1920.] Hindu Astronomical Deities. 63 
made up of all the signs of the zodiac—given in the Brihaj- 
jataka (i, 4). 
MeptagvaL Soar Cutts. 
tary cult also. Philostratus mentions! a temple of the sun 
at Taxila ; Yajfiavalkya and Varaha Mihira give details of 
shipped the rising, some the setting, and some the noon-day sun, 
others all three as tri-miarti.6 The earliest known Indian 
inscription referring to this cult is dated A.D. 466, but from 
that time onward there is plenty of evidence of this type. 
The following are brief quotations from some of the earlier 
inscriptions: (a) “ May that Sun... .whom Brahmans of en- 
lightened minds, according to due rite...... to be applied to 
a lamp for the divine Sun.” 7 (bd) ‘ May that Sun protect you 
who is worshipped by. the host of gods for existence, and by 
the Siddhas who wish for supernatural powers. ...who is the 
. faile 
tocomprehend, who nourishes the whole of the three worlds; 
who, when he is risen, is praised by Gandharvas, gods, Siddhas, 
Kinnaras and Naras, and who grants desires to those who 
worship....’’® (c) ‘‘ Let it be known to you that this village 
is given by us. .to the holy Aditya....with libations of water, 
to be enjoved as long as the moon, the sun, and the planets 
endure...... 8 
ll. Evidence of another type occurs in a work 
astronomy. The best known of the mediaeval text-books of 
this science in India, the Sirya Siddhanta, gives the following 
gin':— 
‘«¢ When but little of the Krita age was left,!° a great Asura 
named Maya!! became desirous of knowing this mysterious, 
l Life of Apollonius of Tyana ii, XXiv. 2 See paragraph 13. 
38 Beat vol. ii, 274-275. 4 India i, 116. 6 Ch. cxxxix. 
5 W. gions of India, 447. For a solar tri-mirti image 
see H. K. Sastrt South Indian Images of Gods and Godderess. Be. 144. 
A.D. . ‘3 
8 Mandasor inscription of Kumara Gupta, A.D. 473-474. CII iii, 87. 
% Ragholi plates of J ayavardhana ii (Balaghat) EI ix, 47. 
10 i.e. some 2,000,000 years B.C. 
li Possibly the Avestan Ahura Mazda is meant. 
.6 
