Sūrya and Saṃjñā

The Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 9, tells of Saṃjñā, the wife of Sūrya. She could not bear her husband’s fierce radiance. She secretly put a double of herself, called Chāyā (Shadow), in her place and went to the northern forests as a mare. Sūrya found out. Viśvakarmā ground away the excess of his brilliance, and Sūrya joined Saṃjñā as a stallion. From this came the twin Aśvinīkumāras, the physicians of the devas. This chapter also tells of the births of Yama, Yamī (the river Yamunā), Śanaiścara and Vaivasvata Manu, and so of the solar line that comes down to Ikshvāku.

The birth of Sūrya

Sūrya was born to Kaśyapa Prajāpati and Aditi, the daughter of Daksha. While Aditi carried the child, a ṛshi named Budha put a śāpa (curse) on her. Kaśyapa comforted her and said that the child was safe in the cosmic egg. From this came one of Sūrya’s names, Mārtāṇḍa. In time his tejas (radiance) became so strong that all three worlds suffered from the heat. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 9)

Saṃjñā cannot bear Sūrya’s tejas

Sūrya’s wife was Saṃjñā, the daughter of Viśvakarmā. She was known in all three worlds also by the name Sureṇu. She was beautiful and young, but she could not bear Sūrya’s great heat. His radiance burned her body and drained her beauty.

Three children were born to them: a daughter, Yamī, who later became the holy river Yamunā, and two sons, Śrāddhadeva, who became Vaivasvata Manu, and Yama. Yama and Yamī were twins. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 9)

Saṃjñā makes Chāyā and leaves

Saṃjñā could no longer bear Sūrya’s unbearable tejas. From her own being she made a woman exactly like herself in looks and radiance. This double was called Chāyā. She stood before Saṃjñā with joined palms and said she was a servant ready to obey any order.

Saṃjñā told Chāyā to stay in her place and look after the three children, Śrāddhadeva, Yama and Yamī. She told her never to tell Sūrya about the change, whatever happened. Chāyā agreed. She promised to keep the secret unless someone seized her by the hair or put a śāpa on her. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 9)

Having arranged this, Saṃjñā went in shame to the house of her father Viśvakarmā. He scolded her again and again and told her to go back to her husband. She could not face Sūrya’s radiance, and she did not want to disobey her father for ever. So she took the form of a mare (vaḍavā) and went to live in the northern land of Uttara Kuru, roaming the meadows and grazing on grass.

Chāyā as Sūrya’s wife: Śanaiścara and Sāvarṇa

Sūrya took Chāyā for Saṃjñā herself and lived with her. Chāyā bore a son whose tejas equalled that of the elder Manu. He became known as Sāvarṇa, the eighth Manu, so called because he looked like Manu. Chāyā and Sūrya had a second son, Śanaiścara (Śani), who in time gained an honoured place among the grahas (planets). (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 9)

Chāyā showered love on her own children but treated Saṃjñā’s children with partiality. Vaivasvata Manu bore her unequal treatment in silence. But the young Yama was hot-tempered and could not hold back his anger, and he scolded Chāyā for neglecting them.

In a moment of rage Chāyā put a śāpa on him: “May your foot wither and fall!” Yama was deeply troubled and afraid of the śāpa. He went to Sūrya and told him what had happened. He explained that he had only raised his foot in anger and had not actually kicked her.

Sūrya told Yama that the śāpa could not be wholly undone, but he softened it. Worms would carry some flesh from the foot to the earth. In this way the words of the śāpa would be partly fulfilled, and Yama would be spared the full result. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 9)

Sūrya finds out

Sūrya then asked Chāyā why she showed more love to one child than to the others. Chāyā gave no answer. By his yogabala (power of yoga) Sūrya saw the truth of what had happened. He seized Chāyā by the hair. Bound by her first promise, she then told him everything. Sūrya was furious and went at once to Viśvakarmā. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 9)

Viśvakarmā trims Sūrya’s radiance

Viśvakarmā received Sūrya with honour and tried to calm his anger. He explained that Saṃjñā had left because she could not bear Sūrya’s unbearable form. He offered to put it right. If Sūrya agreed, he would set him on the cosmic wheel (cakra) and shave away the excess radiance. This would give Sūrya’s body a beautiful form that Saṃjñā could bear. Sūrya agreed.

Viśvakarmā set Sūrya on the wheel and ground him down. From that time Sūrya’s face became red. From the radiance he trimmed away, Viśvakarmā made the twelve Ādityas: Dhātā, Aryamā, Mitra, Varuṇa, Aṃśa, Bhaga, Vivāsvat, Pūshā, Parjanya, Jaghanya, Tvashṭā and Vishṇu. These are twelve forms of Sūrya, who light up the world through the year.

From the same trimmed radiance Viśvakarmā also made the Sudarśana Cakra of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Bhagavān Vishṇu later slew many asuras with it. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 9)

Viśvakarmā then decked Sūrya with fragrant flowers, ornaments and a shining crown. He told him to go to Saṃjñā, who was then wandering as a mare in the forests of Uttara Kuru.

The union as horses: the birth of the Aśvinīkumāras

By his yogabala Sūrya took the form of a stallion and went to Saṃjñā. She did not know him at first and took him for a stranger, so she was unwilling. Sūrya then came to her as a horse. Saṃjñā let his seed (vīrya) go through her nostrils, not in the usual way.

From that seed, born of the nostrils of the mare, came the Aśvinīkumāras, the twin divine physicians, the healers of the devas. Their names were Dyau and Nāsatya. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 9) From then on Sūrya was their father and his wife Saṃjñā was their mother.

Sūrya then showed his true form. Saṃjñā saw her husband now in a form she could bear, beautiful to look at. She was filled with joy and made peace with him.

What became of Sūrya’s children

After the reunion, the place of each child was settled.

• Yama: In spite of the śāpa of his mother Chāyā (the worms on his foot), Yama ruled by dharma and became lord of the pitṛs and protector of the worlds.
• Yamī (Yamunā): She became the holy river Yamunā, loved by all people.
• Śrāddhadeva (Vaivasvata Manu): He was the eldest son of the true Saṃjñā. He became the ruling Manu of the present age. He is also called Śrāddhadeva because he performs śrāddha for all seven classes of pitṛs. He was the father of Ikshvāku and founded the Sūryavaṃśa.
• Śanaiścara (Śani): The son of Chāyā and Sūrya, he gained a place of honour among the navagrahas (nine planets).
• Sāvarṇa: Also a son of Chāyā and Sūrya, he became Sāvarṇi Manu, who looks like the elder Vaivasvata Manu.
• Nāsatya and Dyau (the Aśvinīkumāras): Twin sons born of the union as horses, they became the twin divine physicians honoured by devas and men alike.

(Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 9)

The line of Vaivasvata Manu and Ikshvāku

Vaivasvata Manu, also called Śrāddhadeva, performed the Putreshṭi yajña to win sons, calling on Mitra and Varuṇa. By the grace of the rite a daughter named Ilā was born. Mitra and Varuṇa said she was their daughter too, and they blessed her to become a son named Sudyumna, so that Manu’s line would go on.

Through her union with Budha, the son of Candra, Ilā bore Purūravas. In male form Sudyumna fathered three more sons, including Utkala and Gaya.

Manu also fathered nine sons himself: Ikshvāku, Nābhaga, Dhṛshṇu, Śaryāti, Narishyat, Prāṃśu, Nābhāgārishṭa, Karūsha and Pṛshadhra. The eldest, Ikshvāku, received the central kingdom (Madhyadeśa). From him came the great Sūryavaṃśa of Ayodhyā, the line of Rāma. (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapters 9–10, 15)

The phala of hearing this narrative

Whoever hears this account of Sūrya’s children, or thinks on it, is freed from all dangers and gains great kīrti (fame). (Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 9)

Sources

• Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 9 (Vaivasvata Manu, Yama, Yamī and the birth of the children)
• Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapters 9–10, 15 (the line of Vaivasvata Manu and Ikshvāku)