Surya, the sun god, married Sanjna, daughter of the divine craftsman Vishwakarma, but the union quickly ran into a problem tied directly to Surya’s own defining trait: an intensity of light and heat that proved difficult for even a divine spouse to endure.
A radiance too much to bear
Sanjna, unable to withstand Surya’s full brilliance over time, eventually created Chhaya, a shadow being crafted in her exact likeness, and instructed her to take her place as Surya’s wife and mother to her children while she herself withdrew to perform penance, hoping to find a way to endure her husband’s radiance or otherwise resolve the situation.
A deception that lasted years
Chhaya lived as Sanjna for a considerable period, raising her children alongside her own, and the substitution went unnoticed until Chhaya’s treatment of Sanjna’s children began to differ from her treatment of her own, eventually prompting Surya to investigate and uncover the truth.
A fix that also explains an eclipse-adjacent figure
Upon discovering Sanjna’s absence, Surya sought her out and, learning the reason for her flight, agreed to have Vishwakarma shave down a portion of his blinding radiance to a more bearable level, after which Sanjna returned to live with him directly. Among their children is Shani, the planet Saturn personified, whose own dark, severe characterization in Hindu astrology is sometimes linked back to his mother’s long estrangement from his radiant father.