Concept

Chhaya

Résumé
Chhaya or Chaya (Chāyā) is the Hindu personification and goddess of shadow, and a consort of Surya, the Hindu sun god. She is the shadow-image or reflection of Saranyu (Sanjna), the first wife of Surya. Chhaya was born from the shadow of Sanjna and replaced Sanjna in her house, after the latter temporarily left her husband. Chhaya Devi the goddess of shadows is usually described as the mother of Shani, the planet Saturn, and the god of karma and justice: a feared graha; goddess Tapti, the personification of river Tapti; goddess Vishti , the personification of Kala; and a son Savarni Manu, who is destined to be the next and eighth Manu (progenitor of mankind) – the ruler of the next Manvantara period. In the Rigveda (c. 2nd Millennium BCE), which is the earliest narrative about the Chhaya-prototype. After the birth of twins to Vivasvan (Surya), his consort Saranyu - the daughter of Vishwakarma - abandons him and flees in form of a mare. The divine Saranyu places in her place a woman called Savarna ("same-kind"): similar to Saranyu, but mortal, unlike the later Puranas where Chhaya is a mere shadow of Saranyu. Savarna has no children by Surya. A later (700-500 BCE) addition to the Rigveda by Yaska in his Nikuta says that Manu (the progenitor of mankind, called Savarni Manu in later Puranic text) was born to Savarna. While the original text says "they" (interpreted as the gods) substituted Savarna for Saranyu, Yaksa's Nikuta tells that Saranyu created Savarna and substituted her. Brhad devata calls the prototype of Chhaya as Sadrisha ("look-alike"), a woman who looked like Saranyu. Sadrsha begot Manu by Surya, who became a royal sage. By the time of the Harivamsa (c. 5th century CE), an appendix of the epic Mahabharata; Saranyu is called Sanjna and her double is reduced to her shadow or reflection Chhaya. It narrates: that Sanjna, after giving birth to three children of the Sun, abandons him, and leaves Chhaya - who she creates by illusion - to take care of her children. Surya mistakes Chhaya for Sanjna and begets Manu by her.
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