Asura - Indo-Iranian Context

Indo-Iranian Context

The term Asura is linguistically related to the Ahuras of Zoroastrianism, but has, in that religion, a different meaning. The term applies to three deities--(Ahura Mazda, Mithra, and Apam Napat). Furthermore, there is no direct opposition between the Ahuras and the Daevas: The fundamental opposition in Zoroastrianism is not between groups of deities but between Asha (truth) and Druj (falsehood). The relationship between the Ahuras and Daevas is an expression of that opposition: on the one hand, the Ahuras, like all of the other Yazatas, are defenders of Asha. On the other hand, the Daevas are, in the earliest texts, deities that are to be rejected because they are misled by "the lie" (see Daeva).

The supposition, regarding the existence of the dichotomy between Ahuras/Asuras and Daevas/Devas in Indo-Iranian times, was discussed at length by F.B.J. Kuiper. The dichotomy is evident in the earliest texts of either culture, though neither the Rigveda's Asuras nor the Gathas' Daevas are 'demons'. However, sometimes the deities cooperate. Nevertheless, the demonisation of the Asuras in post-Rigvedic India and the demonisation of the Daevas in Zoroastrian Iran took place "so late that the associated terms cannot be considered a feature of Indo-Iranian religious dialectology".

Originally presented in the 19th century but popularized in the mid-20th century, the idea of a prehistoric opposition between the *Asurás and the *Devás had already been largely rejected by Avesta scholars when a landmark publication (Hale, 1986) attracted considerable attention among Vedic scholars. Kuiper, and then Hale, discussed, "as no one before him" (so Insler's review), the attestations of ásura and its derivatives in chronological order within the Vedic texts, leading to new insights into how the Asuras came to be the evil beings that they are today and why the venerated Varuna, Mitra, Agni, Aryaman, Pusan and Parjanya are all Asuras without being demonic. Hale's work has raised further questions—such as how the later poets could have overlooked the idea that the RigVeda's Asuras are all exalted Gods.

Following Hale's discoveries, Thieme's earlier proposal of a single Indo-Iranian *Asura began to gain widespread support. In general (particulars may vary), the idea is as follows:

• Indo-Iranian *Asura became Varuna in India and Ahura Mazda in Iran.
• Those deities are the most closely related to that "Asura rules over the Gods" (AV 1.10.1, cf. RV II.27.10) and inherit the epithet, Deva Asura (V 42.11).