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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
Asuras are of Chaldean-Syrian origin and they were spread all over India even as far as Southern tip of the subcontinent. The Asuras probably kept their contact with Syria and Iran since their religious affiliations required it. This explains the predominant Christian presence among the Asuras.
Relationship of Asuras and Bhargavas
Small pockets of Asura regions existed in northern India and regions beyond Himalays as well. Vrishaparvan, was a famous Asura king, who ruled some unknown kingdom in the Himalayas. The founder of the Puru dynasty of kings in north India (described in the epic Mahabharata as the forefather of the Pandavas and Kauravas), viz king Puru, was the son of Sarmishta, the daughter of king Vrishaparvan. Vrishaparvan's priest was the sage Sukra, (alias Usanus), who was a Bhargava (the son or a descendant of the sage Bhrigu.) Often the Asura kings chose, sages in the line of Bhrigu as their priest, whereas the Devas chose, sages in the line of Brihaspati or Angiras, as their priests. Mahabali was yet another Asura king whose priest also was named Sukra, in the line of Bhrigu.
Characteristics of Asuras
Historically therefore Asuras were a highly religious people with tremendous power, who were opposed to the Aryan Vedic religion, and of the Vaishnavites. As a characteristic they were highly moral and kept high ethical standards even in war.
They kept their word even at the point of defeat, death and disaster. We can see that they even allowed Vishnu to take respite in between the combats and never retracted their offers or promise. All through the Avatara myth story we can notice that as a rule, Asuras could not be defeated by the Suras under normal moral methods. It always required subtle deceit, trickery and treachery even for the Supreme Person Vishnu to defeat the Asuras. In fact, it appears that these deceits, tricks and treachery were eulogized and considered honorable by the Suras, if we take the Avatar Puranas as true.
Taking the antagonism of Vedics to the Asuras in general, the natural early choices will be Jains and Buddhists.
Asuras in the Jain and Buddhist Puranas
The Jain Puranas also mentions Asuras as anti-Vasudeva and names the Asura Kings in that list. So we should also assume that Asuras were also against Jainism.
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