Sūrya Saptatināma

The Sūrya Saptatināma is the set of seventy names (saptati-nāma) of Bhagavān Sūrya. It is given in Chapter 9 of the Kāśī Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, in the account of Śivaśarman’s journey through the worlds after death, when he passed through the world of the Sun (Sūrya-loka).

The names speak of Bhagavān Sūrya in seventy aspects, as the source of light, time, life and moksha. They form a full stotra for purification and for the light of the spirit.

The setting

The ātmā of Śivaśarman went up through the worlds after death. It was strong with the puṇya (merit) of his pilgrimage to the seven moksha-purīs (the seven cities that give moksha). On the way it passed through Sūrya-loka.

In that world the seventy names of Sūrya were recited. They form the prayer by which Bhagavān Sūrya is adored in the account of this journey.

The Kāśī Khaṇḍa gives Sūrya a special place. The Sun’s path was blocked by the Vindhya mountain (Chapter 1), and that began the whole crisis that needed Agastya’s help. Later, in Chapters 46 to 50, Sūrya is the last of Bhagavān Śiva’s agents sent to drive out Divodāsa. Instead he becomes the founder of the Lolārka shrine and of other Āditya shrines in Kāśī.

The seventy names

The Saptatināma addresses Bhagavān Sūrya as:

  1. The eye of the universe (Jagacchakshu)
  2. The witness of all actions (Sākshin)
  3. The cause of all time (Kālakāraṇa)
  4. The destroyer of darkness (Tamonāśana)
  5. The maker of the day (Divākara)
  6. The ripener of all things (Sarvapācaka)
  7. The giver of light to all the lights of the sky
  8. The ruler of Sūrya-loka
  9. The driver of the chariot of horses (Saptāśva): the seven horses stand for the seven meters (chandas) of the Vedas, and twelve stands for the twelve months
  10. The upholder of the three worlds through light and heat

The names go on through all seventy aspects of Sūrya’s work in the cosmos. They call him the one who causes the yajñas to begin, since all rites are timed by the movement of the Sun. They call him the one whose twelve monthly forms (dvādaśāditya) each have their own qualities. They call him the one who in the end lights the path to moksha by driving away the darkness of ignorance.

The phalaśruti

Reciting the Sūrya Saptatināma is declared to:

  • destroy the pāpa gathered through every kind of impurity;
  • give health, long life and freedom from disease;
  • light up the understanding with the light of jñāna;
  • give the fruit of having visited all the Sūrya-tīrthas.

The twelve Āditya shrines of Kāśī are described in Chapters 46 to 50 of the Kāśī Khaṇḍa. Each shrine shows one form of Bhagavān Sūrya’s grace in the holy city.

Sources

  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 9
  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapter 1 (the Sun blocked by the Vindhya)
  • Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Kāśī Khaṇḍa, Chapters 46 to 50 (Sūrya sent to Divodāsa; the Āditya shrines of Kāśī)