Bhagavad Gita · Mahabharata Codex

The Adityas

आदित्य · āditya

The twelve sons of Aditi; gods of light and cosmic order

Twelve gods, one for each month of the sun's year.

The Adityas are the sons of Aditi, the mother of the gods. Early hymns count seven or eight; later tradition fixes them at twelve and links them to the sun in each month of the year. Vishnu, Varuna, Aryaman, Indra and Vivasvan are among them. Krishna says he is Vishnu among the Adityas and then shows all of them to Arjuna within his cosmic form.