SURYA, the sun. In Hindu mythology, the deity of the sun is sometimes alleged to be identical with Savitri and -Aditya, sometimes 'is called son of Dyaus, sometimes son of Kasyapa and Aditi, and sometimes fabled to be the husband, some times the child, of Usbas, the dawn, and sometimes the father of the Aswini twins. Amongst Hindus the sun is adored under a variety of names, as Surya, Mitra, Bhascar, Viava, Vishnu, Carua or Kana, the last likewise an E,gyptian epithet for tho sun. In the centre of pictures Surya is repre sented standing on a lotus pedestal, and holding in each hand a richly-sculptured lotus sceptre. Ills inughut or cap, ear-rings, dress, and ornaments are equally rich. Before him stands, also on a pedestal, a handsomely-formed wornan, Prabha or brightness, Ns consort or sakti. At her feet, and in the front of the pedestal, is the legless Arun, holding the heaven-spun reins' in one hand, and a whip in the other, guiding the ieven (saptaswa) coursers of the sun, which are represented on the socle. On each side of Surya are two attendants carrying chowries, another a sword, and the fourth a cup. At their feet are smaller figures with bows, from which they appear to have just dis charged their arrows. In the background are the figures, animals, and foliage usually seen in Hindu sculptures. In other representations, Surya is pictured of a deep golden complexion, with his head encircled by golden rays of glory ; sometimes with four, and in others with two arras, bolding a lotus iu one hand, and sometimes the chakra or wheel in another, standing or sitting on a lotus pedestal, or seated in his splendid car with one wheel, drawn by a seven-headed horse of an emerald colour, or the seven coursers green of the sun. Surya is the personification of that luminary, the orb of light and heat.
' Bright god, thou scann'st with searching ken The doings of all busy men, Thou stridest o'er the sky ; thy rays Create and measure out our days ; Thine eye all living things surveys.' Sir William Jones in a hymn has endeavoured to convey the Hindu views of the sun's position amongst their other gods.
'Lord of the lotus, fatherl friend ! and king ! Surya, thy powers I sing :— Thy substance, Indra, with his heavenly bands, Nor sings nor understands ; Nor e'en the Vedas thee to man explain, Thy mystic orb triform, tbo' Brahma tun'd the strain.
"First, o'er blue bills appear, With many an agate hoof, And pasterns fring'd, seven coursers green ; Nor boasts yon arched woof, That girds the sb ow'ry sphere, Such heaven-spun threads of colour'd light serene As tinge the reins which Arun guides— Glowing with immortal grace, Young Arun, loveliest of Vinatian race ; Though younger be, whom Maclhava bestrides. When high on eagle-plumes he rides.
But oh ! what pencil of a living star Could paint that gorg,eous car, In which, as in an ark supremely bright, The lord of boundless light, Ascending calm o'er the empyrean, sails, And with ten thousand beams his awful beanty veils !" ' The mystic orb triform alludes to the omnipo tent and incomprehensible power represented by the triple divinity of the Hindus. The flower of the lotus is said to expand its leaves on the rising of the sun, and to close them when it sets. The Aswini Kumara, the twins of the Hindu zodiac, are called the children of Surya, from Aswini, a form of Parvati in the shape of a mare, into whose nostrils Surya breathed, and thus impregnated her with sunbeams and gave birth to the Aswini.
&rya is, by some Hindu writers, called the regent of the south-west. He presides over Aditwar, or Sunday, front Adit, the first, and War, clay. Surya has various names. In the Gaitri he is called Savitri, as the symbol of the splendour of the supreme ruler, or the creator of the universe. Prabha, or brightness, is the consovt or sakti of Surya. She is also Chaya, or shade, which form she assumed in consequence of not being able to endure the intensity of the splendour of her lord. The Sauria sect of Hindus derive their name from the radiance of their deity, Sur, bright. Surya is, in his mortal form, the progenitor of the two great Khetri tribes, the Suryavansa and Chandravansa, the descendants of which are termed the children of the Sun and Moon. Surya is believed to have descended frequently from bis car in a human shape, and have left a race on earth, who are equally renowned in the Indian stories with the Heliades of Greece.