SAURA HINDUISM is the branch of Hinduism in which the sun is worshiped as the principal deity. The first clear evidence of sun worship in India comes from the Vedas, the collections of ritual hymns produced by the Aryans who entered India around 1500 BCE. Several devas ("powers" or "deities") praised in the Vedas had solar qualities, and the sun was also a deva in his own right as Sūrya or Ᾱditya, the visible sun, and as Savitṛ, the stimulator of life. Vedic ritual practice honored the sun with daily recital of the Gayātrī mantra to Savitṛ and sacrifices to Sūrya. Despite this recognition, however, the sun was never considered the most important deva during the Vedic period.

Vedic sacrificial religion was basically aniconic. The only visible solar deva, Sūrya was represented in some Vedic rituals by symbols such as a twelve-petaled...