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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
In Hindu mythology sura came to mean a minor godin contrast to a-sura, "not-god" or "demon," but this is believed to be a false etymology.
In older part of the Rg Veda, asura refers to the supreme spirit, like the Zoroastrian Ahura Mazdah, or to Vedic deities (devas) such as Varuna, Agni, Mitra, and Indra. In younger Vedic texts and Hindu mythology asuras become demons or titans who war against the devas (gods). (cf., in the Iranian tradition ahura came to mean "god" while dacva came to mean "demon")
According to Satapathe Brahmana the devas and asuras both came from Prajapati, but the former chose true speech while the latter chose the lie. Aitarcya Brahmana relates that devas hold power by day and asuras hold equal power by night.
The non-Aryan Danavas and Laityas were called asuras. These may have been peoples who were opponents of the non-Aryans and who were mythologically equated with titans and demons.
Asuras are not necessarily evil while devas are not necessarily good. They are consubstantial, distinguished only by their mutual opposition, which is not conceived as an absolute ethical dualism. A.G.H.
The negative character of the asura in Hinduism seems to have evolved over time. In general, the earliest texts have the asuras presiding over moral and social phenomena (e.g. Varuna, the guardian of Řtá, or Bhaga, the patron of marriages) and the devas presiding over natural phenomena (e.g. Ushas, whose name means "dawn", or Indra, a weather god).
Devas and Asuras
Modern historians tends to consider Asuras and Devas (the enemies of Asuras) as two divisions of ancient people, who shared same motherland, culture and civilization, for some period of time in the past. Later they split into two groups, harbouring enmity to each other. One group used the name Asura or Ahura as a respectful surname to their chiefs and kings. They used the name Deva or Daiva to denote a demon or devil. On the other hand, the other group used the name Asura to denote a demon and Deva to denote a divine being or god. These groups probably came from Iran, Iraq and Syriya, from the kingdoms like Assyria and cities like Assur into India. Their religion was the earliest form of Zorastrianism. Zend Avesta was one of their sacred texts, which have many similarities with the Vedas. A portion of this group spread to the Baluchistan in Pakistan, the western shore of India and finally to the whole of South India. The probably used the sea route also to reach these regions, since they were very good at navigation. This group is described in the ancient Indian texts as Asuras. In The Civilized Demons: the Harappans in Rgveda Malati J. Shendge shows evidence to show that the early Indus Valley Civilization was an Asura civilization. Essentially therefore
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