Solar culture and Sun worshippers in Pragjyotishpur

 Khagendra Nath Dev Sarma

(President, Brahman Mahasabha, Asom)

In ancient days, Assam was known as Pragjyotishpur and later as Kamrup. In the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, the name of this kingdom is mentioned. During the days of the Puranas, this kingdom was known as Kamrupa. But in the Kalika Purana, both names are seen simultaneously.

The solar culture is found to be the oldest culture in India, on the basis of evidence available in many more literary works. In ancient India, the sun was worshipped, especially in the Helio Lithik age, with stars with rays, swastika, and a wheel as a symbol of the sun. “As regards the Sun Cult, we do not find any reference to a temple of the Sun in the Orthodox literature before the 5th or 6th century AD. For the first time, there are references to a Sun Temple established by Samba at Mulasthana (Multan) on the bank of the river Chandrabhaga in Samba, Bhabishya, and other Puranas. The temple at Multan had been built during the Saka-Kushan period (2nd century BC–2nd century AD). The tradition of public worship of the sun in temples was introduced in India by the Magas, as attested by the literary references. From the archaeological evidence, it is clear that many temples with the Sun-icons had been constructed in India under the influence of the Magi priests. The Puranas mentioned above also referred to other Sun temples at Konark and Kalapriya established by the Magis” (B.K. Sarkar). Hence, Surjya is another principal god of sectarian Hinduism, and judging from the number of extant images, he seems to have been fairly popular in ancient Assam. The Surjya is considered to be the presiding deity of the Saura Sect of smarta affiliation. The Surjya Vipra/Davajna Brahmanas of Assam are found to be Sauras as seen and as smarta in the sense “vedic, followers of Sukla Yajurved/Kanna Sakha”.

According to Golokeswar Baruah, IAS, in Pragjyotishpur, the Sun Worshippers/Daivajna Brahmans have been living since before the time of the Mahabharata War, 1000 BC. Pragjyotish, of the Mahabharata fame, is a purely astrological name. It is believed that this name was given by the Daivajnas to the country because no one else would come up with such an astrological name for the country. Hence, the solar culture starts at this point in time in Pragjyotish. Here, the sun was worshipped in three ways: 1. Param Brahma, 2. King of the Planets, and 3. Surjya Narayan. The sun god is worshipped as a destroyer of all ailments, including leprosy. It is very clear that the entire atmosphere of Pragjyotishpur was under the cloud of the solar culture. The very name Pragjyotishpur, the land of eastern astrology, points to the cultivation of this branch of study.

The solar culture is very closely related to the study of astrology, as the calculations in astrology are based on the location and position of the sun during the 24 hours (from morning until the next day) while the earth moves around the sun. This is very relevant too when calculating the lagna of a newly born child in the preparation of his or her horoscope by the astrologer. It is found that Shree Shree Sankardeva was a descendant of Surjyabar who was born out of the boon of the sun god received by his father Rajdhar (Guru Charita).

“The antiquity of the name Pragjyotisha can’t be traced earlier than Sankhyayana Grhya Samgraha, which mentions it as a sacred country associated with the solar cult.” “The interpretation of the name as a place of eastern astrology is, however, justified by a number of references to its association with the solar cult and planetary worship. Udayacala of the Samhitas and the Puranas was none other than Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa. The archaeological remains also point to the prevalence of the solar cult, and the existing temple of the Navagrahas in Guwahati and Surjya pahar in Goalpara justify the origin of the name of the land. The Kalika Purana’s evidence that Brahma made the first calculation of the stars in Prajyotisha points to the early importance of this place in astrology and astronomy. This is confirmed by a number of Assamese manuscripts dealing with these subjects. There is a grain of truth in the statement that the first astronomical observation was made in Navagraha. The Markandya, Kalika Puran, and other puranas point to the prevalence of the solar cult. It is therefore likely that the name Pragjyotisa is only a relic of the prevalence of the solar cult. (HCPA/27).

This sun cult in ancient Assam has great antiquity. The scholars have observed that the Magian culture existed in Pragjyotishpur, and the Magis were largely responsible for the growth of the solar cult and planetary worship in the land. The earliest reference to Pragjyotisha as a centre of sun worship is found in the Grhya Sutras. In the Sankhyana Grhyasamgraha, it is said that a student should visit the sacred country of Pragjyotisha before the sun rises (tato niskramya Pragjyotisam punyadesam upagamya anudita aditya). Here, Pragjyotisha is the same as the land of sunrise (Udayacala) of Markandaya Purana (58). Udayacala was another name for Pragjyotisha-Kamrup, where, according to the same purana (109) stood a temple of the sun. The same reference is found in the Brihatsamhita, based on the geography of the Parasara tantra of the 1st century AD. The evidence proves that Pragjyotisha-Kamrup attained the celebrity status in the sun worship from the early times (source: HCPA). The Markandeya Purana (66), while referring to the provision of the solar cult in Kamrup, states that Svarocis gave to his son, Vijaya, a noble city on the hill in Kamrup (source: HCPA).

“Among the other Brahmanical deities worshipped in ancient Assam, Surjya, or Sun, occupies a very prominent position. Reference has been made in the Markandaya Purana (109) that when King Rajyabardhana became old and retired to the forest, the Brahmans of his kingdom started austerities for propitiating the sun to get the king restored to youth. Then a Gandharva named Sudaman appeared and advised the Brahmanas, ‘If you desire, dvijas, to propitiate the sun, there is a forest named Guruvisala frequented by the Siddhas in the very mountainous Kamrup; go there in haste and perform your propitiations there; you shall obtain all your desires. The Brahmanas accordingly came to Kamrup and saw a beautiful shrine of the sun. They propitiated the god and got the desired results. The Taranath history of Buddhism in India contains an important account of Arya Dhitika, a Buddhist monk who flourished as early as the 3rd century BC. At this time, there lived in Kamrup a Brahmana named Siddha, who used to worship the sun. Dhitika, with his magic power, appeared before him as the sun and delivered sermons with a view to converting him to Buddhism. The Brahmana realised the truth, built a Mahacaitya, and lavishly entertained the Samghas all around. This surely stands as evidence of the popularity of the sun warship in ancient Assam.” (Source: The Comprehensive History of Assam, Vol. I/323.)

“The Kalika Purana refers to two important seats of sun worship. It refers to Ravikhetra, situated on a hill called Tattva to the west of the river Trisrota. This is identified as Shri Suryapahar in the district of Goalpara, which contains a large number of sculptures with iconographical significance. The most prominent one is in the form of a large outer circle containing one smaller inner circle. Within the inner circle, there is a figure of a four-faced deity who may be identified as the god Kashyapa or Prajapati, the father of the suns. Aditi is the consort of Kashyapa, and hence his offspring are known as Adityas. In between the inner circle and the outer circles, there are twelve identical figures arranged around the figure of Kashyapa in the form of lotus petals. These are the figures of twelve Adityas, or twelve suns. The Kalika Purana further refers to the Citra Saila, also called Pakparvata, as a centre of worshipping 9 Grahas, now identified as the Navagraha hill in the city of Guwahati. The present Temple of Navagraha was constructed during the time of Ahom King Rajeswar Singha in Saka in 1674. But on the basis of the date of composition of the Kalika Purana (infra), the tradition of Navagraha worship may be traced back to the 9th or 10th century AD. The antiquity of the sun worship in ancient Assam is testified by another verse of the Kalika Purana (38.121), where Vishnu, after installing Naraka on the throne of Pragjyotisha, says, Son Mahadeva, Brahma, and myself are established in this place, and Candra and Surya also reside here permanently.”(Dr. H.K. Barpujari). “The tradition of astrological studies remains intimately connected with the sun cult of worshipping Surya and the grahas. The name Pragjyotisha may be shown to be connected with the practice of astrology. The Kalika Purana says, “In the early times, Brahma staying here created a star, and that is why the city is called Pragjyotisha (38.123). In light of this, GAIT takes the term Pragjyotisha to mean the city of eastern astrology.” (H. K. Barpujari).

As stated by GAIT sir, the sculptures found in the Surjyapahar may be dated to the 5th or 6th century AD (during the reign of Kumar Bhaskar Verma). “The Adicarita (Sankardeva) gives a description of the prevalence of the cult during the Vaishnava period. The sun worship in Assam was affiliated with the cult of Vishnu at a time when, in all probability, one phase of Buddhist Mahayana was also introduced.” “There are also a few references to the deity in the epigraphs, though no definite invocation is found. In Guwahati grant occurs the expression ‘Aditya Bhattraka’ which no doubt stands for the sun god.” (HCPCA/407).

The worship of the sun is still vogue amongst the Brahman pujaries, for example: at the beginning of the puja ceremony, the Gayatri Mantra jop is done, and at the end of the puja ceremony, the sun arghya and chandra arghya are offered. The Gayatri Mantra is nothing but the power of the sun. In the Navagraha puja and jajna, the sun is first worshipped, and other grahas are worshipped later on. Days, nights, weeks, months, suklapakhya, krishnapakhya, uttarayan, dakhinayan, year, etc. are calculated from the sun only, in relation to the movement of the earth around the sun. All puja and parvana are seen starting on the tithi, on which the sun rises. In the Hindu Jyotish system, no pujas are performed during the night except for some particular pujas like Sivaratri, Lakshmipuja, Kalipuja, and marriage, which are performed at night only. Marriage during the day is strictly restricted by the Jyotish Sastra.

“The prevalence of the solar cult in ancient Assam is widely proved by the existing remains of the temples dedicated to the sun and many icons of the deity found in Dah-parbatiya Gahpur, Suwalkuchi, Mangaldai, Tezpur, Pandu, Sadiya, Sukreswar, Surjyapahar (where 99,999 sivalingas are lying scattered) and other places of the ancient land. R.D. Benerzee noticed a beautiful figure of the deity in a papyrus from the ruins at Tezpur, and on the basis of other remains in the area, he rightly concluded a gigantic Surjya temple existed there.” (HCPA/407).

Kamakhya temple in the Nilachal hill was found as a place of sun worship, e.g., Matangi Devi is worshipped as the in-charge goddess of the sun, Kamala Devi as the goddess of the moon (candra), Bogala Devi as the goddess of the mangala, Tripura Sundari as the goddess of Budha, Tara as the goddess of Brihaspati, Bhubaneswari as the goddess of the sukra, Dakshina Kali as the goddess of Sani, Chinnamasta as the goddess of Rahu, and Dhumawati as the goddess of Ketu graha, etc. Here, all the goddesses are being worshipped in the respective temples situated at Kamakhya temple, surrounding the respective grahas. There are other places of the sun temples as were found in the early periods: Negheriting, Malinithan, Lekabali, Dabaka Nagaon, Kandali Rajya Nagaon, Sadiya, and Jaysagar. Surjya Mandir, Surjya-Madhab Darang, Hoigrib Madhab Mandir, Lauhitya, Janardan Mandir Guwahati, etc. (source: Surjya and Surjya Vipra)

We have discussed above the solar culture observed in various places, but we have to notice: who are the sun worshippers? Most of the scholars are of the opinion that the solar culture was brought by the Magis to Pragjyotisha (source: HCPA: P.C. Choudhury/Dr. H.K. Barpujari, Comprehensive History of Assam, Vol. I).

In Assam, especially in the Brahmaputra Valley, there are two categories of Brahmans of equal status. They are generally known as the Surjya Vipras and the Chandra Vipras. The Surjya Vipras are generally known as Daivik Brahmans, Daivajna Brahmans, etc., while the Chandra Vipras are known as Paitrik Brahmanas. “The goods and materials offered to gods in the shraddha ceremony are generally received by the Surjya Vipras. The duties and functions of the Daivik Brahmans and the Surjya Vipras are narrated in the preface of the Brahman sanghita by Kashinath Dev Sarma, Siddhanta Ratna, as follows: to perform Jag jajna, Doul, Durgotsav Kalipuja, Vishnu puja, etc., including worshipping of all gods and goddesses; to receive the shares of the pancha devatas in the shraddha; to receive the shares of the Vasundhara Saurasha matrika puja; to receive the shares of the Bishwa deva in the Basanta puja; and to get into all the hindu people in the DIKSHA mantra. On the other hand, the duties and functions of the Paitrik Brahmans and Chandra Vipras are to perform the Nandimukh shraddha, Dasha sanskar shraddha, or ekodista shraddha, to perform the last rites of the deceased, to receive some offerings thereon, and to receive some money on prayachitta. The shares of the pretas, i.e., “Amannadi kanda,” and the shares of “the pindadi kanda,” are to be due to the Paitrik Brahmans or the Chandra Vipras.” (Surjya’ by Dr. N. P. Bordalai, 2nd ed., P-111).“They (the Surjya Vipras) are the descendants of Sakaldwipiya Brahmins Sakaldwipiya history, but other Brahmin clans consider them to be a lower rank, which is not based on facts.” (Source: Sharma, Suresh Kant; Sharma, Usha, eds. (2005). Discovery of North-East India; geography, history, culture, religion, politics, sociology, science, education, and economy, North-East India, 5 (Mittal-p. 226)