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The Adityas

Also called: Sons of Aditi, Dvadasha Aditya

The sons of Aditi as a group. The Rigveda gives them six whole hymns, lists six names once (Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Varuna, Daksha, Amsha, RV 2.27.1), counts seven at 9.114.3 and eight at 10.72.8. They are kings, bright, many-eyed, sleepless, who see good and evil in the heart, punish falsehood and shelter the worshipper as birds spread their wings. From the Brahmanas on they are twelve and are identified with the twelve months (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.9.5); in the epics and Puranas they are twelve sons of Kashyapa and Aditi, Vishnu the youngest and greatest, one riding in the sun's chariot each month, and 'Aditya' becomes a name of the sun.

kingship moral order sun months

Sources: Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer; Vedic Mythology, A. A. Macdonell (1897); The Upanishads, tr. F. Max Muller (Sacred Books of the East 1 and 15); The Vishnu Purana, tr. H. H. Wilson (1840); The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer · see The Adityas's web

Relations 5

The Adityas child of

  • Dyaus (God)
    The Adityas are called sons of Dyaus, though their name means sons of Aditi.
  • Aditi (God)
    The name Adityas is formed from their mother's name. The Atharvaveda once gives their mother as Madhukasha, daughter of the Vasus.
  • Daksha (King)
    The Adityas are called 'having Daksha for father' (RV 6.50.2). Macdonell reads this as 'sons of skill', the phrase from which Daksha the father was later made.
  • Kashyapa (Sage)
    In the Vishnu Purana the twelve Adityas are born to Kashyapa and Aditi.

The Adityas rival of

Stories 3

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