Editing Savitr (section)

===Solar aspects===
According to [[Yaska]], Sanskrit scholar of the 5th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE, who made various attempts to interpret difficult [[Vedic]] mythologies in his work ''[[Nirukta]]'' (''Etymology'') (12, 12), the time of Savitr’s appearance is when darkness has been removed. [[Sayana]]charya (on ''[[Rig Veda]]'') remarks that before his rising the sun is called Savitr, but from his rising to his setting, Surya. But Savitr is also sometimes spoken of as "sending to sleep", and must therefore be connected with evening as well as morning. He is, indeed, extolled as the setting sun in one hymn (2, 38); and there are indications that most of the hymns addressed to him are meant for either a morning or an evening sacrifice. He brings all two-footed and four-footed beings to rest and awakens them. He unyokes his steeds, brings the wanderer to rest; at his command night comes; the weaver rolls up her web and the skilful man lays down his unfinished work. Later the west was wont to be assigned to him, as the east to [[Agni]], and the south to [[Soma (deity)|Soma]].

The epithet "sūrya-raśmi" is used in the [[Rig Veda]] only once, and it is applied to Savitr:
<blockquote class="toccolours" style="float:none; padding: 10px 15px 10px 15px; display:table;"> "Radiating with the beams of the Sun, golden-haired, Savitr raises up His effulgence continually from the east."</blockquote>

Like [[Surya]], Savitr is implored to remove evil nightmares and to render men sinless. Savitr drives away sorcerers and antagonism. He observes fixed laws. The waters and the wind are subject to his ordinance. He leads the waters and by his propulsion they flow broadly. The other gods follow his lead. No being, not even [[Indra]], [[Varuna]], [[Mitra]], [[Aryaman]], [[Rudra]], can resist his will and independent dominion. His praises are celebrated by the [[Vasus]], [[Aditi]], [[Varuna]], [[Mitra]] and [[Aryaman]]. He is lord of all things worthy, and bestows blessings pervading heaven, air, earth.
<blockquote class="toccolours" style="float:none; padding: 10px 15px 10px 15px; display:table;">...&nbsp;the connection of Savitr with the sun is fairly close. It is at least possible, therefore, that in its origin Savitr was not an independent creation, but was an epithet of Surya, but that question is of little importance: The essential feature of the god is not his original basis, but his function as the inspirer or impeller to holy sacrifice: The ritual act is repeatedly said in the Yajur Veda to be done ‘on the instigation of the god Savitr’.<ref>{{cite book |page=65 |title=The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads |volume=1 |author-link=Arthur Berriedale Keith |first=Arthur Berriedale |last=Keith}}{{full citation needed|needs year, publisher, publication place|date=November 2019}}</ref></blockquote>

In several passages of the ''Rig Veda'', Savitr and [[Surya]] appear simultaneously. It may even appear based on [[Arthur Berriedale Keith|A.B. Keith]]'s opinion that the terms Savitar and Surya are used interchangeably in certain hymns of the ''Rig Veda''. However it is worth noting that several other deities are directly associated with the epithet of Savitar in the ''Family Books''. They include Indra who is paired alongside Savitar,<ref>''Rig Veda'': Mandala&nbsp;2, Hymn&nbsp;XXX, line&nbsp;1</ref> and Tvastr who is compounded with Savitar.<ref>''Rig Veda'': Mandala&nbsp;3, Hymn&nbsp;LV, line&nbsp;19</ref> Furthermore, Savitar is unambiguously identified with Bhaga.<ref>''Rig Veda'': Mandala&nbsp;5, Hymn&nbsp;LXXXII, line&nbsp;3</ref> Savitar is also unambiguously called Pusan and Mitra.<ref>''Rig Veda'': Mandala&nbsp;5, Hymn&nbsp;LXXXI, last lines</ref> While Savitar certainly has directly been charged with using Surya's rays, Savitar has a much more direct congruence with other deities. The [[Vedic]] poet observes:
<blockquote class="toccolours" style="float:none; padding: 10px 15px 10px 15px; display:table;"> "[G]od Savitr has raised aloft his brilliance, making light for the whole world; Surya shining brightly has filled heaven and earth and air with his rays."{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}</blockquote>

In another hymn [[Surya]] is spoken of in terms ''Prasavitṛ'' (Vivifier){{citation needed|date=November 2014}}, an adjective usually applied to Savitr, and in the third verse{{citation needed|date=November 2014}} Savitr is apparently mentioned as the same god as [[Surya]]. In other hymns also, it is hardly possible to separate the two deities.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}} In certain passages, Savitr combines with the rays of the sun or shines with the rays of the sun.

Savitr has a major role in creation. The relevant hymn mentions that:
"Indra measured six broad spaces, from which no existing thing is excluded: He it is who made the wide expanse of earth and the lofty dome of the sky, even he." Savitr assisted [[Indra]] in shaping the universe.<ref>{{cite book |title=Indian myth and Legend |url=https://archive.org/details/indianmythandleg47228gut |author-link=Donald Alexander Mackenzie |first=Donald A. |last=Mackenzie|publisher=Project Gutenberg }}</ref>

<blockquote class="toccolours" style="float:none; padding: 10px 15px 10px 15px; display:table;">[T]here are in the last book of the [[Rig Veda]] some hymns which treat the origin of the world philosophically rather than mythologically. Various passages show that in the cosmological speculation of the [[Rig Veda]] The sun was regarded as an important agent of generation. Thus he is called the soul (atma) of all that moves and stands. Statements such as that he is called by many names though one indicate that his nature was being tentatively abstracted to that of a supreme god, nearly approaching that of the later conception of Brahma. In this sense the sun is once glorified as a great power of the universe under the name of the golden embryo, hiranya-garbha, in ''[[Rig Veda]]''. It is he who measures out space in the air and shines where the sun rises. In the last verse of this hymn, he is called [[Prajapati]], lord of created beings , the name which became that of the chief god of the Brahmanas. It is significant that in the only older passage of the [[Rig veda]] in which it occurs, [[Prajapati]] is an epithet of the solar deity Savitr, who in the same hymn is said to rule over what moves and stands.<ref>{{cite book |title=Vedic Mythology |author-link=Arthur Anthony Macdonell |first=A. A. |last=MacDonnel |page=13}}{{full citation needed|missing year, publisher, & place of publication|date=November 2019}}</ref></blockquote>