Deities
The Daityas and Danavas together were later used for the term Asuras. As time passed, the vedic Asuras began to be referred as the lesser beings while in Avestha, the Persian counterpart of the Vedas, the devas began to be considered as lesser beings. The Asura were opposed to the Devas. Both groups are children of Kasyapa. Clearly, in early Vedic religion, both the Asura and the Devas were deities who constantly competed with each other, some bearing both designations at the same time.
Read more about this topic: Asura
Famous quotes containing the word deities:
“The gods themselves,
Humbling their deities to love, have taken
The shapes of beasts upon them. Jupiter
Became a bull, and bellowed; the green Neptune
A ram, and bleated; and the fire-robed god,
Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The cloud was so dark that it needed all the bright lights that could be turned upon it. But for four years there was a contagion of nobility in the land, and the best blood North and South poured itself out a libation to propitiate the deities of Truth and Justice. The great sin of slavery was washed out, but at what a cost!”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)