Shloka 61
Sūrya-stava: Dhaumya’s Counsel and the Aṣṭaśata-nāma of Sūrya
त्वं हंस: सविता भानुरंशुमाली वृषाकपि: । विवस्वान् मिहिर: पूषा मित्रो धर्मस्तथैव च,आप ही हंस (शुद्धस्वरूप), सविता (जगतकी उत्पत्ति करनेवाले), भानु (प्रकाशमान), अंशुमाली (केरणसमूहसे सुशोभित), वृषाकपि (धर्मरक्षक), विवस्वान् [सर्वव्यापी), मिहिर (जलकी वृष्टि करनेवाले), पूषा (पोषक), मित्र (सबके सुहृद), धर्म (धारण करनेवाले), सहस्ररश्मि (हजारों किरणोंवाले), आदित्य (अदितिपुत्र), तपन (तापकारी), गवाम्पति (किरणोंके स्वामी), मार्तण्ड, अर्क (अर्चनीय), रवि, सूर्य (उत्पादक), शरण्य (शरणागतकी रक्षा करनेवाले), दिनकृत् (दिनके कर्ता), दिवाकर (दिनको प्रकट करनेवाले), सप्तसप्ति (सात घोड़ोंवाले), धामकेशी (ज्योतिर्मय किरणोंवाले), विरोचन (देदीप्यमान), आशुगामी (शीघ्रगामी), तमोघ्न (अन्धकारनाशक) तथा हरिताश्व (हरे रंगके घोड़ोंवाले) कहे जाते हैं
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | tvaṁ haṁsaḥ savitā bhānur aṁśumālī vṛṣākapiḥ | vivasvān mihiraḥ pūṣā mitro dharmas tathaiva ca ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “You are Haṁsa, Savitṛ, Bhānu, Aṁśumālī, Vṛṣākapi; you are Vivasvān, Mihira, Pūṣan, Mitra, and likewise Dharma.” In this hymn-like address, he gathers many revered epithets into a single vision of the Sun as the sustaining moral and cosmic power—illumining the world, nourishing beings, guarding right order, and dispelling darkness both outwardly and within.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents the Sun not merely as a physical luminary but as a unified embodiment of sustaining powers—creation/impulsion (Savitṛ), nourishment (Pūṣan), friendship and social harmony (Mitra), and righteousness that upholds the world (Dharma). Ethically, it links inner clarity and right conduct with the dispelling of darkness through a higher, ordering principle.
Yudhiṣṭhira is addressing the Sun through a chain of honorific names. The style is that of a stotra (praise-hymn), where multiple epithets are invoked to acknowledge the deity’s many functions and to establish a devotional, reverential tone within the forest-episode context of the Vana Parva.