Aditi’s Stotra to Sūrya (Brahma Purāṇa)
Aditi Kṛta Sūrya Stotra · aditi kṛta sūrya stotra, “the stotra to Sūrya sung by Aditi”
Aditi’s Stotra to Sūrya is the praise that Aditi, mother of the devas, offered to Bhagavān Sūrya when the daityas and dānavas had seized the three worlds. It is found in the Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 32, where Brahmā tells the munis how Sūrya, the eternal mass of tejas, came to be born from a mother’s womb. Aditi praised him day and night without food, as the bearer of the supreme tejas, the Īśvara of all radiances, the form made of the three Vedas and the form beyond them described by Oṃkāra. Sūrya appeared, granted her darśana, and gave the vara that he would be born as her son with a thousandth part of his tejas. That son was Mārtaṇḍa, whose gaze burned the dānavas to ash.
The setting
The munis said to Brahmā: “You told us Divākara is eternal and beyond the guṇas, and that he was born with twelve forms. How was that mass of tejas in a woman’s womb? Remove this doubt for us.” Brahmā answered. Daksha had sixty daughters, Aditi, Diti, Danu, Vinatā and the others, and he gave thirteen of them to Kaśyapa. The children of Aditi are the devas, and the children of Diti the daityas, and they fought one another. Grieving that the three worlds were in turmoil, Aditi began the ārādhanā of Sūrya.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 32
The stotra
Aditi praised him thus, in the text’s order:
- “Namaskāra to you who bear the supreme tejas, subtle, holy and pure.”
- “I praise you, the Īśvara of the radiant ones, the support of all radiances, eternal, who took a fierce form for the good of the world.”
- “O Grahapati, master of the grahas! I bow to you, who take a fierce form for eight months, the months of taking, to draw up the essence that is water.”
- “Your form, joined with Agni and Soma, made of the three guṇas, made of the three Vedas, Ṛg, Yajus and Sāma, scorches the universe. Namaskāra to you.”
- “O eternal one! Namaskāra to that form of yours which is beyond the three Vedas, described by Oṃkāra, both gross and subtle.”
So she praised Bhagavān Sūrya day and night, taking no food.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 32
The darśana and the vara
After a long time Bhagavān Sūrya appeared before her as a flaming form that filled the whole sky and came down to the earth. Greatly frightened, she praised him again: “O Divākara, first of the whole world! I cannot look at your form. Be gracious, so that I can see you. Protect my children, who are your devotees.”
Then Bhagavān Sūrya came out of his orb of tejas and granted darśana in a form, red like copper heated in fire, and said to her as she bowed: “Ask for the vara you wish.” Falling on her knees, she said: “O Graharāja, be gracious to me and to my sons. The mighty daityas and dānavas have seized the three worlds and enjoy the shares of the yajña themselves. Be born from your own aṃśa as their brother and destroy those enemies, so that my sons may again enjoy the shares of the yajña and be masters of the three worlds. You are renowned as the one who takes away the sorrow of those who say ‘refuge’.”
Sūrya, the one who takes up the waters, said: “I am pleased with your tapas. With a thousandth part of my tejas I will be born as your son and will destroy all who are enemies of your children.” He withdrew, and Aditi ended her tapas.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 32
The birth of Mārtaṇḍa
After a year Sūrya entered Aditi‘s womb as the ray named Sushumnā, and she kept vratas such as kṛcchra and cāndrāyaṇa. Kaśyapa, angered, asked whether by constant fasting she would kill the child in her womb. She answered, “This egg of the womb is not killed; it will be the killer of enemies,” and released the embryo, which blazed with tejas. Kaśyapa bowed and praised it, and a form red like a lotus petal came forth. A voice from the sky said: “Because you said this egg was killed (mārita aṇḍa), he will be known as Mārtaṇḍa, and he will slay the asuras who seize the shares of the yajña.” When Indra called the asuras to battle, the dānavas, looked upon by Mārtaṇḍa, lost their tejas and were burned to ash, and the devas received their shares of the yajña again.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 32
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 32