Saura is a religion and denomination of

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 ...

, originating as a

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...

tradition. Followers of Saura worship Surya as the Saguna Brahman. At present the Sauras are a very small movement, much smaller than other larger denominations such as

Vaishnavism Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

Shaivism Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangi ...

. There was a rapid decline of the Sauras in the 12th and 13th century CE, due to the Muslim conquests.

History

The sun has been worshipped in various forms since the time of the Rig Veda in India. The prominence of the Saura sect is expounded by the supremacy of the Gayatri mantra in the Vedic prayers. The theology of the sect appears in a number of documents like the

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 ...

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 ...

Markandeya Purana The ''Markandeya Purana'' ( sa, मार्कण्डेय पुराण; IAST: ) is a Sanskrit text of Hinduism, and one of the eighteen major Puranas. The text's title Markandeya refers to a sage in Hindu History, who is the central c ...

and a fifth century inscription.

In the Mahabharata

On one occasion, when leaving his chambers in the morning,

Yudhisthira ''Yudhishthira'' (Sanskrit: युधिष्ठिर, IAST: ''Yudhiṣṭhira'') is the eldest among the five Pandava brothers. He is mentioned in the ancient epic Mahabharata. He was sired by King Pandu of the Kuru Dynasty and his first ...

encounters one thousand Saurite brahmins with eight thousand followers.

Surya worship

The priests of the saura sect were called magas, bhojakas, or sakadivipiya brahmins. In the Saura sect, the god Surya is the lord of the

Trimurti The Trimūrti (; Sanskrit: त्रिमूर्ति ', "three forms" or "trinity") are the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism, in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified as a triad of ...

, the eternal Brahman and the supreme spirit, the soul of all creatures, self existent, unborn, the cause of all things and the foundation of the world. Saura followers worship Surya as the Saguna Brahman.

Texts

The most important text of the Saura sect is the Saura Samhita. Its only extant copy is currently in Nepal and has been dated to 941 A.D. but is considered to be older. Another text of importance is the Surya Satakam, a Sanskrit poem of a hundred stanzas. The poem was composed in the sragdhara meter and written in the gaudi style by Mayurbhatta, a poet in the court of

Harshavardhana Harshavardhana (IAST Harṣa-vardhana; c. 590–647 CE) was a Pushyabhuti emperor who ruled northern India from 606 to 647 CE. He was the son of Prabhakaravardhana who had defeated the Alchon Huna invaders, and the younger brother of Rajya ...

and a rival of Banabhatta. Surya as the bestower of

moksha ''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriologic ...

(release) is emphasized in this text. The

Samba Purana The Samba Purana ( sa, साम्ब पुराण, ) is one of the Saura Upapuranas. This text is dedicated to Surya. The recension of the text found in the printed editions has 84 chapters. Chapters 53-68 of this text are also divided into ...

, a Saurite upapurana, is a text entirely dedicated to Surya.

References

Hindu denominations {{hinduism-stub