Ancient Wisdom 1: The Importance of Sun!

In these series of posts I will talk about what were some of the beliefs of the ancient societies specially ancient India.

Many of the beliefs which were earlier dismissed as superstition have now been proven to be true and have been found to have solid scientific basis.

Relevance of Sun across all Ancient Civilizations!

In this article I will be focusing on why Sun played such a pivotal role in all ancient civilizations and was worshipped by almost all ancient societies.

Some of the main civilizations that worshipped the Sun, and the names they denoted to Sun are the following:

• Egyptians- Atum

• Inca- Inti

• Germanic- Sol

• Vedic- Surya

• Greek- Helios

• Norse- Baldur

All these ancient civilizations had different deities controlling different aspects of life and Sun played a central character and was a father figure amongst the other gods.

While the other ancient belief systems are not followed today, Hiduism is the only exception where the ancient Sun god Surya is still revered even in the modern times today.

What Strengths were Attributed to Sun?

While each civilization did practice some unique beliefs and rituals related to Sun, there were some common attributes which were followed by most of these civilizations.

They all considered Sun as the most powerful of the deities and believed him to be sustainer of all life forms on Earth. The ancient kings were considered descendants of the Sun.

Emphasis on Surya in Hinduism!

While other civilizations no longer exist we do not have much details about their beliefs around Sun but as Hinduism is still widely practiced in India we can easily see which practices are still followed today.

• All Celestial bodies like Sun, Moon, Mars, Jupiter are revered in form of Divine deities. Sun is considered the central and strongest of them all.

• Sun is considered the sustaining energy behind all life forms

• People worship Sun everyday and morning and evening worship aligned to sunrise and sunset are considered important in most of the households even today

• Many people perform an exercise called Surya Namaskar which translates to giving salutation to the Sun

• Sun movement has been tracker since ancient times and summer solstice is celebrated in all parts of India

• Solar eclipse is considered a bad omen and people avoid going outside during the eclipse

Dismissal of Sun as a Pagan God!

With the rise of monotheistic religions like Judaism, Christianity and Islam there was a clear misalignment with beliefs of the older cultures. Sun worship was regarded as a pagan belief which was not relevant in the modern world.

With time most of the ancient belief systems disappeared and Hinduism is the only one that survived. With the start of colonial era in India the Christian rulers tried to convince the native Indians that their ancient belief systems were of no use in the modern times. Despite this indoctrination that ran for over 200 years the belief in Sun still somehow survived. Though it is true that compared to earlier times the percentage of people in India who still have faith in old customs has come down drastically.

What Modern Science Says about Sun!

Despite the ridicule that Sun worshipping societies had to bear for so much time it is ironic that all recent research and advancements in science have shown that all the beliefs that were being called Pagan nonsense are being proved right.

• Sun’s rays are used by plants through photosynthesis process to create their food for growth

• Sunlight is the best source of getting vitamin D for humans and the best time to receive it is morning and evening. So those ancient rituals did have some sense

• Movement of Sun controls weather, seasons, ocean current, climate and basically everything that affects our natural surroundings

• Looking at the Sun during solar eclipse can blind you and I won’t be surprised if more findings will be released in the future about the effects during a solar eclipse

• The more scientists understand about Sun the more they find out about its role in the solar system and beyond

Conclusion!

In summary I think the Sun is a good example that what our ancients believed had a rationale behind it. I know that many people will say that why did they consider it a God in human form but here we need to learn to differentiate the symbolism and the intention.

All beliefs and rituals of ancient societies relied heavily on symbolism so it is easier for people to grasp and adopt.

Om Namah Shivay!