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The Origins of Indian Gods




The concept of Indian Gods cannot be expressed in one community, caste, or religion as the nation currently endures and comforts almost every known devotions and believer. Although it is still disputable about the earliest people and religions in India, Hinduism affirms to be the most popular early age Vedic based order of society with the rules and laws referred from the ancient texts of Vedas. Hence, in this column we can discuss the Hindu Gods, or as they like to call them the 'Devas'. 

The Hindu deity concept varies from a personal god as in to perform Yoga, to 33 Vedic deities, to hundreds of Puranics of Hinduism. Firstly, the people were devoted to the visible gods in nature like the Surya for Sun, Indra for rain, Agni for Fire, Vayu for Air, and so on. They meditated and worshipped to please them for a comfortable environment and to generate resources from the land. 

The Devas represents the good, and Asuras the bad. But as per the sacred texts of Bhagavad Gita, all beings in the universe have both the divine qualities (daivi sampad) and the demonic qualities (asuri sampad) within each. As the researchers from the Vedic period dug deep in the study of God, they added the sources from where these deities came from. And Thus, The Creator, The Preserver, and The Destroyer were introduced in their texts. Several of the texts referred to them as the Bramha, who created the world in his mind, Vishnu, who preserves the world in himself, and Shiva, The one who will destroy the world when the time comes. These concepts varied in several texts but the Trio were always regarded as the highest of Gods who derived their power from their Mother Shakti. 

While there is a common misconception that there are 33 Crore Deities in Hinduism, the Atharvaveda and Satapatha-brahmana mentioned the term 'Trayastrimsati Koti', The word Koti here is explained as 'Supreme'. Hence the term 'Trayastrimsati Koti' states that there are 33 types of gods which too is debated by some intellectuals. These 33 types of gods are 12 Aditya (Anshuman, Aryaman, Indra, Twashta, Dhatu, Parjanya, Pusha, Bhag, Mitra, Varuna, Vivaswana, Vishnu), 8 Vasu (Aap, Dhruva, Soma, Dhar, Anil, Anal, Pratyusha, Prabhasa) and 11 Rudras (Shambhu, Pinaki, Girish, Sthanu, Bharga, Bhava, Sadashiva, Shiva, Hara, Sharva, Kapali). In addition to these 31 gods, Indra and Prajapati are two prominent gods. While Prajapati is Brahma, the supreme god, Indra is also the first among all Devtas. Thus the list completes as having 33 types of gods. 

Devas are the Sons of Aditi and Kashyap and Grandsons of Bramha. They were always favored by the 3 supreme deities Bramha, Vishnu, Mahesh, From their cousins, Asuras, or the Daityas (Sons of Diti). Asuras are mentioned to disturb the peace of humans and Devas to protect, Hence, they were mainly praised to fight against the bad and evil in the world. 


Deva is a Sanskrit word found in Vedic literature of 2nd millennium BCE which means donor of knowledge or resources. The Sanskrit deva- derives from Indo-Iranian *daiv- which in turn slides from the Proto-Indo-European word, *deiwo-, originally an adjective meaning "celestial" or "shining", which is a 'vrddhi' derivative from the root *diw meaning "to shine", especially as the day-lit sky. the etymological roots of Deva is a cognate with Greek dios "divine" and Zeus, and Latin deus "god" (Old Latin deivos). 
  

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