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Surya: the sun god, his mantras and his temples
सूर्य
Surya is the sun itself, worshipped as a god: the one deity everyone can see. The simplest Surya mantra is Om Suryaya namah, "homage to Surya", said at dawn while pouring water towards the rising sun, and the most famous, the Gayatri, is a Vedic prayer to the sun as Savitar. He rides a chariot drawn by seven horses, gives his name to Sunday, and is greeted every morning by people standing in rivers and on rooftops, and by yoga students in the twelve steps of the Sun Salutation.
Story
Hanuman once tried to swallow him, taking the sun for a fruit. On Chhath, families stand waist-deep in rivers at sunset and sunrise to offer him water. It is a rare festival where the setting sun is worshipped too.
Festivals
✅ Surya mantras and what they mean
Most Surya prayers are said facing the sun at sunrise, often while offering water from a small pot or cupped hands (arghya).
- Om Suryaya namah — "Homage to Surya." The short everyday mantra, said once or counted on a mala of 108 beads.
- Gayatri mantra — From the Rigveda (3.62.10), attributed to the sage Vishvamitra and addressed to Savitar, the sun as the power that brings things to life: Om bhur bhuvah svah, tat savitur varenyam, bhargo devasya dhimahi, dhiyo yo nah prachodayat. Roughly: "We meditate on the radiant light of the divine sun; may it inspire our minds."
- The twelve names — In Surya Namaskar as taught in the Sivananda tradition, each of the twelve steps carries one name of the sun: Om Mitraya namah, Ravaye, Suryaya, Bhanave, Khagaya, Pushne, Hiranyagarbhaya, Marichaye, Adityaya, Savitre, Arkaya, Bhaskaraya (each followed by namah). They mean, in turn, the friend of all, the cause of change, the one who stirs activity, who sheds light, who moves through the sky, who nourishes, the golden womb, the rays, the son of Aditi, the giver of life, the one worthy of praise, the giver of lustre.
- Aditya Hridayam — "The heart of the sun": a hymn of thirty verses in the Ramayana, taught by the sage Agastya to Rama on the battlefield before his fight with Ravana. It is recited for strength and courage.
Who Surya is
Surya is one of the oldest gods in Hinduism, praised in the Rigveda and still one of the five deities of the Smarta tradition's household worship. He has many names: Ravi, Bhaskara, Aditya (son of the goddess Aditi), Savitar, Vivasvan, Martanda. He is also one of the Navagraha, the nine heavenly bodies of Hindu astrology, and Sunday, Ravivara, is his day.
His family is large and dramatic. His wife is Saranyu, daughter of the divine craftsman Tvashtar. His children include Yama, the god of death, the river goddess Yamuna, the slow planet Shani, and in the epics two heroes: Karna in the Mahabharata and the monkey king Sugriva in the Ramayana.
For centuries he had great temples of his own. His worship declined around the 13th century, many sun temples were destroyed, and today the most famous survivors, Konark and Modhera, are monuments rather than places of worship. Surya himself never left: he is greeted at every dawn, at home and on the riverbanks.
✅ Symbols and iconography
Look for him over temple doorways and on the outer walls of Shiva and Vishnu temples, not only in his own.
- Chariot and seven horses — The horses are said to stand for the seven colours of light and the seven days of the week; another tradition names them after the seven metres of Vedic verse, Gayatri among them.
- Lotus in both hands — The usual Hindu image: a standing, radiant figure holding a lotus in each hand.
- Boots — Unusually for a Hindu god, old images often show him in tall boots and a northern tunic, as the 6th-century Brihat Samhita prescribes.
Stories
As a child, Hanuman once took the rising sun for a ripe fruit and leapt into the sky to swallow it. In the Mahabharata, the unmarried princess Kunti uses a mantra to call Surya and bears his son Karna, then abandons the baby to the river; Karna grows up the son of a charioteer and becomes one of the greatest warriors of the Kurukshetra war, fighting against his own brothers without knowing it. And in the Ramayana, before the final battle, the sage Agastya teaches Rama the Aditya Hridayam, so that the sun's strength is with him against Ravana.
Sun temples in India
The two most famous are monuments now; for living worship, go to Arasavalli or to a river at Chhath.
Konark, Odisha
Built around 1250 by King Narasimhadeva I, about 35 km from Puri: a temple in the form of Surya's chariot, with immense stone wheels and horses, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The great tower has fallen and the main image is long gone, but the carving that remains is among the finest in India.
Modhera, Gujarat
An 11th-century Chaulukya temple on the Pushpavati river, with a carved assembly hall and a deep stepped tank lined with small shrines. No longer used for worship; protected by the Archaeological Survey of India.
Living sun temples
Arasavalli near Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, one of the oldest sun temples still in worship, which Andhra Pradesh made the centre of a three-day state festival of Ratha Saptami; Suryanar Kovil in Thanjavur district, first of Tamil Nadu's Navagraha temples; the Deo sun temple in Bihar, a magnet for Chhath.
Festivals
[Chhath Puja](/en/festivals/chhath-puja/), six days after Diwali, is his biggest festival: across Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh, and wherever their people live, families fast and stand waist-deep in rivers and ponds to offer water and fruit to the setting sun and, the next morning, to the rising one. It is one of the rare festivals that honours the sun as it sets.
In January, [Makar Sankranti](/en/festivals/makar-sankranti/) marks the sun's turn north and fills the sky with kites, and in Tamil Nadu [Pongal](/en/festivals/pongal/) thanks the sun for the harvest with a clay pot of milk and rice left to boil over. Ratha Saptami, in late January or February, is kept as Surya's birthday.
❓ FAQ
Which mantra is said while offering water to the sun?
The simplest is Om Suryaya namah, said while pouring water towards the rising sun; many recite the Gayatri mantra instead.
What are the 12 Surya mantras?
The twelve names used in Surya Namaskar: Mitra, Ravi, Surya, Bhanu, Khaga, Pushan, Hiranyagarbha, Marichi, Aditya, Savitr, Arka and Bhaskara, each said as Om ... namah.
Who is Surya?
The Hindu sun god, one of the oldest Vedic deities, father of Yama, Yamuna, Shani and Karna, and the god to whom the Gayatri mantra and the Sun Salutation are addressed.
What is Surya Namaskar?
A sequence of about twelve linked yoga poses, the Sun Salutation, dedicated to Surya. As a yoga exercise it was recorded in the early 20th century; some traditions say a name of the sun with each step.
Which is the most famous Surya temple in India?
Konark in Odisha, the 13th-century stone chariot and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For a temple still in daily worship, Arasavalli in Andhra Pradesh.