The daityas () are a race of asuras in Hinduism, descended from Kashyapa and his wife, Diti. Prominent members of this race include Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakashipu, and Mahabali, all of whom overran the earth, and required three of Vishnu's avataras to be vanquished.

Etymology and symbolism

According to the interpretation of the Rig Veda by the Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo, the name "Daitya" is derived from Diti, the mother of the Daityas, who represents "divided consciousness" or "separative consciousness." Sri Aurobindo writes: "Aditi the infinite, the undivided, is the mother of the Gods, Diti or Danu, the division, the separative consciousness the mother of the Titans; therefore the gods in man move towards light, infinity and unity, the Titans dwell in their cave of the darkness and issue forth into the divided worlds.

According to Nolini Kanta Gupta, a disciple of Sri Aurobindo, the Indian philosophical tradition did not consider the Daityas or Asuras as essentially evil or irrevocably condemned. Instead, "Diti and Aditi are sisters, twin aspects of the same Supreme Being." The Daityas are viewed as a formation of the Divine himself, and their hostility ultimately culminates in submission to the Divine Will and merging into it.

Literature

The Manusmṛiti classifies the daityas as good, while placing them at a lower level than the devas:

The origin and noteworthy members of this race are specified in the Harivamsha Purana:

List of daityas

Some of the notable daityas mentioned in Hindu mythology include:

• Hiranyaksha – Second son of Kashyapa and Diti

• Hiranyakashipu – First son of Kashyapa and Diti

• Holikā – First daughter of Kashyapa and Diti

• Andhakāsura – Son of Hiraṇyākṣa (Born from the sweat of Śiva)

• Prahlāda – Son of Hiraṇyakaśipu

• Virocana – Son of Prahlāda, father of Mahābalī

• Devamba – Mother of Mahābalī

• Mahābalī – Son of Virocana

• Bāṇāsura – Son of Mahābalī

• Uṣā – Daughter of Bāṇāsura

• Rāhu and Ketu – Head and Body of Svarbhānu, sons of Holikā

• Vajrāṅga – Son of Kashyapa and Diti

• Tārakāsura – Son of Vajrāṅga

• Tripurasura – Son of Tārakāsura

• Shambasura

• Kalanemi – Son of Virocana

See also

• Asura

• Danavas

• Devas

• Kalakeyas

• List of Asuras

• Nivatakavacha

References

Notes

External links