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{{Short description|Vedic Hindu deity}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox deity
| mother = [[Aditi]]
| father = [[Kashyapa]]
| type = Hindu
| name = Savitra
| deity_of = God of the Sunrays <ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bla9DwAAQBAJ&dq=savitur+god+of&pg=PA103 | title=Essence of Inquiry: Vicharasangraham, A Commentary by Nome | date=19 January 2019 | publisher=Society of Abidance in Truth }}</ref>
| mantra = [[Gayatri mantra]]
| member_of = [[Ādityas|Aditya]]s
| abode = [[Sun]]
| consort = Pṛśni {{small|(according to ''[[Bhagavata Purana]]'')<ref name = "BhP" >[https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-bhagavata-purana/d/doc1127162.html#note-t-190332 Bhagavata Purana,  Book 6 - Sixth Skandha, Chapter 18]</ref>}}
| children= {{ubl|Sāvitrī, Vyāhṛti and Trayī (daughters)|9 sons including Agnihotra, Paśu, Soma and Cāturmāsya {{small|(according to ''Bhagavata Purana'')<ref name = "BhP" />}}
| symbol = Chariot
}}}}
'''Savitṛ''' ({{langx|sa|सवितृ}} {{IAST3|Savitṛ}},  [[nominative]] [[Grammatical number|singular]]: {{lang|sa|सविता}} {{IAST3|Savitā}}, also rendered as '''Savitur''' or '''Savitar'''),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Keshavadas |first=Sadguru Sant |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RupZEAAAQBAJ&dq=savitur+god+of&pg=PT63 |title=Gayatri: The Highest Meditation |date=2022-01-19 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-44807-8 |language=en}}</ref>  in Vedic scriptures is an [[Ādityas|Aditya]] (i.e., an "offspring" of the [[Vedic]] primeval mother goddess [[Aditi]]). His name in [[Vedic Sanskrit]] connotes "impeller, rouser, vivifier."

He is sometimes identified with—and at other times distinguished from—[[Surya]], "the Sun god". When considered distinct from the Sun proper, he is conceived of as the divine influence or vivifying power of the Sun. The Sun before sunrise is called Savitr, and after sunrise until sunset it is called Sūrya.<ref>[[Monier-Williams]] ''Sanskrit Dictionary'' (1899), p. 1190.</ref>
Savitr is venerated in the [[Rig Veda]], the oldest component of the Vedic scriptures. He is first recorded in [[Mandala 3|book three]] of the Rigveda; (RV 3.62.10) later called the [[Gayatri mantra]]. Furthermore, he is described with great detail in Hymn 1.35 of the Rig Veda, also called the Hymn of Savitr.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv01035.htm|title = Rig Veda: Rig-Veda Book 1: HYMN XXXV. Savitar.}}</ref> In this hymn, Savitr is personified and represented as a patron deity. He is celebrated in eleven whole hymns of the Rig Veda and in parts of many others texts, with his name being mentioned about 170 times in aggregate.

Savitr disappeared as an independent deity from the [[Hindu pantheon]] after the end of the [[Vedic period]], but is still worshiped in modern [[Hinduism]] and is referred to as ''Sāvitrī.''

==Rigvedic deity==
Savitr is a deity whose name primarily denotes an agent, in the form of a noun derived from a verbal root with the agent suffix ''-tṛ'' added.
The name of Savitr belongs to a class of Vedic theonyms, together with  Dhatṛ, Tratṛ and [[Tvastr]].  These names denote that these are agent gods, who create, protect, and produce, respectively.<ref name=MacDonell>{{cite book |author=MacDonell, A.A. |title=Vedic Mythology |publisher=Williams and Norgate |year=1881 |quote=They are known as ‘Fivers’ in Islam. The five first Imams or Teachers.}}</ref>

===Appearance===
Savitr has golden arms, and is broad-handed or beautiful-handed. He is also pleasant tongued or beautiful-tongued, and is once called iron-jawed. His eyes are golden as well. He is yellow-haired, an attribute shared with [[Agni]] and [[Indra]]. He dons on a tawny garb. He has a golden chariot with a golden axle, which is omni-form, just as he himself is capable of assuming all forms. His channel is analogized as a resplendent chariot drawn by two radiant steeds or by two or more bronze, white-footed stallions. Mighty splendour ("amati") is preeminently attributed to Savitr, and mighty "golden" splendour to him only. Such splendour he stretches out or diffuses. He illumines the air, heaven and earth, the world, the spaces of the earth, the vault of heaven.

===Functions===
Like [[Pushan]] and [[Surya]], he is lord of that which is mobile and is stationary. Savitr has been attributed to as upholding the movables and immovable, which signifies the maintenance of [[Ṛta]]. Savitr is a beneficent god who acts as protector of all beings, who are provident and guard the world of spirits. Being an [[Ādityas|Aditya]], Savitr is true to the Eternal Order and act as the score exacter.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv02027.htm |series=Rig-Veda |at=Book&nbsp;2: Hymn&nbsp;XXVII |title=Ādityas |translator-last=Griffith |translator-first=Ralph T.H.}}</ref>

His primordial pathways in the air are dustless and sleekly traversed, on them he is besought to fortify his invokers. He is prayed to convey the departed soul to where the righteous dwell. Savitr bestows immortality on the gods as well as length of life on man. He also bestowed immortality on the [[Rbhus]], who by the greatness of their deeds advanced to his dwelling. Like other gods, Savitr is a supporter of the cosmos. Also, he holds the whole world, a role which was also assigned to [[Vishnu]] in the Vedas.

===Abstract classification===
There are two classes of deities in the ''[[Rig Veda]]'' whose nature is founded on abstraction.
* The first class, consisting of the direct personifications of abstract notions – such as 'desire' – is rare, occurring only in the very latest hymns of the ''Rig Veda'' and due to that growth of speculation which is so plainly traceable in the course of the [[Vedic age]].{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

* The second and more numerous class comprises deities whose names primarily either denote an agent, in the form of a noun derived from a root with the suffix "''-tṛ''" (such as ''Dhatr'', 'Creator') or designate some attribute, such as ''[[Prajapati]]'' ('Lord of Creatures').

The class, judged by the evolution of the mythological creations of the [[Veda]], does not represent direct abstractions, but appears in each case to be derived from an epithet applied to one or more deities, illustrating a particular aspect of activity or character. Such epithets gradually become detached, finally attaining an independent status. Thus ''Rohita'', the 'Red One' (whose female form is ''Rohinī''), originally an epithet of the sun, as a separate deity in the capacity of a Creator.<ref name=":0" />
{{quote|...&nbsp;[the] second class of gods, who may be called 'abstract', is afforded by the agent gods – such as ''Dhatr'' – whose name expresses a function which they perform; ... they can be called 'functional gods'. In all the cases which are to be found in the [[Vedic literature]] we are able to say with a fair degree of plausibility that the conception formed itself from the use of the epithet in question, in the first place, of some concrete god; ... after denoting that deity in the special field of action, it was gradually made into a separate deity, concerned merely with the sphere of action in question. This, however, cannot be proved beyond doubt: It will, for instance, always be open to question whether ''Savitr'' is really an aspect of the sun, or whether he is god of stimulation, who by reason of similarity of nature has been made 'like to the sun'. In other cases there can be less doubt: The god ''Visnu'' cannot really be explained as a god of 'wide stepping' – he is a sun god, who happens to have a special sphere of activity&nbsp;...<ref>{{cite book |title=The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads |volume=1 |author-link=Arthur Berriedale Keith |first=A. Berriedale |last=Keith |page=204}}{{full citation needed|year, publisher, place of publication|date=November 2019}}</ref>}}

''Savitr'' is never mentioned as having part in the [[Soma sacrifice]]
{{quote|a fact which is doubtless fair evidence that the ''[[Rig Veda]]'' did not know him as having a place in the rite, and that he was later brought in, perhaps because of his growing importance, perhaps as an ''Aditya''."<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Arthur Berriedale Keith |first=A. Berriedale |last=Keith |title=The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads |volume=2}}{{full citation needed|date=November 2014|page, year, publisher, pub. place all needed}}</ref>}}

===Solar aspects===
According to [[Yaska]], Sanskrit scholar of the 5th&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE, who made various attempts to interpret difficult [[Vedic]] mythologies in his work ''[[Nirukta]]'' (''Etymology'') (12, 12), the time of Savitr’s appearance is when darkness has been removed. [[Sayana]]charya (on ''[[Rig Veda]]'') remarks that before his rising the sun is called Savitr, but from his rising to his setting, Surya. But Savitr is also sometimes spoken of as "sending to sleep", and must therefore be connected with evening as well as morning. He is, indeed, extolled as the setting sun in one hymn (2, 38); and there are indications that most of the hymns addressed to him are meant for either a morning or an evening sacrifice. He brings all two-footed and four-footed beings to rest and awakens them. He unyokes his steeds, brings the wanderer to rest; at his command night comes; the weaver rolls up her web and the skilful man lays down his unfinished work. Later the west was wont to be assigned to him, as the east to [[Agni]], and the south to [[Soma (deity)|Soma]].

The epithet "sūrya-raśmi" is used in the [[Rig Veda]] only once, and it is applied to Savitr:
<blockquote class="toccolours" style="float:none; padding: 10px 15px 10px 15px; display:table;"> "Radiating with the beams of the Sun, golden-haired, Savitr raises up His effulgence continually from the east."</blockquote>

Like [[Surya]], Savitr is implored to remove evil nightmares and to render men sinless. Savitr drives away sorcerers and antagonism. He observes fixed laws. The waters and the wind are subject to his ordinance. He leads the waters and by his propulsion they flow broadly. The other gods follow his lead. No being, not even [[Indra]], [[Varuna]], [[Mitra]], [[Aryaman]], [[Rudra]], can resist his will and independent dominion. His praises are celebrated by the [[Vasus]], [[Aditi]], [[Varuna]], [[Mitra]] and [[Aryaman]]. He is lord of all things worthy, and bestows blessings pervading heaven, air, earth.
<blockquote class="toccolours" style="float:none; padding: 10px 15px 10px 15px; display:table;">...&nbsp;the connection of Savitr with the sun is fairly close. It is at least possible, therefore, that in its origin Savitr was not an independent creation, but was an epithet of Surya, but that question is of little importance: The essential feature of the god is not his original basis, but his function as the inspirer or impeller to holy sacrifice: The ritual act is repeatedly said in the Yajur Veda to be done ‘on the instigation of the god Savitr’.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |page=65 |title=The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads |volume=1 |author-link=Arthur Berriedale Keith |first=Arthur Berriedale |last=Keith}}{{full citation needed|needs year, publisher, publication place|date=November 2019}}</ref></blockquote>

In several passages of the ''Rig Veda'', Savitr and [[Surya]] appear simultaneously. It may even appear based on [[Arthur Berriedale Keith|A.B. Keith]]'s opinion that the terms Savitar and Surya are used interchangeably in certain hymns of the ''Rig Veda''. However it is worth noting that several other deities are directly associated with the epithet of Savitar in the ''Family Books''. They include Indra who is paired alongside Savitar,<ref>''Rig Veda'': Mandala&nbsp;2, Hymn&nbsp;XXX, line&nbsp;1</ref> and Tvastr who is compounded with Savitar.<ref>''Rig Veda'': Mandala&nbsp;3, Hymn&nbsp;LV, line&nbsp;19</ref> Furthermore, Savitar is unambiguously identified with Bhaga.<ref>''Rig Veda'': Mandala&nbsp;5, Hymn&nbsp;LXXXII, line&nbsp;3</ref> Savitar is also unambiguously called Pusan and Mitra.<ref>''Rig Veda'': Mandala&nbsp;5, Hymn&nbsp;LXXXI, last lines</ref> While Savitar certainly has directly been charged with using Surya's rays, Savitar has a much more direct congruence with other deities. The [[Vedic]] poet observes:
<blockquote class="toccolours" style="float:none; padding: 10px 15px 10px 15px; display:table;"> "[G]od Savitr has raised aloft his brilliance, making light for the whole world; Surya shining brightly has filled heaven and earth and air with his rays."{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}</blockquote>

In another hymn [[Surya]] is spoken of in terms ''Prasavitṛ'' (Vivifier){{citation needed|date=November 2014}}, an adjective usually applied to Savitr, and in the third verse{{citation needed|date=November 2014}} Savitr is apparently mentioned as the same god as [[Surya]]. In other hymns also, it is hardly possible to separate the two deities.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}} In certain passages, Savitr combines with the rays of the sun or shines with the rays of the sun.

Savitr has a major role in creation. The relevant hymn mentions that:
"Indra measured six broad spaces, from which no existing thing is excluded: He it is who made the wide expanse of earth and the lofty dome of the sky, even he." Savitr assisted [[Indra]] in shaping the universe.<ref>{{cite book |title=Indian myth and Legend |url=https://archive.org/details/indianmythandleg47228gut |author-link=Donald Alexander Mackenzie |first=Donald A. |last=Mackenzie|publisher=Project Gutenberg }}</ref>

<blockquote class="toccolours" style="float:none; padding: 10px 15px 10px 15px; display:table;">[T]here are in the last book of the [[Rig Veda]] some hymns which treat the origin of the world philosophically rather than mythologically. Various passages show that in the cosmological speculation of the [[Rig Veda]] The sun was regarded as an important agent of generation. Thus he is called the soul (atma) of all that moves and stands. Statements such as that he is called by many names though one indicate that his nature was being tentatively abstracted to that of a supreme god, nearly approaching that of the later conception of Brahma. In this sense the sun is once glorified as a great power of the universe under the name of the golden embryo, hiranya-garbha, in ''[[Rig Veda]]''. It is he who measures out space in the air and shines where the sun rises. In the last verse of this hymn, he is called [[Prajapati]], lord of created beings , the name which became that of the chief god of the Brahmanas. It is significant that in the only older passage of the [[Rig veda]] in which it occurs, [[Prajapati]] is an epithet of the solar deity Savitr, who in the same hymn is said to rule over what moves and stands.<ref>{{cite book |title=Vedic Mythology |author-link=Arthur Anthony Macdonell |first=A. A. |last=MacDonnel |page=13}}{{full citation needed|missing year, publisher, & place of publication|date=November 2019}}</ref></blockquote>

===Other names and epithets===
;Apam napat (Born of the Waters): Savitr is at least once.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv06050.htm |series=Rig Veda |at=Book&nbsp;6: Hymn&nbsp;L |title=Viśvedevas |translator-last=Griffith |translator-first=Ralph T.H.}}</ref> called "apam napat" (Child of Waters), an epithet applied to [[Agni]] and [[Soma (deity)|Soma]] as well.

;God of the Middle Region: Commentator [[Yaska]] commenting on the verse where Savitr is attributed with causing rain, regards Savitr as belonging to the mesial region (or atmosphere) for possessing this ability, adding that the [[Ādityas|Aditya]]s, who are in heaven, are also called Savitr. It is probably owing to this epithet and because Savitr’s paths are said to be in the atmosphere, that this deity occurs among the gods of the mesial expanse among those of outer space in the [[Nighantu|Naighantuka]].

;Prajapati: Savitr is once depicted as the [[Prajapati]] of the world. In the [[Satapatha Brahmana]] (v. 12, 3, 5), Savitr has been identified with Prajapati and in the [[Taittiriya Brahmana]] (v. 1, 6, 4), it has been stated that Prajapati becoming Savitr created living beings.

;Damunas (Domestic): In the [[Rig Veda]], Savitr has been twice spoken of as domestic ("damunas"), an epithet otherwise almost entirely limited to Agni.

;Asura: Like many other gods, Savitr is mentioned as ‘[[asura]]’ in many hymns of the Rig Veda.

;Pusan: Savitr alone is the lord of vivifying power and on account of his movements (yamabhih), he becomes [[Pushan|Pusan]]. In two consecutive verses, Pusan and Savitr are described as connected. In the first the favour of Pusan who sees all beings is invoked, and in the second, Savitr is besought to stimulate the thoughts of worshipers who desire to think of the excellent brilliance of the [[Deva (Hinduism)|Deva]]. The latter verse is the celebrated [[Gayatri Mantra|Savitri]], now termed as the [[Gayatri]] mantra, with which Savitr was in later times invoked at the beginning of [[Vedic]] study.

;Mitra: Savitr is also said to become [[Mitra]] by reason of his laws.

;Bhaga: Savitr seems sometimes to be identified with [[Bhaga]] also, unless the latter word is here only an epithet of Savitr. The name of Bhaga, the good god bestowing benefits is indeed often added to that of Savitr so as to form the single expression Savitr Bhaga or Bhaga Savitr, with the term Bhaga simply acting as a qualitative and attributive adjective.

==Savitr in the Brahmanas==
The Vedas do not specifically identify the Ādityas as there is no classification of the [[thirty-three gods]], except for in the Yajurveda (7.19), which says that there are eleven gods in heaven (light space), eleven gods in the atmosphere (intermediate space), and eleven gods on earth (observer space). In some passages of the [[Satapatha Brahmana]], the number of Ādityas is eight, and in other passages twelve Ādityas are mentioned.

Savitr disappears in post-Vedic literature and is absent from the corpus of [[Pauranic Hinduism]].<ref name = Wilson>{{Cite book|
author=Wilson, H. H.
|title=The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition
|publisher=Read Books Publications
|year=2006
}}
</ref><ref name = Muir>
{{Cite book
|author=Muir, John
|title=Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and Progress of the Religion and Institutions of India
|publisher=Williams and Norgate
|year=1863
|url=https://archive.org/details/originalsanskri01muirgoog
}}</ref>

==Hindu revivalism==
Some modern Hindu spiritual thinkers assign symbolism to the Vedic deities like Savitr. The Vedic deities are not only forces of nature, but also forces that exist within the human intellect and psyche, and help the individual in spiritual progress.<ref name=AurobindoSecret/>

According to [[Sri Aurobindo]], the Vedic depictions are deeper than mere imagery. The gods, goddesses and the evil forces mentioned in the Vedas represent various cosmic powers. They play a significant role in the drama of creation, preservation, and destruction in the inner world of a human being.<ref name=AurobindoSecret>{{cite book |author=Aurobindo, Sri |author-link=Sri Aurobindo |title=The Secret of the Vedas}}{{full citation needed|needs publisher, year, publ. place|date=November 2019}}</ref>

Once the senses are controlled and the mind is stabilized through slaying of all the dark powers, comes the awakening, the goddess Ushas (the Dawn), who brings along with her Ashvins (lords of bliss and vital strength) into the world of inner consciousness.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Secret of the Veda |last=Ghose |first=Aurobindo |year=1998 |publisher=Sri Aurobindo Ashram |pages=529}}</ref> After Ushas appears Aditi, the infinite Mother of the gods: First as Savitr, the Creator or Wisdom-Luminous, who represents the divine power essential for manifestation,<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Synthesis of Yoga |last=Ghose |first=Aurobindo |year=1999 |publisher=Sri Aurobindo Ashram |pages=485}}</ref> and then as Mitra, who as the divine Love and Harmony is considered as a friend of the illumined mind (Indra) and his associates. The Sun is of Truth, after which appear Rta (Truth in Action) and Rtachit (Truth consciousness).<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Life Divine |last=Ghose |first=Aurobindo |year=2005 |publisher=Sri Aurobindo Ashram |pages=124}}</ref>

==Popular culture ==
In [[DC Comics]]' [[Flash (DC Comics character)|The Flash]] comics and [[The CW]]'s ''[[The Flash (2014 TV series)|The Flash]]'' TV series, the [[Speedster (fiction)|speedster]] [[Savitar (character)|Savitar]] is an enemy of the Flash who named himself after the [[Hindu]] god.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Flash: Secrets of Savitar |url=https://www.dc.com/blog/2016/11/22/the-flash-secrets-of-savitar |access-date=2023-05-29 |website=DC |language=en}}</ref>

In a fiction by author Ryan Sequeira, called "EvOLv", where Savitr has been named as one of the Supreme Gods - parallel with [[Shiva]] - The God Savitr is referred to as the source of light in the multiverse.{{fact|date=August 2021}}

In the Dark-Hunter fantasy series by author [[Sherrilyn Kenyon]], Savitar is a Chthonian god killer who is thousands of years old and was responsible for policing the Atlantean pantheon.{{fact|date=August 2021}}

For the second and all subsequent seasons of the television series ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'', [[Richard Gibbs]] composed new opening music whose words come from the [[Gayatri Mantra|Sāvitrī Mantra]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Casey|first=Jim|chapter="All This Has Happened Before": Repetition, Reimagination, and Eternal Return|title=Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica|editor-last1=Potter|editor-first1=Tiffany|editor-last2=Marshall|editor-first2=C.W.|location=New York|publisher=Continuum Books|date=2008|isbn=9780826428479|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mpcyEAAAQBAJ|page=238}}</ref> A literal translation of the verse can be given as: "May we attain that excellent glory of Savitar the god: so may he stimulate our prayers."<ref>{{cite book|last=Giffith|first=Ralph T. H.|title=The Hymns of the Rigveda. Vol. 2|location=Benares, India|publisher=E.J. Lazarus|year=1890|oclc=10900077|page=87|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZURAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA87}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of solar deities]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*{{Wikiquote-inline}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Rigvedic deities]]
[[Category:Solar gods]]
[[Category:Adityas]]

[[es:Savitar]]
[[pl:Sawitar]]