sū́rya m. the sun or its deity (in the Veda the name Sūrya is generally distinguished from Savitṛ [q.v.], and denotes the most concrete of the solar gods, whose connection with the luminary is always present to the poet's mind ; in [Nir. vii, 5] he is regarded as one of the original Vedic triad, his place being in the sky, while that of Agni is on the earth, and that of Indra is in the atmosphere; ten hymns in the [RV.] are entirely in praise of Sūrya, e.g. [i, 50], [i, 115] &c., also, [AV. xiii, 2]; he moves through the sky in a chariot drawn by seven ruddy horses or mares [see saptāśva, harit, harid-aśva]; in the later mythology Sūrya is identified with Savitṛ as one of the 12 Ādityas or emblems of the Sun in the 12 months of the year, and his seven-horsed chariot is said to be driven by Aruṇa or the Dawn as its charioteer, who is represented without legs; the Sun, whether named Sūrya or Vivasvat, has several wives See sūryā below), [RV.] &c. &c. (cf. [IW. 11]; [16] &c.; [RTL. 341])
a symbolical expression for the number ‘twelve’ (in allusion to the sun in the 12 signs of the zodiac), [Jyot.]; [Hcat.]
the swallow-wort (either Calotropis or Asclepias Gigantea, = arka), [L.]
N. of the son of Bali, [L.]
of a Dānava, [VahniP.]
of an astronomer (= sūrya-dāsa), [Cat.]
epithet of Śiva, [MBh.]
sū́rya mfn. solar (perhaps w.r. for saurya), [Jyot.][For cognate words See under 2. svár.]
&c. See p. 1243, col. 1.