Ādityas
Sign in to savethumb|An 11th–century sculpture of Surya with eleven other Adityas depicted at the top Adityas ( ) refers to a class of Hindu deities. They are usually presented as solar deities, and the offspring of the Goddess Aditi. The name Aditya, in the singular, is taken to refer to the sun god Surya. Generally, Adityas are twelve in number and consist of Vivasvan (Surya), Aryaman, Tvashtr, Savitr, Bhaga, Dhatr, Mitra, Varuna, Amsha, Pushan, Indra and Vishnu (in the form of Vamana)..
~10 min read
Article
12 sectionsContents
- Sun worship
- Characterisation
- Mentions in Hindu scriptures
- Surya Namaskaram
- Sun worship festivals
- Names of solar deities
- Aditya as nakshatra devatas
- See also
- Further reading
- Notes
- References
- External links
thumb|An 11th–century sculpture of Surya with eleven other Adityas depicted at the top Adityas ( ) refers to a class of Hindu deities. They are usually presented as solar deities, and the offspring of the Goddess Aditi. The name Aditya, in the singular, is taken to refer to the sun god Surya. Generally, Adityas are twelve in number and consist of Vivasvan (Surya), Aryaman, Tvashtr, Savitr, Bhaga, Dhatr, Mitra, Varuna, Amsha, Pushan, Indra and Vishnu (in the form of Vamana)..
They appear in the Rig Veda, where they are 6–8 in number, all male. The number increases to 12 in the Brahmanas. The Mahabharata and the Puranas mention the sage Kashyapa as their father. In each month of the year a different Aditya is said to shine.