Sūrya

Hindu solar deity; ancient Vedic god (Ṛgveda 1.50). Father of Karṇa by Kuntī in the structurally tragic pre-marriage conception. Conferred the kavacha and kuṇḍala on his son at birth — the divine armor and earrings that made Karṇa invulnerable until Indra extracted them in Vana Parva 308. In other genealogies father of Yama, Yamunā, Manu (the progenitor of humanity), and the Aśvinī twins. Major medieval Sūrya temples at Konārk, Modhera, and Martand.

Children

• Karṇa
• Vaivasvata Manu
• Nāsatya
• Sugriva
• Yama
• Yamī

Domains

• sun and light

Powers

• Grants boons to devotees
• Radiates blinding light and scorching heat

Epithets

• आदित्य
• सविता
• विवस्वत्
• मार्तण्ड
• भास्कर
• दिवाकर
• सहस्ररश्मि

Relations

• lover: Kuntī
• father of: Karṇa

Sources

• Ṛgveda 1.50 (the Sūrya hymn); Mahabharata Vana Parva 290-291; Bhāgavata Purāṇa