Editing Asura (section)

== In Hindu literature ==

=== ''Rig Veda'' ===
Bhargava states the word, ''asura'', including its variants, ''asurya'' and ''asura'', occurs "88&nbsp;times in the ''Rig Veda'', 71&nbsp;times in the singular number, 4&nbsp;times in the dual, 10&nbsp;times in the plural, and 3&nbsp;times as the first member of a compound. In this, the feminine form, ''asuryaa'', is included twice. The word, ''asurya'', has been used 19&nbsp;times as an abstract noun, while the abstract form ''asuratva'' occurs 24&nbsp;times, 22&nbsp;times in one hymn and twice each in two other hymns".<ref name=Bhargava>P.L. Bhargava, ''Vedic Religion and Culture'', South Asia Books, {{ISBN|978-81-246-0006-1}}</ref>

Bhargava<ref name=Bhargava/> gives a count of the word use for every Vedic deity: ''Asura'' is used as an adjective meaning "powerful" or "mighty". In the ''[[Rig Veda]]'', two generous kings – as well as some priests – have been described as ''asuras''. One hymn requests a son who is an ''asura''. In nine hymns, [[Indra]] is described as ''asura''. He is said to possess ''asurya'' 5&nbsp;times, and once he is said to possess ''asuratva''. [[Agni]] has total of 12&nbsp;''asura'' descriptions, [[Varuna]] has 10, [[Mitra]] has 8, and [[Rudra]] has 6.<ref name=Bhargava/> Book&nbsp;1 of the ''Rig Veda'' describes [[Savitr]] (Vedic solar deity) as an ''asura'' who is a "kind leader".<ref name= griffith135/>

{{Quote|
<poem>
हिरण्यहस्तो '''असुरः''' सुनीथः सुमृळीकः स्ववाँ यात्वर्वाङ् <nowiki>।
अपसेधन्रक्षसो यातुधानानस्थाद्देवः प्रतिदोषं गृणानः ॥१०॥</nowiki><ref>[https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_१०.२२ ''Rig Veda''] Sanskrit text, Wikisource</ref>

May he, gold-handed '''Asura''', kind leader, come hither to us with his help and favour.
Driving off ''Raksasas'' and ''Yatudhanas'', [he] the god is present, praised in hymns at evening.
– Translated by Ralph Griffith<ref name=griffith135>[[Wikisource:The Rig Veda/Mandala 1/Hymn 35|Mandala 1, Hymn 35]] Ralph T Griffith, Wikisource</ref>

The golden-handed lord of good guidance, of good grace, of good help—let him drive in our direction.
Repelling demons and sorcerers, the god has taken his place facing evening, while being hymned.
– Translated by Stephanie W. Jamison, Joel P. Brereton<ref>{{cite book |author=Stephanie Jamison |title=The Rigveda – Earliest religious poetry of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LTRDwAAQBAJ |year=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-063339-4 |page=142}}</ref>
</poem>
|''Rig Veda'' 1.35.10}}

=== Samaveda ===
In the Jaiminya (3.35.3), one of three [[recension]]s of the [[Samaveda|SamaVeda]], the term 'Asura' is stated to be derived from 'rests' (√ram) in the vital airs (asu), i.e. 'Asu' + 'ram' = 'Asuram' (Asura); this is in reference to the mind being 'asura[-like]'.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-592488 |title=The Jāiminīya or Talavakāra Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa |last=Oertel |first=Hanns |year=1896 |publisher=Journal of the American Oriental Society; JSTOR |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jstor-592488/page/n115 193]}}</ref>

=== Mahabharata ===
According to the [[Bhagavad Gita]] (16.6-16.7), all beings in the universe have both the divine qualities (''daivi sampad'') and the demonic qualities (''asuri sampad'') within each.<ref name="fowlergita" /><ref name="chrischapple" /> The sixteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita states that pure god-like saints are rare and pure demon-like evil are rare among human beings, and the bulk of humanity is multi-charactered with a few or many faults.<ref name="fowlergita" /> According to Jeaneane Fowler, the Gita states that desires, aversions, greed, needs, emotions in various forms "are facets of ordinary lives", and it is only when they turn to lust, hate, cravings, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness, hypocrisy, cruelty and such negativity- and destruction-inclined that natural human inclinations metamorphose into something demonic (Asura).<ref name="fowlergita">Jeaneane D Fowler (2012), The Bhagavad Gita, Sussex Academic Press, {{ISBN|978-1-84519-346-1}}, pages 253-262</ref><ref name="chrischapple">Christopher K Chapple (2010), The Bhagavad Gita: Twenty-fifth–Anniversary Edition, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-1-4384-2842-0}}, pages 610-629</ref>

=== Brahmanda Purana ===
[[File:Brooklyn Museum - The Devi defeats Mahasura Folio from a Dispersed Devi Mahatmya Series.jpg|thumb|The [[Mahadevi]] combatting the asura army (right), folio from the ''[[Devi Mahatmya]]'']]
In the [[Brahmanda Purana]], it is stated the term 'Asura' was used for the [[Daitya]]s due to their rejection of [[Varuni]] (Goddess of Wine) after she emerged from the [[Kshir Sagar|Ocean of Milk]] (i.e. 'a-sura', meaning 'those who do not have ''Sura''', that is, 'wine' or more generally 'liquor').<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/BrahmandaPuranaG.V.TagarePart4|title=Brahmanda Purana - English Translation - Part 4 of 5|last=G.V.Tagare|pages=[https://archive.org/details/BrahmandaPuranaG.V.TagarePart4/page/n117 1063] (9.66-69)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spokensanskrit.org/index.php?mode=3&script=hk&tran_input=sura&direct=au&anz=100|title=Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit: 'Sura'|website=spokensanskrit.org|access-date=2019-12-14}}</ref> However, in other legends, the Asuras accept Varuni (see [[Kurma]]).
===Vishnu Purana===
According to the Vishnu Purana, during the [[Samudra manthan|Samudra Manthana]] or the "churning of the ocean", the [[daitya]]s came to be known as ''asuras'' because they rejected [[Varuni]], the goddess of ''sura'' "wine", while the [[Deva (Hinduism)|deva]]s accepted her and came to be known as suras.<ref name="dalal">Roshen Dalal (2011). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide, p.46. Penguin Books India. {{ISBN|0-14-341421-6}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC&dq=kashyapa+asura+deva+purana&pg=PA46]</ref>

===Shiva Purana===
[[Alain Daniélou]] states that Asuras were initially good, virtuous and powerful in Indian mythology. However, their nature gradually changed and they came to represent evil, vice and abuse of power. In Shiva Purana, they evolved into anti-gods and had to be destroyed because they threatened the gods.<ref name="dalal"/><ref name="Alain">Alain Daniélou (1991). ''The Myths and Gods of India: The Classic Work on Hindu Polytheism from the Princeton Bollingen Series'', [https://archive.org/details/mythsgodsofindia00dani/page/141 pp. 141–142]. Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. {{ISBN|0-89281-354-7}}.</ref>

The asuras (anti-gods) were depicted to have become proud, vain, to have stopped performing sacrifices, to violate sacred laws, not visit holy places, not cleanse themselves from sin, to be envious of devas, torturous of living beings, creating confusion in everything and challenging the devas.<ref name="dalal"/><ref name="Alain"/>

Alain Daniélou states that the concept of ''asuras'' evolved with changing socio-political dynamics in ancient India. Asuras gradually assimilated the demons, spirits, and ghosts worshipped by the enemies of Vedic people, and this created the myths of the malevolent ''asuras'' and the ''[[rakshasa]]''. The allusions to the disastrous wars between the ''asuras'' and the ''suras'', found in the Puranas and the epics, may be the conflict faced by people and migrants into ancient India.<ref name="Alain"/>