Adityas

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Adityas ( Sanskrit आदित्य Āditya , literally: belonging to Aditi ) are a group of deities in Indian mythology . The number and names are indicated differently in the various scriptures. The Adityas embody the different principles of rule and the world. They are regarded as deities who were not based on natural phenomena, but on ethical and social terms, whereby they are also seen as the personification of Dharma , the cosmic and social laws. In contemporary Hinduism , apart from Vishnu , they are of little importance. Her mother is the goddess Aditi , with whom they are often called together. Just like their mother Aditi, the Adityas can free from sin, tightness, chaos and ignorance.

The Vedas usually name Varuna as the leader of the Adityas, which is why he is also called the Aditya himself . The Rigveda is one of the six Adyitas Mitra , Aryaman , Bhaga , Varuna, Daksha and Amsa on, but usually they appear as seven Adityas anonymous. At one point the divine ancestor of humans, Martanda , is added as the eighth Aditya, who as the son of Aditi did not go to the gods, but was supposed to reproduce and thus became mortal. In the Taittiriya Brahmana, however, Daksha and Martanda are not mentioned, instead Dhatar , Indra and Vivasvat appear as Adityas . Finally, in Satapatha Brahmana there are twelve Adityas.

In early Vedic times, Varuna and Mitra in particular were regarded as Asuras , originally gods who were later degraded to "demons". They can dispose of Maya and thereby determine the cosmic order ( RTA ) and the moral order of the people, as their guardians they were also considered to be. They see through the character traits of human beings and, under their guidance, deviations are avoided, they hate untruth and punish sins. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad reports only 33 gods, of which twelve are Adityas and who represent the principles of rulership as regulating forces.

At the latest, the post-Vedic scriptures usually give the number of Adityas as twelve: Aryaman ('the hospitable, the stranger'), Bhaga ('the giver'), Daksha ('the skilled one', sometimes in his place Dhatar, also Dhatri) , Mitra ('friend'), Varuna ('who binds'), Amsa ('the generous, tolerant'), Tvashtri ('the designer'), Savitri ('the driver'), Pushan ('the breadwinner'), Saktra ('the mighty'), Vivasvat ('the shining one') and Vishnu ('the one who works, the all-pervading'). The list also has deviations. Daksha is the father of Aditi in Vishnupurana and the listing of the Adityas as their sons contains dhuti instead of Daksha.

The twelve Adityas are assigned to different aspects of the sun over the course of twelve months. They were also seen as protectors of the heavenly stars and as defenders against evil, chaos, ignorance and diseases. They are described as multi-eyed, golden, luminous and gods of light, although they do not represent any particular form of light. Her father is sometimes called Kashyapa in post-Vedic literature . Aditya is also one of the names of the sun god Surya . Within the various divine classes of the Vedas, the Adityas are counted among the heavenly deities.

literature

  • Volker Moeller: Āditya . In: Hans Wilhelm Haussig (Ed.): Gods and Myths of the Indian Subcontinent (= Dictionary of Mythology . Department 1: The ancient civilized peoples. Volume 5). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-12-909850-X , pp. 31-32.
  • Aditi, Adityas. In: Rachel Storm: Encyclopedia of Eastern Mythology. Reichelsheim 2000.
  • Aditi, Adityas. In: Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1999.
  • Varuna and the rest of the Adityas. In: Jan Gonda: Veda and older Hinduism (= religions of mankind. Volume 11). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1960.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Aditi, Adityas. In: Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1999.
  2. ↑ Michael Witzel , Toshifumi Gotō: Rig-Veda. The sacred knowledge. First and second circle of songs . Verlag der Weltreligionen, Frankfurt 2007, ISBN 3-458-70001-3 , pp. 452–453.
  3. ↑ Swami Harshananda: Hindu Gods and Goddesses . Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras-600004, p. 7.
  4. ↑ Varuna and the rest of the Adityas. In: Jan Gonda: Veda and older Hinduism (= religions of mankind. Volume 11). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1960.
  5. ↑ Rigveda 2.27 de sa 
  6. ↑ Rigveda 10.72 de sa 
  7. ↑ Taittiriya Brahmana 1,1,9.
  8. ↑ Volker Moeller: Āditya . In: Hans Wilhelm Haussig (Ed.): Gods and Myths of the Indian Subcontinent (= Dictionary of Mythology. Department 1: The ancient civilized peoples. Volume 5). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-12-909850-X , p. 31.
  9. ↑ Rigveda 2.27 de sa 
  10. ↑ Rigveda 7.52 de sa 
  11. ↑ Rigveda 7.25 de sa 
  12. ↑ Alain Daniélou : Le polythéisme hindou . Buchet / Chastel, 1982. Part 2.II, 2.V.
  13. ^ Horace Hayman Wilson : The Vishńu Puráńa: a system of Hindu mythology and tradition. Punthi Pustak, 1840. p. 122 ( online ) and p. 234, footnote 2 ( online ).
  14. ^ Aditi, Adityas. In: Rachel Storm: Encyclopedia of Eastern Mythology. Reichelsheim 2000.
  15. ↑ For example Mahabharata  12,340 sa 
  16. ↑ Volker Moeller: Āditya . In: Hans Wilhelm Haussig (Ed.): Gods and Myths of the Indian Subcontinent (= Dictionary of Mythology. Department 1: The ancient civilized peoples. Volume 5). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-12-909850-X , p. 32.
  17. ^ Aditi, Adityas. In: Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1999.