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The Power of the Sun

Mark Tully considers the many faces of the sun from life source to sustainer of life, from fount of cosmic energy to object of worship in both a literal and a metaphorical sense.

The sun is a powerful symbol in many cultures and many faiths. In a programme that investigates what it means to humans in religious, scientific and secular contacts, Mark Tully asks what we mean by sun worship.

He talks to Lakshmi, a sadhvi - or Hindu holy woman - from an ashram in Delhi, about the rituals of sun worship. He also explores the works of physicist John Tyndall and poets Molly Fisk and Emily Bronte on their love and loathing for the sun. There is music from Haydn, Roy Ayers and Sally Beamish.

The readers are David Westhead and Polly Frame.

Presenter: Mark Tully
Producer: Frank Stirling

A 7digital production for BBC Radio 4.

30 minutes

Last on

Sun 30 Jul 201723:30
BBC Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Joseph Haydn

    Die Jahreszeiten, Part 2: Der Sommer, 11. "Sie steigt herauf, die Sonne"

    Performer: Choir of the Flanders Opera, La Petite Bande, Sigiswald Kuijken.
    • Haydn : Die Jahreszeiten.
    • Warner Classics.

  • Roy Ayers

    Everybody Loves The Sunshine

    Performer: Roy Ayers.
    • The Very Best of Smooth Jazz.
    • Universal Jazz.
    • 583-4902.

  • Sally Beamish

    The Imagined Sound of Sun on Stone

    Performer: Sally Beamish.
    • Grammofon.
    • BIS-CD-1161.

  • Davi Sylvian

    Sunlight Seen Through Towering Trees

  • The Dixie Nightingales

    All I Need Is Sunshine In My Life

    • Disturb My Soul - The Stax Sessions.
    • Stax Records.
    • CDSZ086.

  • Carl Nielsen

    Helios Overture Op. 17

    Performer: Esa-Pekka Salonen, Swedish Radio Symphpny Orchestra.
    • Nielsen Symphonien No.4, op.29, Helios Overture, op.17.
    • CBS/Masterworks.
    • MK42093.

Readings

Title: Heat Considered as Mode of Motion 

Author: John Tyndall 

Published by Palala Press

Title: The North Wind and the Sun 

Author: Aesop 

Title: The Bright Field 

Author: R. S. Thomas 

Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Title: Ah! Why? Because The Dazzling Sun 

Author: Emily Bronte 

Published by Poetry Foundation

Title: Winter Sun 

Author: Molly Fisk 

From her most recent book of Poetry, The More Difficult Beauty, published by Hip Pocket Press 

Title: My Old Village

Author: Richard Jefferies 

Published by Project Gutenberg 

Broadcasts

  • Sun 30 Jul 201706:05
    BBC Radio 4
  • Sun 30 Jul 201723:30
    BBC Radio 4