Sri Surya Ashtakam

Eight verses to the Sun, spoken by Samba — the text opens Saamba uvaacha. Samba is Krishna's son by Jambavati, and the Puranic account has him afflicted with a wasting skin disease and turning to Surya for cure; the eastern Surya tradition, including Konark, remembers him as the one who established Sun worship. The first verse is a plain address: Aadideva namastubhyam praseeda mama bhaskara — first of gods, be gracious to me.

Significance

The imagery is concrete rather than philosophical. Surya is shown mounted on a chariot of seven horses, son of Kashyapa, holding a white lotus; in the next breath he is the red one on the red chariot, grandfather of all the worlds, remover of great sin. The stotra says the recitation brings a son to the man who wants a son and wealth to the poor, and removes disease and sin — the standard idiom of phala-shruti, and worth reading as the text's own claim rather than a promise. What is unusual is the rule it attaches. The closing verses say that on ravi-dina, Sunday, one should keep off meat and honey-wine. A stotra that names what you must give up on the day of recitation is asking for more than reading.

How and when to chant

Sunday at sunrise, facing east after a bath. Offer arghya first if you can — water poured in a thin stream toward the sun — then read the eight verses and the phala-shruti straight through, once, or three times if you are keeping a fixed count. Many people take the Sunday restriction seriously and eat a single sattvic meal that day. Ratha Saptami and Sundays through the month of Magha are when it is recited most, and those recovering from illness often keep it as a daily dawn reading rather than a weekly one.