Sūrya Mandira

Sūrya Mandira · sūrya mandira, “the temple of Sūrya”

A Sūrya Mandira is a temple of Bhagavān Sūrya. The Brahma Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa gives the rules for any temple of Sūrya, built of wood, stone or clay, in a town or near its east gate, facing the rising sun. Brahmā teaches Dindi and Bhagavān Vishṇu the great fruit of building it, and Nārada Maharshi teaches Sāmba where and how it is to be built.

The one who has such a temple built lifts seven generations of his family to Sūrya Loka, and at the laying of the very first stone the pāpa of seven births perishes. Then there is its daily life. It is swept and smeared, its lamps are lit and its banner flown, Bhagavān Sūrya is bathed in it with ghee, milk, honey and sugarcane juice, the śaṅkha is sounded before him, and the Purāṇas are recited in it. Every one of these services has its phala. One enters without footwear, and no one may step over the water of his bath. Yama Dharmarāja himself commands his Yamakiṅkaras to keep far from those who build and serve the temple of Sūrya.

The fruit of building it

Brahmā tells Dindi that one who has a Sūrya temple built with bhakti carries seven generations of men to Sūrya Loka. For as many years as pūjā goes on in that temple, for that many thousands of years he shines in Sūrya Loka. He tells the same to Bhagavān Vishṇu of a lasting and firm temple, adding that one who has it built reaches Sūrya Loka and that the pūjā must be kept going.

When Bhagavān Vishṇu asks what fruit comes to one who has a temple of Ravi built, Brahmā answers in full:

  • The temple may be built of wood, stone or clay. Whoever has it built gains the great fruit that comes from daily yajña and pūjā.
  • One who has a temple built and a devatā installed lifts the coming hundred generations of his family and the past hundred generations, and reaches Sūrya Loka after death.
  • Pāpa done in seven births, small or great, perishes at the very laying of the first stone.
  • One who builds a temple to Bhagavān Sūrya, who is made of the seven lokas, gains a fame that spreads through the seven lokas.
  • The temple should stand on the best ground of an approved region. One who builds so gains undecaying worlds.
  • For as many years as the bricks and stones stand, for that many thousand years the builder dwells in svarga.
  • One who has a well-formed image of Sūrya made dwells long in Sūrya Loka, and lives happily in Devaloka for sixty thousand years.
  • One who installs Bhagavān Sūrya in an excellent temple and has pūjā done to him has done all that is to be done, and no fault touches him.
  • One who installs the image lifts the coming and past generations of his family for one Brahma Kalpa.

Since Bhagavān Sūrya is made of all yajñas, all that is done for his pleasure gives the fruit of a yajña.

Nārada Maharshi tells Sāmba the same in one line: one who has a Sūrya temple built in a beautiful place goes to Sūrya Loka, without doubt.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 63, 103, 113, 120 and 130

Where it is built

Sumantu Muni tells Śatānīka how, when the Sūrya pratimā was found in the Candrabhāgā, Sāmba thought of Nārada Maharshi, and the Maharshi at once appeared before him. Sāmba asked how a Sūrya temple should be built and on what ground.

Nārada said that temples are to be built for the growth of fame and dharma where water is abundant and where gardens and flower groves are seen, for the devas stay present in such places. The devas sport by lakes covered with lotuses, sounding with haṃsas, krauñcas and cakravākas, with travellers resting in the cool shade around them. They sport by rivers, near gardens, in regions of rivers and hills, and in towns with groves full of fruit and flowers. The sites that the vāstu-śāstra lays down for houses are the sites praised for temples.

For Bhagavān Sūrya, the mandira is built in the middle of the town, or near the east gate of the town on its eastern side.

Testing the ground. First the ground is tested, and only then does building begin.

  • The soil should have a good fragrance and a good taste, and the site should be low-lying.
  • It should be free of stone chips, chaff, hair, bones, salt, ash, ummetta, charcoal and the like.
  • It should have the sound of thunder and of the dundubhi, and be so fertile that any seed will sprout.
  • White ground is best for brāhmaṇas, red for kshatriyas, yellow-green for vaiśyas and black for śūdras.
  • In the middle of the ground, smear a square of four mūras all around, lower it by one mūra, dig a pit ten aṅgulas deep at the centre, and fill the pit with the earth dug out. If it fills level, the ground is of even quality. If earth falls short, it is poor. If it fills and earth is left over, the site brings prosperity.

Direction. The Sūrya Mandira should always face east. When it cannot be avoided it may be built facing west, but it is best to make an east-facing place and build.

The form. Nārada names twenty kinds of prāsāda (temple building). Of these, he says, the two kinds Gṛharāja, of a width of fourteen hastas, and Sarvatobhadra, with doors on four sides and many śikharas, are dear to Bhagavān Sūrya.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 130

The plan of the temple

Nārada gives the place of each shrine and attendant, in this order:

  • On the south side of the building, the snāna-gṛha (bathing house) of Bhagavān Sūrya.
  • North of the main mandira, the agnihotra house.
  • The mandiras of Bhagavān Śiva and of the Mātṛkās, facing north.
  • The ālaya of Brahmā to the west, and the ālaya of Bhagavān Vishṇu towards the north.
  • On the right, a neem tree. On the left, the Rājñī mandira.
  • To the right of Bhagavān Sūrya, Piṅgala; to his left, Daṇḍanāyaka.
  • In front of him, the place of Śrī and Mahāśvetā.
  • Outside the deva-gṛha, in the east, the Aśvinī Kumāras.
  • In the second kakshā (enclosure), Rājña and Sausha.
  • In the third kakshā, Kalmāsha and Pakshin.
  • Towards the south, Daṇḍa and Māṭhara.
  • In the north, Kubera, honoured by the lokas.
  • North of him, Vināyaka, together with Revata.

Wherever there is room, the mandiras of these devas are built in the directions laid down. For the reading of the Purāṇas, Itihāsas and the like, an assembly hall is built wherever it is convenient.

The arghya maṇḍalas. Two maṇḍalas are made for giving arghya, one on the left and one on the right. In the morning arghya is offered to Bhagavān Sūrya at the southern maṇḍala, and at sunset at the northern maṇḍala.

The third maṇḍala is made in the space between the front of the temple and the pratimā. It is square, with four śṛṅgas, measured with cord according to the sūtras of the pratimā-śāstra. Before it, facing Bhagavān Sūrya, Diṇḍi is set. At midday arghya is offered here to the Vyoma, full of all the devas. Or else the third maṇḍala is made in the shape of a cakra, Bhagavān Sūrya is set upon it, and the learned give arghya at this place. This Vyoma-sthāna is made near, facing him.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 130

Entering the temple

Brahmā tells Dindi that one who enters a Sūrya Mandira with footwear attains the terrible naraka called Asipatravana. He says also that one who enters a Sūrya temple wearing footwear falls into the terrible naraka called Tāmisra. One who discharges phlegm, stool or urine in the temple suffers twenty-one narakas in order.

One who makes three pradakshiṇas and does Sūrya-namaskāra with his head on the ground reaches the highest gati (state).

On a Sunday when a Sūrya saṃkramaṇa falls, the Hṛdaya Vāra, the devotee keeps the nakta vrata (one meal at night), goes to the Sūrya Mandira, and there, facing Bhagavān Sūrya, recites the Āditya Hṛdaya one hundred and eight times.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 80, 90 and 95

The bathing of Sūrya in the mandira

Brahmā gives the fruit of each bath.

  • Abhisheka with ghee at dawn on even one day gives the fruit of giving a lakh of cows.
  • Bathing him with cow’s milk gives the fruit of a Pauṇḍarīka yajña.
  • Abhisheka with sugarcane juice gives the fruit of an aśvamedha.
  • Bathing him with ghee leads to Brahmaloka, with honey to the place dear to him, and with water to Brahmaloka.
  • Those who give ghee, honey, milk, water and excellent sugarcane juice for the abhisheka gain all desires in this world and go to the Sūrya maṇḍala.
  • Those who with bhakti have darśana of Bhagavān Sūrya after his abhisheka gain the fruit of an aśvamedha and are absorbed into Śiva.
  • Bhaktas who bathe him gain the puṇya of the rājasūya and aśvamedha.

He is bathed with waters brought from puṇya tīrthas, with fragrant water, with honey, with ghee and with milk. One who does so gains the abodes that flow with milk and curd, the svarga abodes that drip honey, or else lasting peace.

Arrangements must be made so that no one steps across the water of his abhisheka. He who steps over it reaches the terrible naraka Tāmisra. So the snapana (bath) must be done first, with care. Bhagavān Sūrya tells Aruṇa that one who steps over his bath-water, his nirmālya (what has been offered) or fire goes to the terrible naraka Raurava.

On the Mahājayā Saptamī, when the saṅkramaṇa falls on a śukla paksha saptamī, a ghee bath gives the fruit of an aśvamedha and svarga, and an abhisheka of milk frees one from all pāpas and leads to Sūrya Loka. On the Bhadrā Saptamī, Bhagavān Sūrya is bathed first with ghee, then with milk, then with sugarcane juice.

In the plan that Nārada gives, the Sūrya pratimā is set according to rule on a cakra-shaped pīṭha, and in the snāna-gṛha it is given abhisheka with the waters of four auspicious kalaśas, while many kinds of auspicious instruments and śaṅkhas sound.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 93, 95, 99, 101, 103, 117 and 130

Sweeping and smearing

Brahmā tells Dindi and Bhagavān Vishṇu what this humble service brings:

  • One who sweeps and cleans the temple daily is freed from pāpas and reaches a high state.
  • For as many specks of dust as he sweeps out, for that many days he stays in svarga, equal to Bhagavān Sūrya. At Chapter 103 they are divine days.
  • The pāpa done day by day perishes by cleaning, day by day, a space the size of a gocarma (a cow’s hide).
  • The body of one who sweeps and cleans the temple without and within becomes pure outside and inside.
  • One who plasters and cleans it goes to Sūrya Loka and rejoices together with Bhagavān Sūrya. At Chapter 103, he reaches Sūrya Loka and rejoices with Bhagavān Vishṇu.
  • One who coats it with clay, with mineral colours, with many colours or with cow-dung comes to that loka mounted on a vāhana.
  • One who smears its ground with cow-dung with bhakti is freed of pāpa at once.
  • One who plasters it with white, red or yellow clay obtains the fruit he has in mind.
  • One who sprinkles water and cleans the temple reaches the place of Bhagavān Sūrya.
  • One who sweeps and smears it with bhakti is quickly freed from disease and gains wealth.
  • One who smears and cleans it with gairika and other minerals gains great wealth and is freed from all disease. The eighteen kinds of kushṭha and any other diseases perish through this service.
  • One who smears the temple and makes a maṇḍala reaches Sūrya Loka and stays there many years in happiness.

Bhagavān Sūrya tells Aruṇa that the Bhojaka is dear to him because he always does the sweeping (saṃmārjana), the smearing (upalepana) and the other work of his mandira. King Satrājit, hearing of the fruit of this karma from Parāvasu Muni, had upalepana and the like done with bhakti wherever Sūrya temples were seen on the earth.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 64, 68, 93, 103 and 117

Flowers, lamps and the banner

  • One who always does abhisheka to Bhagavān Sūrya in the temple, or sprinkles water there, goes to Varuṇa Loka.
  • One who offers great heaps of fragrant flowers in the temple adorned with coatings never comes to a bad state, and reaches the place of Bhagavān Sūrya.
  • One who lights a dīpa in the temple obtains a most beautiful vimāna that gives comfort in all seasons. At Chapter 103, he mounts a divine vimāna made of many gems and reaches svarga.
  • One who lights a lamp every day in a Sūrya temple, and sends the light of lamps over the waters of Sūrya tīrthas, has a form of great tejas.
  • One who gives Bhagavān Sūrya, for a year, an oil vessel and a dhvaja (banner) obtains the same fruit. The pāpas that such a giver did unknowingly are shaken by the wind of the banner, day and night, and perish. Bhagavān Sūrya shines in his house day and night.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 64, 93 and 103

Song, drama and the sacred accounts

One who serves Bhagavān Sūrya with song and instruments is served on a divine vimāna by the dance and song of gandharvas. If one holds dances and dramas showing his līlās in a Sūrya temple, all his wishes are accomplished without fail and he gains the fruit of a rājasūya.

The Bhojaka must blow the śaṅkha before Bhagavān Sūrya every day. Bhagavān Sūrya tells Aruṇa that if the śaṅkha is blown once, he has delight equal to that from four months of Purāṇa hearing. This is the Bhojaka’s best occupation.

One who arranges Purāṇa recitation in the Sūrya temple gains unbroken medhā (power of intellect), knowledge of his line of births, and memory after leaving the birth. Having the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas expounded daily gives the fruit of a thousand aśvamedhas. So with every effort pravacanas of Itihāsa and Purāṇa should be arranged there. Nothing is dearer to Bhagavān Sūrya than the hearing of puṇya kathā, and the Paurāṇika (the reciter) is to be honoured as prescribed. The wife of King Satrājit paid a salary to the vācaka (reciter) in the mandira of Bhānu Deva and with bhakti and śraddhā had the sacred accounts recited.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 64, 93, 103 and 117

Care for those who come

One who sets up cool-water sheds and water facilities at the temple goes to devaloka, the supreme place. In the cold season, blankets and the like that remove the cold should be given at a Sūrya temple to those who need them, and this gives the fruit of an aśvamedha.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 93

The temple and the ratha

The rathas of the Sūrya rathayātrā are kept standing only near the temple. On the day of the journey the ratha stands in front of the temple the whole day, and at the close it is stopped before his own mandira, where the townspeople offer him unbroken pūjā. When the yātrā is complete, the mūrti of Sūrya is brought back to the temple.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 55, 56 and 58

Yama’s command

Brahmā tells Bhagavān Vishṇu that long ago Yama Dharmarāja commanded his Yamakiṅkaras, who held nooses and rods in their hands. They were to move through the world according to justice, and to leave alone those who take refuge in Vivasvān. They were to stay far from the Vaivasvatas, who always offer pūjā to Bhagavān Sūrya, and not to approach one who remembers his name while standing, sleeping, coming and going, rising, slipping and sneezing.

For this temple he said two things more. “Those who do the service of smearing and sweeping in a Sūrya temple, and three generations of their family, you must leave alone.” And: “One born in the family of the builder of a Sūrya temple, you must not look at with your evil sight.”

The Yamakiṅkaras once disregarded this word and went near Satrājit, a bhakta of Bhagavān Sūrya. Bewildered by his tejas, they fell unconscious, as a bird on a mountain falls to the ground when struck by an arrow.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 113

Sources

  • Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 55–56, 58, 63–64, 68, 80, 90, 93, 95, 99, 101, 103, 113, 117, 120, 130