Numerous ancient manuscripts contain hints or direct ideas accentuating a belief in Sun God. For example, the Inca civilization worshipped Viracocha, but he was probably the same god known to the Mayas as Kukulkan, or Quetzalcoatl to the Aztecs. The origin of sun god Viracocha had been much older than the Inca civilization itself. Viracocha was adopted from the culture of inhabitants living in the region before the Incas took over. It was the Aymara culture. The Incan legend says that Viracocha had a son - Inti, and a daughter - Pachamama. Thus, the Incas also worshiped Inti as their sun god, but Inti, contrary to Viracocha, was believed to have a human form.
We may also come across one of the oldest epic ever written, The Epic of Gilgamesh. Reading it we will learn that the main hero, Gilgamesh, is under protection of the sun god Shamash.
Slavic people in Europe had worshiped their sun god, too, but Christian religion destroyed most of the pan-Slavic ancient manuscripts and artifacts. This did not happen in countries like India, where tradition has preserved its bequests until today. Swarog (or Svarog), the Slavic sun god, had been worshipped in the region of present Poland, Slovakia, Serbia, and probably Russia. In Russia and Poland, such a sun god was also called Dazhbog, a Swarog's son. Dazhbog was believed to have had the Iranian origin.
The cult of sun god had also been well established in ancient Egypt (Ra), in Babylonia and Assyria (Shamash or Sama) too. In the Greek mythology, the god of sun was Helios. Some scholars maintain that the sun worship had been prevalent among people of the pre-Hellenic culture. The Roman sun deity was Sol and this deity's manifestation also surprisingly remained in the Roman Catholic Church's iconography until today. Such a symbol of sun can be found on the papal stole, but also on the St. Peter's Square right in its center. Some non-Catholic denominations criticize this, but the Catholic Church has many similarities with the Roman Empire. There is no reason for the Catholic Church to remove such masterpiece works.
The Indian sun god Surya is the only sun god that has preserved in history with such a strong accent of a very important solar deity of the Vedic religion.
Surya: The God of Light
Ancient races of Hindus and Persians had most likely formed one group of people and a term such as Mithraism appeared to denote the cult of the ancient Indo-Iranian sun god (Mitra).
Surya is the Hindu Sun God. Shaivists consider him to be an aspect of Lord Shiva. For vaishnavists, he is an aspect of Lord Vishnu. His followers consider him to be Brahma in the morning, Vishnu during the day, and Shiva at night. He is portrayed sitting on a chariot with seven horses.
In Sanatana Dharma, Surya represents an independent god and thus he has his own followers contrary to the mainstream Shiva, Shakti, or Vishnu. Surya is a Vedic God, which means that he is mentioned in the Vedas. He is the chief solar deity, one of the Adityas. His followers are called sAuram or Shaoram, but other names can be found too.
With growing expansion of vaishnavism some many years before Christ, Surya lost his prominent place among the highest gods similarly like Brahma. Adityas, of which Surya comes from, is a group of solar deities. Rig Veda speaks about seven of these gods (Adityas):
1) Varuna,
2) Mitra,
3) Aryaman,
4) Bhaga,
5) Daksha,
6) Ansha,
7) Surya. Yajur Veda speaks about eight solar deities.
Big dynasties of Indian kings were convinced that they had descended from this god. Thus, the Sun Dynasty or "Suryavanshi" is known in history; its members believed that they had descended directly from Surya.
Surya is a very powerful god and his omnipresent burning glow was the cause of Sanjana's (his wife) escape. But Surya found her in the woods, where he made love with her.
Surya has several sons. He is the father of great Sugriva - a chief of the monkey kingdom Kishkindha, where Hanuman, a famous Hindu monkey god, has his roots. Hanuman begged Surya to accept him as a pupil. Surya refused. Hanuman did not stop begging and was very inventive in his attempts to become accepted by Surya as a disciple. After he enlarged his body, Surya finally agreed.
Sanjana and Chhaya are two Surya's wives (consorts).
Surya's father is Kashyapa. Kashyapa was an ancient rishi, a father of the humankind. Surya is also the father of Karna (an important person in the epic Mahabharata). He conceived him (Karna) with Kunti, the mother of the three Pandava brothers. Kunti was curious about one mantra and after speaking it out she unwillingly evoked Surya, who, in turn, made love with her (spiritually).
In India, Surya has temples and in certain areas he is worshipped with equal popularity as any other Hindu god, but globally he has less followers than Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh, or Lord Vishnu. One such a temple is in the Indian city Konarak in Orissa. An ancient temple can also be seen in the Indian state Bihar at Gaya, but there are more temples of the Sun.
If we suppose that Surya was (and is) the god whose origin had not been interlinked with manifestations of other sun gods in our ancient history, then we must study these other sun gods independently. But if we hypothesize that Surya as the Vedic god had radiated the same light of Viracocha's, Ra's, or Swarog's energy, then we can get closer to bequests of other sun gods and learn more about our history and the excellence of light in it.
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