Dawns and Day Sun

2017

The article deals with a textology question in Ninth Epode by Horace. The verses 17–18 gives as follows: adhuc/ad hunc frementesverteruntb is mille equos / Galli canentesCaesarem. The usual understanding of the noun hunc is to him, i. e. to Marc Antony, mentioned in vv. 11–13. Meanwhile the previous line has a masculine noun sol. In my opinion, the author of the reading ad hunc might have understood it as ad solem (orientem) – «the Galatians turned their horses toward the rising sun, i. e. to the East». It is quite possible, that the phrases olaspicitconopium (‘the Sun saw a mosquito net’) describes sunrise – the time usual for observing the enemies’ arrangement in ancient armies. Ключевые слова: битва при Акции, Гораций, рукописная традиция Горация, эподы Горация.

On the Vedic Symbolism, 2023

After a thorough study of the hymns, Sri Aurobindo discovered that the content, imagery and even the manner in which the Vedic Rishis expressed the truths belong to the same system of spiritual knowledge.

This work studies different cultures regarding cults, myths and various religious beliefs. Its focus lies in examining the significance of the sun and its influence on shaping different cultures and the consolidation of their religious attitudes and trends. The people of antiquity did not fail to notice the daily movement of the sun in the sky, from its rise in the east to its setting in the west. Moreover, already in ancient civilizations people were aware of the connection between the change of the seasons and the movement of the sun. Solar deities, unlike territorial gods, dominate vast geographical space. It rises at one end of the cosmos and sets at the opposite end, as it encircles the whole globe. The rays of the sun illuminate the ground with no consideration to political-artificial borders, and hence the sun contributes, in human consciousness, to the elimination of 'earthly' boundaries, and to the formation of global rule. The sun's rays illuminating the ground are like a symbol of ownership of the entire space.

Berliner Indologische Studien/Berlin Indological Studies, Vol. 23, pp. 143-156, 2017

Solar metaphors largely permeate the early Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist literature. In such texts, the Buddha is often designated by the epithet ādicca- or ādityabandhu, or “relative/brother/kinsman of the Sun.” In this paper, I present a few textual examples to define precisely how the Buddha is said to relate to the Sun, in one aspect or another.

Although sun worship or veneration is culturally multi cultural and multi-religious spanning the entire spectrum of Religions especially ancient ones it has been used frequently as a term for "pagan" religion, it is, in fact, relatively rare. Though almost every culture uses solar motifs, only a relatively few cultures (Egyptian, Indo-European, and Meso-American) developed solar religions. All of these groups had in common a well-developed urban civilization with a strong ideology of sacred kingship. In all of them the imagery of the sun as the ruler of both the upper and the lower worlds that he majestically visits on his daily round is prominent. In Hinduism, Surya means Sun in Indic literature. Above: Sunrise in Uttarakhand, India Surya as an important heavenly body appears in various Indian astronomical texts in Sanskrit, such as the 5th century Aryabhatiya by Aryabhata, the 6th century Romaka by Latadeva and Panca Siddhantika by Varahamihira, the 7th century Khandakhadyaka by Brahmagupta and the 8th century Sisyadhivrddida by Lalla These texts present Surya and various planets and estimate the characteristics of the respective planetary motion. [51] Other texts such as Surya Siddhanta dated to have been complete sometime between the 5th century and 10th century present their chapters on various planets with deity mythologies. The manuscripts of these texts exist in slightly different versions, present Surya-and planets-based calculation and its relative motion to earth. These vary in their data, suggesting that the text were open and revised over their lives. For example, the 10th century BCE Hindu scholars had estimated the sidereal length of a year as follows, from their astronomical studies, with slightly different results: [55] Sanskrit texts: How many days in a year? Hindu text Estimated length of the sidereal year Surya Siddhanta 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, 36.56 seconds Paulica Siddhanta 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, 36 seconds Paracara Siddhanta 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, 31.50 seconds Arya Siddhanta 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, 30.84 seconds Laghu Arya Siddhanta 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, 30 seconds Siddhanta Shiromani 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, 9 seconds The oldest of these is likely to be the Surya Siddhanta, while the most accurate is the Siddhanta Shiromani. Surya or the Sun God is a God we see every day and without whom we would not have day or night or life. He rides on a chariot driven by Aruna and accompanied by Usha and Pratyusha who have arrows to fight against darkness.

2014

After a brief historical introduction to the cults, this paper investigates what are perceived to be two solar attributes – “the eye” and “the hand” - in the imagery and the sacred texts of the sun cults under scrutiny: the Great Hymn to Aten, ascribed to King Akhenaten (14th century BCE); the hymns to the Indian sun god Surya in the Rig Veda (1200-1400 BCE); and Roman Emperor Julian’s Hymn to King Helios (4th century CE).

The Volatile World of Sovereignty, 2015

In the author’s opinion, although solar images are used in the hymns to depict the three well-known ancient Vedic ascetic figures of the Brahmacārin, Keśin and vrātya, any interpretation that considers these compositions as mere solar hymns actually betrays their sense. This also seems to hold true for AVŚ 13.4. Thus, by focusing on the structural affinity between hymn 13.4 and the Ekavrātya hymn (AVŚ 15.1), the author shows that these figures of ascetics share the same goal of reaching the status, power and knowledge of a God and that the system of reciprocal cross-references supposed to be crucially involved in the Brahmacārin and the Ekavrātya AV hymns has to be extended to hymn 13.4.