Universal Gods, connecting it with universal principles, virtue, truth and conduct worthy of respect. Here the Sun moves beyond personal sovereignty toward legitimate authority grounded in something larger than the individual. It is leadership through principle, reputation and conduct: authority that has been tested and has earned the right to endure. Solar authority becomes principle.
Sun’s Friends, Enemies & Neutrals
Moon — friend. The Sun gives light; the Moon receives and reflects it. Sun is the individual centre, authority, consciousness and purpose; Moon is mind, feeling, nourishment, adaptation and the lived experience of that consciousness. Traditionally they represent father and mother, king and queen, day and night. The Sun establishes direction; the Moon allows life to respond and adapt to it. Neither considers the other an enemy.
Mars — friend. Both are hot, fiery, independent and decisive. The Sun gives authority, purpose and direction; Mars gives courage, force and the ability to act. The king decides; the general carries out the command. Together they can produce leadership, confidence, ambition, independence, physical vitality and the willingness to fight for one’s principles. But too much Sun and Mars can become domineering, impatient, angry and intolerant of opposition.
Jupiter — friend. The Sun represents the king and Jupiter the priest, teacher and counsellor. The Sun gives authority; Jupiter gives wisdom, law, ethics and meaning to that authority. Power needs principles, while principles need someone capable of putting them into effect. Together they represent leadership guided by knowledge: government and law, king and guru, worldly authority and spiritual authority. Jupiter can tell the king what he ought to do; the Sun has the power to actually do it.
Mercury — neutral. Mercury gives intelligence, language, calculation, discrimination, humour, commerce and adaptability. The Sun gives purpose, confidence and authority. Mercury is never far from the Sun astronomically, so their conjunction is extremely common. Together they can give intelligence directed toward a purpose: administration, communication, politics, writing, organization and the ability to articulate one’s ideas clearly. But Mercury is adaptable while the Sun is fixed in its sense of centre. Mercury is useful to the Sun, can he be a little indecisive and will undermine the kinds authority.
Venus — enemy. Venus seeks pleasure, relationship, compromise, sensuality, beauty and mutual attraction. The Sun seeks independence, authority, distinction and sovereignty. Venus asks: What do we both want? The Sun asks: Who decides? Relationship requires compromise, while sovereignty resists compromise. Venus can soften the Sun’s harshness, but excessive Venus can distract solar purpose through pleasure, attachment and the desire for approval. The Sun, in turn, can burn away Venusian pleasure and relationship through pride, independence or excessive self-concern.
Saturn — enemy. The Sun is the king, father, centre, authority, individual identity, certainty and brilliance. Saturn is the servant, worker, marginalized person, old man, limitation, mortality, doubt and shadow. The Sun stands at the centre of society, in the spotlight; Saturn is on the periphery hidden in the shadow. The Sun has entitlement, Saturn has experience. To some degree, they limit the excesses of the other. The Sun might own everything, but Saturn knows how it all works. The Sun might be free to do anything; but he is limited by Saturn’s consequences.
Sun’s Aspect
The Sun aspects the 7th from himself. The 7th aspect represents direct opposition: whatever stands opposite the Sun must confront the Sun’s authority, heat, visibility and demand for independence. The Sun directs his light to the 7th house bringing attention, importance and visibility to that house.
Sun has a lot to do with perspective. From where are we looking at the world? What sign is the Sun in, and what house. The Sun lights up the world, especially that thing right across from himself, but oddly, he does not light up himself and the brighter he shines, harder it is to see him.
He is singular, one without a second, but some how his very presence assumes a second. Can there be a subject without and objet, a knower without something known, an enjoyer without something enjoyed. The 7th from the Sun is that other, the object to perception. The Sun declares: “This is me!” but this immediately implies: “that is not me.” To be here means that I am not there. Something else seems to rise simultaneously with individual identity.
This is actually a useful way of thinking about how consciousness creates its own reality. The Sun does not need anything else for his support; he is self-luminous. But as soon as a centre appears, everything else appears in relation to that centre, almost like a mirror. “I am” becomes “I am aware that I am.” The establishment of the subject simultaneously establishes the possibility of the object. The other was not required to create the centre, but once the centre exists, otherness becomes inevitable.
There is something similar in mathematics and geometry. Before anything can be located within a coordinate system, a reference point or origin has to be established. Once the centre is established, everything else acquires a position relative to it: here and there, near and far, positive and negative, this direction and its opposite. The centre does not merely occupy one position among many; it makes the other positions measurable and intelligible.
This gives another meaning to the Sun’s 7th house aspect. The Sun establishes the centre; the seventh from him reveals what stands opposite that centre. The opposite exists because a solar standpoint was established in the first place. Move the centre and the whole field is reorganized around it. In this sense the Sun does more than represent identity: he establishes the reference point from which an individual reality becomes organized.
There is an interesting parallel here with the Śaiva concepts of prakāśa and vimarśa. Prakāśa is the self-luminous light of consciousness, but consciousness is not merely illumination; it possesses the capacity to know itself. Through vimarśa, consciousness becomes self-aware, and the apparent division between knower, knowing and known can arise within consciousness itself. The object does not ultimately stand outside consciousness as some completely independent second reality; it appears within the field of consciousness itself.
The Sun’s presence therefore makes the other visible. He illuminates it, exposes it and brings it into awareness. Yet the other also performs an important function for the Sun: it provides something against which the solar standpoint can recognize itself. The Sun says, “This is me,” but the other shows him where “me” ends.
This is especially important because the 7th house itself represents partners, marriage, agreements, other people and the necessity of encountering another person as an equal sovereign being. The Sun represents sovereignty and the independent centre; the 7th represents relationship, negotiation and compromise. The Sun says, “I am.” The 7th answers, “So am I.”
This is one of the fundamental problems of relationship. Two centres encounter one another. Neither person experiences themselves as the satellite in somebody else’s solar system. Each stands at the centre of their own field of experience.
The Sun’s aspect is therefore not merely destructive. Like sunlight itself, it illuminates, exposes, heats and commands attention. The house receiving the Sun’s aspect becomes difficult to ignore. But the Sun can also scorch what he illuminates. The same certainty that gives the individual a stable centre can become domination when it refuses to acknowledge another centre. The same independence that produces sovereignty can make compromise difficult when another sovereign stands directly across from it.
The 7th from the Sun therefore becomes more than simply the house receiving his aspect. It is the place where the subjective centre encounters an objective world that refuses to be merely an extension of itself. Through that encounter, the Sun discovers both the power and the limits of his own perspective.
Sun Mahadasha
The Sun’s Vimshottari mahadasha lasts six years.
The Sun brings questions of identity, authority, purpose, recognition, father, government, career and personal sovereignty to the centre of life. Who are you, what do you stand for, and what are you willing to take responsibility for? Issues of authority will arise; either on gets authority themselves, or they have to deal with authority of others: fathers, bosses, governments, officials, teachers and other authority figures may become more important. Father issues are common.
The Sun is an individualizing planet. Its mahadasha can therefore separate a person from situations in which their identity has become overly dependent upon family, partners, employers or social approval. There may be a stronger need to stand alone, make independent decisions or establish one’s own direction. This can produce genuine confidence and sovereignty when the Sun is healthy, but pride, isolation and conflict when it is afflicted. There is no hiding behind others in Sun dasha; this is a time to be seen, to figure out how to carry authority without being consumed by it.
A strong and well-placed Sun can bring increased confidence, independence, leadership, recognition, promotion, status and contact with powerful or influential people. A person may become more visible or find themselves placed in positions where others expect them to make decisions and accept responsibility. There can be advancement in career, government or institutional roles, greater clarity of purpose and a stronger desire to establish something under one’s own name.
When afflicted, debilitated or functioning poorly in the chart, Sun mahadasha can bring conflict with authorities, humiliation, loss of position, damaged reputation, excessive pride, strained relationships with the father, government problems or struggles over control and recognition. A person may alternate between feeling ignored and demanding recognition, or encounter situations where pride prevents necessary compromise.
The actual results depend heavily upon Leo’s house placement, the house occupied by the Sun, planets conjuncting or aspecting it, its dignity, nakshatra and the houses it influences.
Sun Remedies — Sūrya Upāya
The best remedy for the Sun is to stop hiding from responsibility: stand behind your decisions, keep your word, speak truthfully, develop self-respect, get up early, establish direction in life and take responsibility for the people and things that depend upon you. Respect legitimate authority without becoming servile, and exercise authority without becoming tyrannical. Develop confidence without arrogance and humility without weakness. Align your life with the Sun’s principles.
Respect and serve Sun people: fathers, teachers, leaders, government servants and people carrying genuine responsibility for others. Attend to one’s relationship with the father, particularly where resentment, neglect or unresolved obligation exists. Respecting the Sun does not mean blindly obeying authority; it means understanding the responsibility that properly accompanies authority.
Traditional Sun donations include wheat, jaggery, copper, red or saffron-coloured cloth and other solar articles. Sunday is commonly chosen for Sun-related rituals and worship. Giving food or practical assistance without seeking recognition is particularly useful for balancing the Sun because it develops generosity while weakening the need to be praised for being generous.
One of the simplest traditional solar practices is Sūrya Arghya: rise near sunrise, face the rising Sun and offer clean water from a copper vessel while reciting mantra or prayer. The practice combines regularity, early rising, physical orientation toward the Sun and acknowledgement of something greater than one’s individual personality.
A common mantra for Sūrya is: Oṃ Sūryāya Namaḥ. The longer bīja mantra Oṃ Hrāṃ Hrīṃ Hrauṃ Saḥ Sūryāya Namaḥ is also commonly used. The Gāyatrī Mantra has an obvious solar character, while Āditya Hṛdayam is one of the important devotional hymns to the Sun. Sūrya Namaskāra performed at sunrise combines physical discipline with solar worship.
One might read the Āditya Hṛdayam of the Rāmāyaṇa, the solar hymns of the Ṛg Veda, particularly those addressed to Sūrya and Savitṛ, or the Sūrya Upaniṣad. The Purāṇic stories surrounding Sūrya, Saṃjñā, Chāyā, Śani, Yama and the Aśvins are especially useful because they reveal the more difficult side of solar power: brilliance that gives life but can become unbearable to those who must live close to it. The story of Sūrya being reduced or tempered by Viśvakarman is itself an excellent image of solar remediation — sometimes the Sun does not need to become stronger; its heat needs to become bearable.
From the Western perspective one might read the Homeric Hymn to Helios or the myths of Helios and Apollo, while the story of Phaethon is perhaps the clearest warning about solar power without sufficient maturity: the desire to prove one’s divine inheritance by taking control of the Sun’s chariot ends in catastrophe. Solar authority must be earned before it can safely be exercised.
Ruby (māṇikya) is associated with the Sun. As with all planetary gemstones, a weak or afflicted Sun does not automatically mean that the Sun should be strengthened. One has to examine the Sun’s functional lordship, dignity, house placement, conjunctions, aspects and the chart as a whole. Strengthening the ascendant lord for Leo is very different from indiscriminately strengthening the Sun because somebody lacks confidence or has a debilitated Sun. Do not wear without the advice of a competent Vedic Astrologer.
The best remedy is to become someone who can stand at the centre of their own life without demanding that everyone else revolve around them; who can lead without dominating, accept responsibility without needing applause, respect authority without surrendering judgement, speak truth without cruelty, and possess enough genuine dignity that recognition from others is no longer necessary to know one’s own worth.
Myths of Sūrya
Ṛg Veda has numerous mentions of the Sun. Some of these emphasize how his movement sets everything in motion. He is known as the impeller. The world wakes when he rises. We move with him, we do our work. Even the flowers keep their face toward him during the day. When he sets, we all rest and take peace knowing the sun will be back the next day. His appearance and disappearance sets the calendar for all. He is often described as all seeing, they eye in the sky, chasing away sorrow and evil; even the stars disappear before him like thieves, his rays spread across the human world like flames. There is something benevolent about how freely the Sun casts his light and gives his warmth; he doesn’t discriminate between humans though he makes their differences known. Sun is the soul of everything moving and unmoving, filling heaven, atmosphere and earth.
Sūrya, Saṃjñā and Chāyā — the Sun whose brilliance cannot be endured
Surya married Saṃjñā, daughter of the divine craftsman Viśvakarman. Saṃjñā’s name itself means consciousness, perception, recognition or understanding. She is a good wife, but the light and heat of her Sunny husband is too much she cann’t endure being near him.
Despite this, she bears several of his children: Manu, the first Man, the progenitor of humanity and lawgiver of the present age; Yama, who becomes lord of death and dharma; and Yamī, his twin sister, associated with the river Yamunā. From the Sun come humanity, law, death and the measurement of mortal life. It’s interesting that the Sun gives us both life, Manu who establishes human order, and Yama who defines the limit. The Sun does not merely give life; the Sun measures it. Sunrise and sunset establish the day. The Sun’s movement establishes seasons and years. Every revolution of the Sun that sustains life also marks it’s passing.
After several important children are born, Saṃjñā decides that she cannot endure her husband’s brilliance an longer. But she can’t just leave. She creates a substitute, Chāyā, to take her place,— Chāyā literally means “Shadow.” Saṃjñā instructs Chāyā to remain with Sūrya and care for the household while she goes away.
For a long time, Sūrya doesn’t even realize that the woman beside him is not Saṃjñā and he lives with Chāyā as if she is his wife. Eventually they have children of their own, from astrological perspective, the most important one is Śani. Saturn is the Sun’s anti-thesis and there is much enmity between them.
Sūrya is brilliance, vitality, kingship, fatherhood, authority and the centre of the social order. Śani becomes darkness, old age, poverty, labour, limitation, delay and the marginalized people who live at the edges or bottom of that order. The father is the king; the son is the servant. The father represents vitality; the son represents aging. The Sun says, I am. Saturn answers, not forever.
Chāyā eventually begins favouring her own children over Saṃjñā’s children. Yama becomes angry with her and, in some tellings, threatens or raises his foot against her. Chāyā curses him, declaring that his foot will fall away or become afflicted. Yama is horrified. A true mother, he reasons, would not curse her own child so terribly. He goes to Sūrya and Sūrya confronts Chāyā and eventually discovers the truth: the woman living beside the Sun is Shadow, not Saṃjñā.
So the Sun goes to his father in law to find out what has happened to his wife. Vishvakarma explains the situation to Surya and offers to fix it. He puts the Sun on the lathe and chips away 15 parts leaving him with 1/16 of his natural radiance. None of those 15 parts went to waste, they were all recycled or refashioned for use by the other Gods: shiva’s trident, Vishnu’s chakra, Kartikeya’s spears, Kubera’s flying chariot (later used by Rama to return home after defeating Ravana), Yama’s staff, possibly Indra’s thunderbolt (this was more likely made from the bones of Dadhīci), some parts made weapons for other devas, yaks has and Vidyadharas.
The symbol of singularity is differentiated. And Tvasar managed to measure the immeasurable and divide up what was indivisible; a master craftsman indeed. The 15 parts of the Sun go on to help the gods uphold the order and laws of the universe.
Once his brilliance was diminished, Sūrya went in search fro Saṃjñā. She wasn’t easy to find, she had travelled far away, taken on the form of a mare, and is living in concealment, practising austerity. When he found her, he approached her in the form of a stallion, they make love and produce the Aśvin twins, the divine horsemen and physicians of the gods. In some traditions another son, Revanta, is also born from their equine union.
There are a few kinds of blindness in this story.
The first blindness was due to too much light. The best way to understand this is to think about a photography that is overexposed, it looks washed out, the people almost look like ghosts without detail. This might be how a powerful arrogant Solar power sees the world; it’s all just their own light being reflected back at them; they don’t see that others have their own light, their own perspective. This is why his wife left him. Without his wife, Saṃjñā, whose name carries meanings around recognition, consciousness, perception, understanding, designation; he was practically blind despite illumination.
The second blindness of the Sun is the shadow. He does get a certain amount of light around an object using reflection; that’s why shadows aren’t completely black. He uses the Moon for this at night. This is why people do all kinds of taboo things on the dark Moon, on the darkest nights. The shadow is the inevitable consequence of having a perspective at all. This was his marriage the Chaya.
There is also a kind of blindness we get when looking into the light: objects appear as silhouette. The silhouette is just an outline, a category, only recognized for it’s relationship with the Sun, but having no identity of it’s own. This is Saturn, a black spot on the Sun.
A fourth blindness also comes from looking in to the light, but this time, instead of an object in front of the light, there is another light, like the stars of planets that are invisible in the day time. The Sun has a hard time realizing that other people have their own centre, their own perspective that can see things that Sun cannot.
Āditya Hṛdayam — Rāma receives the power of the Sun
In the Rāmāyaṇa, immediately before the decisive confrontation with Rāvaṇa, the sage Agastya teaches Rāma the Āditya Hṛdayam, the “Heart of the Sun” in order to renew his vitality, courage and clarity of purpose. The Āditya Hṛdayam is itself this part of the story where Ram is faced with the final boss of his quest. He weary an absorbed is thought when the sage comes and gives him this hymn. After reciting it his sorrow is lifted and his courage returns. The sun looks upon him with delight knowing that his mission will be fulfilled and Ram turn back to confronting Ravana.
Karṇa — the son of Sūrya
Kuntī invokes Sūrya and gives birth to Karṇa, who is born with divine armour and earrings. The story of Karna mirrors the story of Jesus to son degree. His single mother invoked the Sun to empregnate her but gets scared she will be ostracized for birthing a fatherless child. No one would believe she was empregnated by the Sun. Karna was born with divine armour and an earring marking is inheritance. She puts the newborn in a basket and floats him down the river,
He is found by a charioteer and is taken into his family. Despite his divine birth, he gets no social recognition. He is constantly asked: who do you think you are? He is seen as a common charioteer. When he challenges Arjuna to a contest, he is not judged by his ability, but by his unknown lineage.
Duryodhana of the kauravas recognizes his ability and makes him the king of Anga; h e gives him status, friendship and dignity when the established order humiliated him. In return, Karna gives his word and his loyalty to the Kaurava family. It’s not until just before the great battle against the Pandavas that his mother reveals to him the truth of his birth: he is actually the eldest brother of the Pandavas. He could switch sides, but we admire him more because he doesn’t, he keeps his world which becomes stronger than blood.
The story gets a little strange when Indra determines that Karna could no be defeated as long as he wore his armour so he plots to get him to remove it. He disguises himself as a Brahmin and asks for the armour as a gift. Of course Karna had be warned that all of this would happen but he had vowed to never refuse the request of a Brahmin. His word was his bond and he wouldn’t go back on it even if it meant death. All of this is both laudable and tragic at the same time. He stood by his word, but he died doing so. He couldn’t step outside of himself. Despite how much he circumstances might change, he did not.
Aditi and the Twelve Ādityas
Aditi is one of the great mothers of the Vedic gods. Her name suggests the unbounded, unlimited or unbound: a-diti, that which is not divided or constrained. The Ādityas therefore emerge from an underlying principle of boundlessness, yet their function is largely to maintain ṛta, the cosmic order that keeps the world functioning properly. She is less about the illumination side of the Sun and more about the organizing principle.
Her solar children:
Mitra represents agreement, friendship, alliance and the bonds that allow people to trust one another.
Varuṇa represents cosmic and moral order, oath, restraint and the consequences of violating that order. He sees what is hidden and binds those who transgress ṛta.
Aryaman represents hospitality, social obligation, patronage, marriage arrangements and proper relations between people. Mitra seems to deal with relationships where people are equals; Aryaman deal with relationship where there is an imbalance of power.
Bhaga represents one’s allotted share, prosperity, enjoyment and the proper distribution of wealth or fortune. He represents the privilege of enjoyment or the ability to enjoy what one has.
Aṃśa likewise concerns a portion or share: what belongs to each participant within the larger order. Everyone gets whats coming to them, no more, no less.
Dakṣa represents skill, capacity, competence, intelligence and the ability to perform or organize things correctly. In the Purana he appears as a somewhat shortsighted ritualistic who doesn’t not give an offering to Shiva because shiva does not fit his perspective of an ordered universe; Shiva simple did not fit into his limited framework. This is an excellent story of Shaivites because not only does it mark the end of ritual as the main means of connecting with the divine; it also shows how dismissal of things outside of the ordered system can come back to bit you. Like completely excluding outcastes from the system: they will tear the system down.
The later lists of twelve Ādityas vary between texts, but commonly include deities such as Dhātṛ, Rudra, Sūrya, Vivasvat, Pūṣan, Savitṛ, Tvaṣṭṛ and Viṣṇu.
They become twelve expressions of solar power governing the twelve divisions of the year.
The interesting thing here is that the Sun is not naturally a social person; he has a hard time to even recognize sovereignty in another. This is basically what the whole story about Sūrya, Saṃjñā, Chāyā & Saturn is all about; but here we find 12 Aditya dealing with codes of social and civil conduct.
Western Mythology about the Sun
Helios/Sol
Helios was primarily seen as an all seeing witness in the sky; he rules over revelations and is considered and enemy of secrecy. He witnessed the abduction of Persephone and later told Demeter what happened. He also exposed Aphrodite’s adultery with Ares to Hephaestus. This makes him sound very similar to Varuna.
When the gods divide the earth among themselves, Helios is absent and receives no portion. When he saw the island of Rhodes emerging from the sea, he claims it as his own. Rhodes became the domain of Helios where he continues to be worshipped.
Later we are introduced the Odysseus’s starving crew who are explicitly warned not to touch the sacred cattle of the Sun. They kill them anyway. Helios demands justice and threatens to withdraw his light if the crime goes unpunished. Zeus destroys their ship.
Phaethon, son of Helios, was mocked because people doubted the story about his divine father. Desperate to prove his lineage, he goes to his father and demands proof that he really is his son. Helios promises him anything; Phaethon asks to drive the solar chariot for one day. His father warns him that even the gods cannot safely control it. Phaethon insists, loses control, scorches the earth and must finally be struck down by Zeus. This is a little like Saturn or Karna who face doubts about their ancestral legitimacy. The inheritance isn’t enough, they also have to prove themselves.
The Roman Sol Invictus — the Unconquered Sun becomes the son of God.
The Romans connected the Sun with the emperor and sovereignty of Rome. This Solar imagery was first associated with the Emperor Aurelian who elevated the public cult of Sol in AD 274 in order to reunify the country after invasions and civil wars. History remembers this time as the Crisis of the 3rd century.
Aurelian had the temple built as a symbol or the reunification as well as one Sun king Empire standing above them all. He was trying to unify Britain to Egypt, give one symbol that everyone could relate with despite varied beliefs and loyalties; an ordered society.
The Roman imperial coinage repeatedly depicts Sol with his radiant crown. Even emperor Constantine continues stumping coinage with SOLI INVICTO COMITI, a companion of the unconquered Sun. This is what made it so easy for him to shift to Christianity. The big day of the Sun was winter equinox when the Sun emerges again after the longest night; right around December 25.
Of course the Christ himself is associated with many of the same quesalities as the Sun. It is not doubt a solar religion. John 1: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” John 8:12: “I am the light of the world.” John 14:6, Jesus says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” His own life, then death, then resurrection also follows the course of the Sun both daily and seasonally.
Icarus
This is perhaps one of the more famous and misunderstood stories. Daedalus, the master craftsman, makes wings from feathers and wax so that he and his son Icarus can escape Crete. Before they fly, he gives Icarus a very specific instruction: do not fly too low and do not fly too high. Too low, the sea will weigh down the wings. Too high, the Sun’s heat will destroy them. He has to follow the middle course, but Icarus becomes exhilarated by flight and rises too high. The Sun softens the wax holding his wings together; the feathers fall away, and he plunges into the sea and dies.
The lesson of this story is to fly, go for it, but keep you ambition in check. Stay within prescribed limits. I also find it interesting that we get another master craftsman measuring the heat from the Sun and establishing a safe zone of sort.
But the ancient science of this story is a bit shaky because Icarus would encounter many problems in the upper atmosphere like lack of oxygen and dropping temperatures before he came anywhere close to feeling the heat from the Sun.
China — Hou Yi and the Ten Suns
In Chia there were originally ten Suns. They normally took turns crossing the heavens, but then one day they all appeared together. The result was catastrophic: the earth became unbearably hot, crops withered, water dried up and life itself was threatened. The great archer Hou Yi was called upon to solve the problem. He shot the Suns from the sky one after another until only one Sun remained.
Each Sun was fine so long as they all followed the established rules of order, but appearing together breached the natural order. One Sun, one king, one authority above all. Light and life flow from the Sun, we need it, but we need it in the proper proportion.
Hou Yi later obtains the elixir of immortality, his wife Chang’e consumes it and ascends to the Moon to become the Moon goddess; as a consequent he two are separated. You will see this couple often in mythical Chinese paintings.
Tlingit — Raven releases the Sun
The Tlingit of North American west coast had a very different kind of problem with the Sun: the world was dark because some big Chief had taken ownership of the Sun and the stars and kept them hidden away in boxes because he didn’t wan to share.
Raven comes to the rescue by transforming himself into a hemlock needle and hiding in the drinking glass of the Chief’s daughter. She drinks and he enters her body, he becomes pregnant (what are they teaching their kids about reproduction?) and eventually Raven is born into the Chiefs family. He is a demanding child who cries to be allowed to play with grandpas special boxes. Eventually the grandfather relents and gives to them to him. He plays with them for a while and eventually begins opening them. First the Stars escape back to the sky, then the Moon, and then the great Sun rises up so that the world could be seen; a great revelation. People could no only see others, but they could also be seen. And what has been seen, cannot be unseen.