Surya: Weapons & Symbols

सूर्य

The Sun; source of light, life, health and time; chief of the Navagraha. Also called Aditya, Ravi, Bhaskara, Savitr, Mitra, Divakara, Martanda, Vivasvan, Pushan, Arka.

Surya is the Hindu Sun god, the visible deity and chief of the Navagraha. He crosses the sky in a chariot of seven horses driven by Aruna, the dawn, and is father of Yama, Yamuna, the Ashvins, Shani, Karna and Sugriva. The Gayatri mantra is addressed to him, and he is worshipped through Surya Namaskar, the sunrise Arghya, Chhath and great Sun temples such as Konark.

Updated 27 Oct 20266 sources

RoleThe Sun; source of light, life, health and time; chief of the Navagraha

TraditionSaura

GrahaSun (chief of the Navagraha)

DaySunday (Ravivar)

MantraOm Suryaya Namah

Great verseGayatri mantra, to Savitr

Iconography and symbolism

Surya is shown as a radiant red-gold figure, young and crowned, holding a full lotus in each of his two hands, standing or seated on a chariot drawn by seven horses with a great halo of rays. Alone among Hindu gods he is often depicted wearing high boots, a mark of the Central Asian and Iranian sun-worship absorbed into his cult. His charioteer is the legless Aruna, the dawn, and his single-wheeled chariot stands for the year.

सात घोड़ेSeven horsesChariotThe seven colours of light, the seven days and the seven Vedic metres that draw the Sun across the sky.

एक चक्रOne wheelWheelThe single wheel of the chariot is the year (samvatsara), its spokes the seasons and months.

कमलLotusFlowerHeld in both hands, for the life that opens to the Sun.

Meanings are given as tradition holds them, not as scripture.