Deva Hinduism: Encyclopedia - Deva Hinduism

Deva (Hinduism)

Deva (देव in Devanagari script, pronounced as "dévə") is the Sanskrit word for "god, deity". It can be variously interpreted as a spirit, demi-god, angel, deity or any supernatural being of high excellence. In Hindu mythology, the devas are opposed to the demonic Asuras.

Deva Hinduism - Etymology

The word is from PIE *deiwos, originally an adjective meaning "celestial" or "shining", a PIE (not synchronic Sanskrit) vrddhi derivative from a root *diw "to shine", especially of the daylit sky. The feminine is Devi "goddess" (PIE *deiwih₂). The cognate word in Avestan is daeva. In Zoroastrianism and the Avesta, the ahuras are supreme, while the daevas are demonic. This has been forwarded as an argument of a religious split between early Indo-Aryans and Iranians, but it should be noted that in early Vedic religion, some Asuras are still worshipped, so that it seems more likely that the Indo-Iranians, and probably already the Proto-Indo-Europeans (the Germanic Aesir are cognate to the Asuras) worshipped two classes of gods, without any moral dichotomy. Not to be confused is the PIE proper name *Dyeus which while from the same root, may originally have referred to the sky, and hence to "Father Sky", the chief god of the Indo-European pantheon, continued in Sanskrit Dyaus, Germanic Tiwaz. The English words "divine", "deity", Latin "deus", French "deus", are cognates of deva. Today, Hindus also call a Deva as Devatā.

Deva Hinduism - Vedic religion

The Vedas, the earliest comprehensive literature of the Indo-European people, contain mantras for pleasing the devas to obtain blessings. The Rig Veda, the earliest of the four, enumerates 33 devas, which in later Hinduism became exaggerated to 330 million, likely because the same Sanskrit word means "ten million" and "class, group", i.e. "33 types of divine manifestations".

Some devas represent the forces of nature and some represent moral values. The main deva addressed in the Rig Veda is Indra. Agni (fire) and Soma represent modes of fire-sacrifice, called yagna, but personified are also seen as devas. All gods taken together are worshipped as the Vishvedevas. Varuna, identified by some to have become the Supreme God of Zoroastrianism Ahura Mazda, has the dual title of deva and asura. There are also other devas like Savitŗ, Vishnu, Rudra (later given the exclusive epithet of Shiva), Prajapati (later called as Brahmā), Mitra, Aryaman, etc and devis (goddesses) like Usha, Prithvi and Saraswati.

Deva Hinduism - Classical Hinduism

Nature devas are responsible for things as fire, air, rain and trees - most of them assumed a minor role in the later religion. Certain other deities rose into prominence. These higher devas control much more intricate tasks governing the functioning of the cosmos and the evolution of creation. Mahadevas, such as Lord Ganesa, have such tremenduous tasks under their diligence that they are sometimes called themselves gods under the Supreme One God. The Hindu trinity is composed of Brahmā, Vishnu and Shiva.

The devas are functionally equivalent of angels who serve God in Judaeo-Christian tradition. There are also many other lesser celestial beings in Hinduism such as Gandharvas or celestial musicians.

Vayu or the Lord of the wind is an example of an important deva. Also, Death is personified as the deva Yama.

Devas and Asuras are also cited in traditional Buddhist cosmology. For information on this subject, see six lower realms.

Devas, in Hinduism, are celestial beings that control forces of nature such as fire, air, wind, etc. They are not to be confused with the One and the Supreme God or His personal form, Saguna Brahman which can be visualized as Vishnu or Shiva. God (see Ishvara) or Brahman (the Supreme Spirit) is the ultimate controller. A famous verse from the Katha Upanishad states: “From fear (here, power) of Him the wind blows; from fear of Him the sun rises; from fear of Him Agni and Indra and Death, the fifth, run." In actuality, Brahman is the only Ultimate Reality, and all devas are simply mundane manifestations of Him. Hinduism allows God to be worshipped in any anthromorphic form for the sake of devotion. See Bhakti.

According to Vaishnavites, another verse that confers the Devas' subordinate status comes from the Vishnu sahasranama, whose concluding verses state: "The Rishis (great sages), ancestors, the Devas, the great elements, in fact, all things moving and unmoving constituting this universe, have originated from Narayana." (i.e.,Vishnu), expressing that in Vaishnavism, the Devas are subordinate to Vishnu or God. the Vaishnavites especially translate deva as demi-god.

See also

• Hindu deities
• Mahadeva
• Vishvadevas
• Dyeus
• Ishwara
• Brahman

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Deva Hinduism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki