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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
Beha
Asura =Spiritual Devas = Demons
Bunjab
HET
Sakaistas
Miedus will
Sindh
Asura = Demons Devas = gods
Asuras (Sk.). Exoterically, elementals and evil, gods-considered maleficent; demons, and no gods. But esoterically-the reverse. For in the most ancient portions of the Rig Veda, the term is used for the Supreme Spirit, and therefore the Asuras are spiritual and divine It is only in the last book of the Rig Veda, its latest part, and in the Atharva Veda, and the Brâhmanas, that the epithet, which had been given to Agni, the greatest Vedic Deity, to Indra and Varuna, has come to signify the reverse of gods. Asu means breath, and it is with his breath that Prajapati (Brahmâ) creates the Asuras. When ritualism and dogma got the better of the Wisdom religion, the initial letter a was adopted as a negative prefix, and the term ended by signifying "not a god", and Sura only a deity. But in the Vedas the Suras have ever been connected with Surya, the sun, and regarded as inferior deities, devas.
http://www.theosophy.org/Blavatsky/Theosophical%20Glossary/Thegloss.htm
http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/a/asura.html
Asura, from Sanskrit meaning a "power-seeking" and "power-hungry" being (I don't see how this meaning comes from the word. But this is how the Brahminic world sees it -Ninan), is similar to a Titan, often, but somewhat misleading, described as a "demon"; or anaya (non-Aryan) people of ancient India. The term's derivation is uncertain. Some scholars derive it from Ashur, the Assyrian god, or from the breath (asu) of Prajapati, or from the root as (to be). According to a Hindu myth, asura is the negation of sura, an Indo-Aryan liquor, and refers to non-Aryan abstainers.
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| SR No. | 007303 |
| Book Title | Development of Hinduism |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | M M Ninan |
| Publisher | M M Ninan |
| Publication Year | |
| Total Pages | 582 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 45 MB |