Cult of Gods

Surya

Hindu tradition. See the whole pantheon.

Domains
sun
Symbols and attributes
Chariot of seven horses
Vishvarupa Vishnu, Kashmir or Himachal, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art collection.
Vishvarupa Vishnu, Kashmir or Himachal, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art collection.

Key myth

The sun, 'eye of Mitra and Varuna'. The Gayatri mantra is addressed to Savitr, the sun in his life-giving aspect. Surya is still worshipped, with the Chhath festival in Bihar and Nepal dedicated to him.

Primary sources

  • Rigveda 1.50, 3.62.10 (Gayatri)

All sources for the Hindu pantheon

Place in the family graph

Choose a deity to see where it comes from. Dashed lines are links the sources describe that are not parent and child.

Dyaus PitarPrithviIndraAgniVarunaSuryaYamaUshasVishnuLakshmiShivaParvatiSaraswatiGaneshaKartikeyaDurgaKrishna

More traditions

Odin rides to Hel, W. G. Collingwood, after the Poetic Edda.NorsePapyrus of Ani, British Museum (New Kingdom), a Book of the Dead.EgyptianA chaos monster and a sun god, drawn by L. Gruner for A. H. Layard's Monuments of Nineveh.MesopotamianFolio 309r of the Book of Kells (Trinity College Dublin), c. 800.Celtic (Irish)

Elsewhere in the world

Deities in other traditions who share a theme with Surya: the sun and light. This is overlap in one area only.

Egyptian

Atum

creator, the completed one

Egyptian

Ra

sun, kingship, order

Celtic (Irish)

Lugh

skill in all arts, kingship, the sun (in later readings)

Compare across cultures