[Advaita-l] Sun Worship

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste Satish,

Dhanyavadaha. Why Samba did not go to South India but to Iran to get
Saura Archakas? Probably  South Indian Sauras were deeper in Tantric
worship than Vedic? I saw some Surya Yantras in Google Images for
Puja.

On Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 10:38 AM, Satish Arigela <satisharigela at yahoo.com> wrote:
> This is copy paste of an article by someone I know closely.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In bR^ihatsamhita 60.19 varAhamihira states that sUrya should be worshipped by
> installing idols of his and they should be worshipped by specialized priests
> called magAchAryas. This is corroborated by the bhavishya purANa chapter 139
> that narrates the following tale (a critical reconstruction of it):
> kR^ishNa, the hero of the yadus married jAMbavati, the daughter of the bear-king
> jAmbavAn. Their son was the valiant sAmba. He went to the banks of the river
> chandrabhAga and constructed temple in the honor of sUrya. No local brAhmaNa
> knew of the mysteries of his worship and hence could not take up priesthood at
> the temple. So sAMba sought help of gauramukha, the adviser of the yadu chief,
> ugrasena. gauramukha asked him to go to shakadvipa and obtain a special class of
> priests called magAchAryas to worship sUrya. saMba said:" pray, tell me Oh
> brAhmaNa what are the antecedents of these worshippers of the sun. gauramukha
> narrated: "The first of the brahmins amidst the shakhas was called sujihva. He
> founded a gotra termed the mihira gotra. He had a daughter of the name
> nikShubhA. sUrya was enamoured by her and impregnated her. Thus she gave birth
> to jarashabda who was the founding father of all the magachAryas. They are
> distinguished by the sacred girdle called the avyanga that they wear around
> their waist". saMba there upon called on kR^ishNa to send him garuDa and flying
> on his back he landed in shaka dvIpa. He collected the magAchAryas, brought them
> back to bhArata and installed them as priests of his sUrya temple.
> The Idol of sUrya should be constructed thusly: He should have a human form with
> a solar corona placed behind him. He should be on a chariot with the horses
> standing for the seven solar rays. He should hold a discus and trident in two
> arms, and lotuses in the other two. His feet should be covered by boots upto the
> knees. His waist should bear the avyanga.


-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh