The Saurasaṃhitā: The Earliest Surviving Tantra on Sun-Worship

Abstract

The Saurasaṃhitā is the earliest surviving Tantra text on Sun worship available by far, and is preserved in a palm-leaf manuscript preserved in National Archives, Kathmandu, dated Nepal Samvat 69 (equivalent to 949 CE). The Saurasaṃhitā is a little-known but important text that identifies the Sun god with Śiva. What is special in the Saurasaṃhitā is the fact that the cult of Śiva-Sūrya has lost its independence existence in South Asia, whereas in Bali it has not only maintained its independent but also taken central stage.