Vivasat is called Vivasan, the Hindu Sun God. He is also called the God of the Rising Sun and is one of the Adityas. This male deity is believed to first a shapeless mass which was discarded along with trash, from Heaven. Later on Tvashtri molded him and gave him the shape of the Sun which is seen as of today. It is for this reason that Vivasat is called the Recycled God of the Rising Sun.
Vivasat is son of Aditi and all of her eight sons are called the Adityas. It is believed that out of the eight sons she cast out, the eighth son was Marttanda, She approaches the gods with only seven of her children. As per Hindu mythology, the Puranas and Satapatha Brahmana indicate the number of Adityas as twelve. Some of the Adityas described in the Taittriya Texts are Amsu, Mitra, Aryaman, Indra, Varuna, Bhaga and Vivasat (Surya).
Another conception is that altogether there were twelve Sun Gods, with the twelve months being referred to as evidence. Being an Aditya, Vivasat is believed to be eternal, imperishable and inviolable. Vivasat is the god of celestial light.
The eighth son had a deformed appearance. Seeing their deformed brother, the rest of his Aditya brothers improved his appearance. Later on, the deformed son was known as Vivasat (Sun). An elephant was created from the superfluous flesh which was removed from his body. Accordingly, a proverb came into existence, ‘Let no man catch an elephant, for the elephant partakes of the nature of man’.
