Aditya Hridayam

आदित्य हृदयम्

The hymn to the heart of Aditya, taught by the sage Agastya to Rama on the battlefield before he faced Ravana, and preserved in the Yuddha Kanda of Valmiki's Ramayana. Aditya is the son of Aditi; the stotram praises Surya as the one light standing behind every deity. It is a stotram, not a codified raga — the melodic material varies by reciter, so no thaat, aaroha, vadi or chakra is claimed here. Sung above all on Ravivara, Sunday, the day of the Sun, and on Ratha Saptami (Magha Shukla Saptami), which marks Surya's northward turn. The nakshatra pins are the three ruled by Surya in the Vimshottari scheme: Krittika, Uttara Phalguni and Uttara Ashadha. Hasta and Punarvasu were considered and set aside — their claim runs through the presiding deity (Savitr, the Sun, for Hasta; Aditi, mother of the Adityas, for Punarvasu) rather than through Surya's lordship, and mixing the two criteria would blur a distinction the classical scheme keeps separate.