Aruna ( sa, अरुण ) is the charioteer of Surya (Sun god) in

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

. He is the elder brother of

Garuda Garuda (Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garuda ...

. Aruna and Garuda are the sons of Vedic sage

Kashyapa Kashyapa ( sa, कश्यप}, ) is a revered Vedic sage of Hinduism., Quote: "Kasyapa (Rudra),(Vedic Seer)..." He is one of the Saptarishis, the seven ancient sages of the ''Rigveda''. Kashyapa is the most ancient and venerated rishi, ...

and his wife

Vinata In Hinduism, Vinata is the mother of Aruna and Garuda. She is one of the daughters of Prajapati Daksha. She is married to Kashyapa, along with several of her sisters. She bears him two sons, the elder being Aruna and the younger being Garuda. ...

, daughter of Prajapati Daksha. His children were

Sampati Sampati ( sa, सम्पाति; IAST: ') is a demigod in Hinduism. He is the elder son of Aruṇa and Shyeni. He is the elder brother of Jatayu. He has the form of either a vulture or an eagle. According to the Brahma Purana, Sampati i ...

and

Jatayu Jatayu ( sa, जटायुः, IAST: ) is a demigod in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'', who has the form of either an eagle or a vulture. He is the younger son of Aruṇa and his wife Shyeni, the brother of Sampati, as well as the nephew of Garud ...

. He is also found in

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

and

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle bein ...

literature and arts.

Mythology

Birth

Aruna is found in different, inconsistent Indian legends. In the epic ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...

'',Mani p. 55 he was born prematurely and partially developed from an egg. According to this version,

Prajapati's two wives

and

Kadru Kadru () is usually regarded as the daughter of Daksha and the consort of the sage Kashyapa in Hindu scriptures. Kashyapa is the son of Marichi, who is a manasaputra, a mind-born son of Brahma. Kadru is best known as the mother of the nag ...

wanted to have children. Kashyapa granted them a boon. Kadru asked for one thousand 'Dirghadeha' (meaning long bodied)

Nāga The Nagas (IAST: ''nāga''; Devanāgarī: नाग) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...

(serpent) sons, while Vinata wanted only two yet extremely strong 'Divyadeha' (meaning emitting golden aura from body). Kashyapa blessed them, and then went away to a forest. Later, Kadru gave birth to one thousand eggs, while Vinata gave birth to two eggs. These incubated for five hundred years, upon which Kadru broke the eggs open and out came her 1,000 sons. Vinata eager for her sons, broke one of the eggs from which emerged the partially formed Aruna. Since Aruna was born prematurely, his body was partially developed. Enraged by the haste of his mother, he cursed her that she will become the slave of Kadru for 500 years, when the second egg will break and his son will redeem her. Having cursed his mother, Aruna disappeared. He was bestowed to be the charioteer to Surya by his father, Prajapati Kasyapa. Accordingly, Vinata waited, and later the fully developed mighty eagle, her second born named

(vehicle of

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...

) was born. The epic narrates that in another tale that Surya began burning intensely angered by the attacks of

Rahu Rāhu (Sanskrit: राहु, 16px, ☊) is one of the nine major celestial bodies (navagraha) in Hindu texts and the king of meteors. It represents the ascension of the moon in its precessional orbit around the earth, also referred as the ...

(Rahu swallowing Surya is described to cause solar eclipses in Hindu mythology). The heat was so intense that it started destroying all living beings. The god

Brahma Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...

asked Aruna to become the charioteer of Surya, to shelter beings from Surya's burning heat.

In the epics

According to the ''

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

'', Aruna was married to Shyeni with whom he had two sons –

and

. Both of his sons played important role in the epic. There is a legend about Mahabharata that Surya offered Aruna and his divine chariot to his son

Karna Karna (Sanskrit: कर्ण, IAST: ''Karṇa''), also known as Vasusena, Anga-raja, and Radheya, is one of the main protagonists of the Hindu epic '' Mahābhārata''. He is the son of the sun god Surya and princess Kunti (mother of the ...

which he denied as he didn't want to rely on others to win the war, especially against Arjuna, who he acknowledged as a capable rival . Another legend, generally told in Indian folk tales linked to the Ramayana, states that Aruna, once became a woman named Aruni and entered an assembly of celestial nymphs, where no man except the king of Heaven - Indra was allowed. Indra fell in love with Aruni and fathered a son named Vali from her. The next day, at Surya's request, Aruna again assumed female form, and Surya fathered a son, Sugriva. Both children were given to Ahalya for rearing, but her husband sage

Gautama Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

cursed them, causing them to turn into monkeys, as he did not like them.

Citations

General references

*''Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend'' () by Anna Dallapiccola *

Monier Monier-Williams Sir Monier Monier-Williams (; né Williams; 12 November 1819 – 11 April 1899) was a British scholar who was the second Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University, England. He studied, documented and taught Asian languages, especiall ...

: ''A Sanskrit-English Dictionary''. Oxford U Pr, 1899. * Robert Graves: ''The Greek Myths''. 1955.
''Devī-Bhāgavata Purāṇa'' 10:13
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aruna Characters in the Ramayana Hindu gods Solar gods