12 Names of Surya

[Christophe Vielle]

A list of 8 names is used in the Bhavi.syottara-Puraa.na (edited as 
the Uttara-parvan of the so-called Bhavi.syaP issued at the 
Ve;nka.te/svara Press). Cf. R.C. Hazra, Studies in the Upapuraa.nas, 
vol. 2, pp. 466-67:
"in the Kalyaa.na-saptamii-vrata and the /Sarkaraa-saptamii-vrata, as 
described in Bhav. IV. 48 and 49 respectively [cf. MatsyaP 74 and 
77], the figure of an eight petalled lotus has to be painted on the 
ground with powdered rice dried in the sun or with saffron for the 
worship of the Sun-god in the different petals and the pericarp with 
the mention of his different names; and in the 
Mandaara-.sa.s.thii-vrata an image of a male, made of gold and 
furnished with a golden lotus in one of its hands, is to be placed on 
an eight-petalled lotus made with black sesamum, and the Sun-god is 
to be worshipped in the eight petals Mandaara flowers with the 
mention of his eight names (Bhaaskara, Suurya, Arka, Aryaman, 
Vasu-dhaat.r, Ca.n.da-bhaanu, Puu.san and Aananda) and in the 
pericarp as Puru.sa (Bhav. IV. 40)"

The 8 names in the /Sarkaraa-saptamii-vrata according to the MatsyaP 
(74.8-9) are:
Tapana, Maarta.n.da, Divaakara, Vidhaat.r, Varu.na, Bhaaskara, 
Vikartana and Ravi

The 8 names in the Mandaara-saptamii-vrata according to the MatsyaP 
(79.6-7) are the same as in the Mandaara-.sa.s.thii-vrata of the 
Bhavi.syottP, except Deva-dhaman for Vasu-dhaat.r

The following list of 12 names is given in the Phala-saptamii-vrata 
according to the MatsyaP (76.7):
Bhaanu, Arka, Ravi, Brahmaa, Suurya, /Sukra, Hari, /Siva, /Sriimaan, 
Vibhaavasu, Tva.s.t.r, Varu.na


Christophe Vielle



>Hallo,
>
>The list of 12 names of Surya included in the Iyengar practice
>manual come from the list of synonyms given in Amarakosa, Sabdaratnavali etc.
>Regards
>
>K.Maheswaran Nair
>Dept. of Sanskrit
>University of Kerala
>Trivandrum, India.
>
>
>Quoting David Fiordalis <dvf at UMICH.EDU>:
>
>>Dear List members,
>>
>>A friend of mine who is an Iyengar Yoga instructor is interested in knowing
>>where the list of 12 names of Surya included in the Iyengar practice
>>manual may come from.
>>
>>They are: mitra, ravi, sUrya, bhAna, khaga, pUSan, hiraNyagarbha, marIci,
>>Aditya, savitR, arka, and bhAskara.
>>
>>Does anyone know a text that lists these particular 12 as the names of
>>Surya? I know there are other lists in the Mahabharata and elsewhere,
>>but so far as I'm aware these include some different members.
>>
>>My apologies for cross-posting.
>>
>>
>>David Fiordalis
>>
>>PhD Candidate
>>Dept of Asian Languages and Cultures
>>University of Michigan