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*Sauram* is the third of the six shanmathas in which Surya is worshipped as the Saguna Brahma. Surya symbolizes the Sun God who is considered as the only visible form of God that can be seen every day.

*Udaye Brahma swaroopoyam,Madhyanhetu Mahaheswaraha*
*Asthamane Swayam Vishnuh,Trayi Murthi Divakara !*

The One who is Brahma in the morning, Maheswara at noon and Vishnu at sunset, He is the Trimurthy Surya. Surya is also known as Surya Narayana. He is also acknowledged as one of the eight forms of Lord Shiva (Ashtamurthi) and is the Lord of excellence and wisdom.

Surya is often depicted riding a chariot harnessed by horses, often seven in number which represent the seven colours of visible light, and seven days of the week. Surya is also depicted with a Chakra which is also interpreted as Dharmachakra. Surya is one of the twelve heavenly houses in the zodiac system of Hindu astrology.
In Hinduism, Āditya, in the singular, is taken to refer to Surya while the term Ādityas meaning “of Aditi”, refers to the offspring of the goddess Aditi and her husband sage Kashyapa. The Rig Veda mentions 7 Ādityas: Varuna, Mitra, ,Surya, Soma, Kamadeva, Agni, Indra along with Martanda, who is considered as the eighth Āditya.
The Bhagavata Purana lists a total of twelve Ādityas as Sun-gods: Vamana,,Aryaman,,Indra, Tvashtha, Varuna, Dhata, Bhaga, Parjanya, Vivasvan, Amshuman,Mitra, and Pushya.
In each month of the year, it is a different Āditya who shines as the
Sun-God. As Indra or Vishnu, Surya destroys the enemies of the gods. As Dhata, he creates living beings. As Parjanya, he showers down rain. As Tvashta, he lives in the trees and herbs. As Pusha, he makes foodgrains grow. As Aryama, he is in the wind. As Bhaga, he is in the body of all living beings. As Vivasvana, he is in fire and helps to cook food. As Amshumana, he is again in the wind. As Varuna, he is in the waters and as Mitra, he is in the moon and in the oceans.

*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 Shatakam, a Sanskrit poem of a hundred stanzas. The poem was composed by Mayurabhatta, a poet in the court of Harshavardhana.

. The Samba Purana, a Saura upapurana, is a text entirely dedicated to Surya. After the customary beginning ,the text consists the narrative of Krishna’s son Samba getting infected by leprosy, after being cursed by sage Durvasa and consequently getting cured by worshipping Surya in the temple constructed by him in Mitravana on the banks of the Chandrabhaga at what was Multan Sun Temple. The whole narrative is presented as a conversation between the King Brihadbala of Ikshvaku dynasty and the sage Vashishtha.
This text comprises a number of narratives dealing with creation, details of solar system, eclipses, geography of the earth, description of Surya and his attendants, construction of images of these deities, details of yoga, manners and customs, rites and rituals, dissertations of mantras and dana (gift).
It is in the Brahmanas layer of the Vedas and the Upanishads that Surya is explicitly linked to the power of sight, to visual perception and knowledge as in texts such as Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Chandogya Upanishad, Kaushitaki Upanishad and others
Karna, the great warrior and one of the central characters in the Mahabharata is the son of Surya and unmarried princess Kunti. In Ramayana, Aditya Hridayam an important hymn associated with Surya is recited by the sage Agatsya to Rama on the battlefield before the fight with Ravana.

*Surya worship*

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 which is also associated with the Sun God in the Vedic prayers.
Surya Namaskar is a practice in yoga as exercise incorporating a sequence of some twelve gracefully linked asanas. The asana sequence originated in the Hatha Yoga tradition in 9th century in India. The set of 12 asanas is dedicated to Surya.
Sun worship is found in states such as Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha. The
Saura tradition declined greatly around the 13th century, perhaps as a result of the Muslim conquest of north India. New Surya temples virtually ceased to be built, and some were later converted to a different dedication, generally Shiva. A number of important Surya temples remain, but many are no longer in worship.
*Dedicated temples*
India’s most worshiped Surya temple is the Deo Surya Mandir
in Bihar India built during the 8th century. The most famous Surya temple is
the Konark Sun Temple, a World Heritage Site in Orissa. Besides Konark, there is another sun temple in Orissa called Biranchi Narayan Sun Temple.
There are sun temples in many parts of India, such
as Modhera(Gujarat), Arasavalli (Andhra), Kanakaditya Temple in Kasheli (Maharashtra). Jaipur ( Rajasthan), Kattarmal Surya mandir (Uttarakhand) and in clusters of Navagraha temples in Tamil Nadu and Assam. Adithyapuram Sun Temple located in Iravimangalam near Kaduthuruthy in Kottayam district is the only Surya shrine in Kerala
*Surya – different names*
Surya in Indian literature is referred to by various names, which typically represent different aspects or phenomenological characteristics of the Sun. Synonyms of Surya include Arka, Bhanu, Savitr, Pushan, Ravi, Martanda, Mitra, Bhaskara and Vivasvan.
Surya is a part of the Navagrahas in Hindu zodiac system. Deifying the sun and its astrological significance occurred as early as the Vedic period and is recorded in the Vedas. The earliest work of astrology recorded in India is
the Vedanga Jyotisha which began to be compiled in the 14th century BCE. The Sun and various classical planets were referenced in the Atharvaveda around 1000 BCE.
Major festivals and pilgrimages in reverence of Surya include Makara Sankranti, Pongal, Samba Dashami, Ratha Sapthami, Chath puja and Kumbh Mela.
*Om Bhaskaraya Vidhmahe,Divakaraya Dheemahe*
*Thanno Surya Prachodayath*