Hindhu Mythology: Sun creates life, death and water

Brush up Your Hindhu Mythology:

According to Indian legend, Surya, the Sun God, was married to Sanghya (consciousness). The two had three children Vasvat Manu, Yama and Yamuna. Sanghya loved her husband deeply, but the light that radiated from him was too strong for her eyes, and so she closed them whenever he approached her. Surya was greatly disconcerted by this, as he thought that his wife did not reciprocate his love for her.

One day, Sanghya left their home, leaving behind her body double Chaaya (shadow). For some time, she lived with her father. At one point during her stay, she went to the mountains to pray.

It was at this time that Surya realized that the woman living with him was not his wife. When he left home to look for Sanghya, he saw her - she had taken the form of a mare and was praying. So he turned into a horse and appeared next to her. Even now, his light was too strong for Sanghya and she finally told him so. Glad that this was the reason she always closed her eyes whenever he appeared next to him, Surya decided to divide his light into 16 parts - out of which appeared Earth and the other planets - until Surya was left with one sixteenth of his original light. Then Sanghya came back to live with him and gave birth to twins - the Ashwini Kumars.

But while Sanghya had been away, Surya had other children by her body double Chaaya. One of them was named Shani, or Saturn, who also found a place among the planets. Vasvat Manu, Surya's first child, was also the first man. Yama was the impartial Lord of Death, while their daughter Yamuna is the holy river. The twins, the Ashwini Kumars, are the healers of the gods.

This legend about Surya and the planets has a wonderful symbolic meaning. Sunlight, together with consciousness, gives birth to life, death and water (Yamuna). The planets were also once part of the sun's light and were born from it.