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Savitṛ ( , nominative singular: सविता , also rendered as Savitur), in Vedic scriptures is an 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.Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary (1899), p. 1190. Savitr is venerated in the Rig Veda, the oldest component of the Vedic scriptures. He is first recorded in book three of the Rigveda; (RV 3.62.10) later called the Gayatri mantra. Furthermore, he is described with great detail in Hymn 35 of the Rig Veda, also called the Hymn of Savitr. 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.
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.
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.
Savitr is never mentioned as having part in the Soma sacrifice
The epithet "sūrya-raśmi" is used in the Rig Veda only once, and it is applied to Savitr:
"Radiating with the beams of the Sun, golden-haired, Savitr raises up His effulgence continually from the east."
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.
... 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’.
In several passages of the Rig Veda, Savitr and Surya appear simultaneously. It may even appear based on 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, Rig Veda: Mandala 2, Hymn XXX, line 1 and Tvastr who is compounded with Savitar. Rig Veda: Mandala 3, Hymn LV, line 19 Furthermore, Savitar is unambiguously identified with Bhaga. Rig Veda: Mandala 5, Hymn LXXXII, line 3 Savitar is also unambiguously called Pusan and Mitra. Rig Veda: Mandala 5, Hymn LXXXI, last lines 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:
"God 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."
In another hymn Surya is spoken of in terms Prasavitṛ (Vivifier), an adjective usually applied to Savitr, and in the third verse Savitr is apparently mentioned as the same god as Surya. In other hymns also, it is hardly possible to separate the two deities. 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.
There 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.
Savitr disappears in post-Vedic literature and is absent from the corpus of Pauranic Hinduism.
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.
Once the senses are controlled and the mind is stabilized through slaying of all the dark powers, comes the awakening, the goddess Ushas, who brings along with her Ashvins into the world of inner consciousness. After Ushas appears Aditi, the Primal Sun, the God of Light: First as Savitr, who represents the divine grace essential for all spiritual success, and then as Mitra, who as the divine love is considered as a friend of the illumined mind (Indra) and his associates (the other gods). The Sun is of Truth, after which appear Rta (Truth in Action) and Rtachit (Truth consciousness).
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.
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.
For the second and all subsequent seasons of the television series Battlestar Galactica, Richard Gibbs composed new opening music whose words come from the Gayatri Mantra. 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."
Popular culture
In DC Comics' The Flash comics and The CW's The Flash TV series, the speedster Savitar is an enemy of the Flash who named himself after the Hindu god.
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