Demons and Giants and Fairies
Indian Asuras as Demons—Persian Ahura a God—Indian Gods as Persian
Demons—Theory of Assyrian Influence—Indra's Battle with Asuras—Like
Thor's Conflict with Giants—The Sun and Moon Devourer—Giants
and Demons of Ocean—The Flying City—Destruction of World by
Fire—Teutonic Parallel—Serpent Demigods—Man's Special Enemies—The
Corpse Eaters—Demons of Disease, Unbelief, and Robbery—Elves
and Fairies—The “Good People”—Celestial Musicians and Dancing
Girls—Origin of Mythical Beings—Story of a Love-sick King—His Fairy
Bride—The Echoing Forest Nymph—The “Language of Birds”—Birds as
Spirits and Ghosts.
The gods are the Suras and the demons the Asuras or “non-gods”. This
distinction, however, did not obtain in the early Vedic period.
Originally the deities, and especially Varuna and Mitra, were called
Asuras, but in the later part of the _Rigveda_ the term is applied
chiefly to the enemies of the gods. In the _Atharvaveda_, as in
subsequent Epic literature, the Asuras are simply demons and giants and
goblins.
No conclusive explanation can be offered as to how this remarkable
change took place in the course of the centuries embraced by the Vedic
period. It may have been due primarily to sectarian strife between
the religious teachers of those tribes which had been influenced by
Babylonian modes of thought and those which clung tenaciously to
the forms of primitive Aryan nature worship, and perhaps also the
worship of ancestors (Pitris). In the old Persian language, which,
like Greek, places “h” before a vowel where “s” is used in Sanskrit,
Ahura ( = Asura) signifies “god”. The Zoroastrian chief god is
called Ahura-Mazda, “the wise Lord”, as Varuna is addressed in early
Rigvedic hymns, “wise Asura and King”, and “the all-knowing Asura
who established the heavens and fixed the limits of the earth”. On
the other hand “daeva” in the Iranian dialect, which is cognate with
Sanskrit “deva”, “god”, came to mean “demon”. “Asura” is derived from
the root “asu”, which signifies “the air of life”, and “deva” from
“div”, “to shine”, or “deiwo”, “heavenly”.
The view has been urged that the revolt against “Asura” in India was
due to the hatred cherished towards the Persians who had become subject
to the Assyrians, the worshippers of Ashur. It was originally based
on the assumption that Assyrian aggression caused the migration of
Aryan tribes towards India. Subsequent research, however, has tended
to dispel this theory. It has been found, for instance, that Aryans
were associated with the Kassites who overthrew the Hammurabi dynasty
of Babylon prior to the invasion of the Punjab, and that the Assyrians
were for a period vassals of the Mitanni kings, who had Aryan names and
worshipped Indra, Varuna, and Mithra in Mesopotamia and Asia Minor.
The weak point in the Ashur-Asura theory is that it throws no light on
the process which caused the Persian “daeva” to be applied to demons
instead of to gods. How the gods of the Indian Aryans became the demons
of Persia and the demons of Persia became the gods of India is a
problem for which a solution has yet to be found.
The expository and speculative books of the priests—the _Brahmanas_
and _Upanishads_—which are attached to the Vedic hymns, do not help
us greatly in accounting for the change. We read that “the gods and
Asuras contended together, and that the former, being less numerous
than the latter, took some bricks, and placing them in a proper
position to receive the sacrificial fire, with the formula, ‘Thou art a
multiplier’, they became numerous”.[113] In one of the Brahmanas we are
informed:
[113] Muir's _Original Sanskrit Texts_, v, 15.
“The Asuras performed at the sacrifice all that the Devas performed.
The Asuras became thus of equal power with the Devas, and did not
yet yield to them. Thereupon the Devas had a vision of the ‘silent
praise’. The Asuras, not knowing it, did not perform the ‘silent
praise’. This ‘silent praise’ is the latent essence of the hymns.
Till then, whatever weapons the Devas used against the Asuras, the
Asuras used in revenge against them; but when the Devas had a vision
of the ‘silent praise’ and raised it as a weapon, the Asuras did not
comprehend it. With it the Devas aimed a blow at the Asuras, and
defeated them, for they had no comprehension of this weapon. Thereupon
the Devas became masters of the Asuras. He who has such a knowledge
becomes master of his enemy, adversary, and hater.”[114]
[114] Professor E. Vernon Arnold's _The Rigveda_, p. 54.
This explanation is but an echo of the Indra-Vritra combat. Another
statement is to the effect that “the Devas gave up falsehood and
adopted truth, while the Asuras gave up truth and adopted falsehood”.
Further, we learn that when a sacrifice was performed the Asuras put
the offerings into their own mouths, while the Suras (gods) gave the
offerings they received to one another.
The Asuras became completely identified with the demons and giants;
they symbolized evil, darkness, and drought. In Epic literature we
read that “in ancient times the gods and Asuras were very active in
destroying one another. And the terrible Asuras always succeeded in
defeating the gods.” ... Indra goes forth with his thunderbolt against
Kesin, the leader of the Asuras, who wielded a great mace; this mace
the demon hurled against the god, but Indra “cut it up in its course
with his thunderbolt. Then Kesin, furious with rage, hurled a huge mass
of rock at him.” Indra “of a hundred sacrifices rent it asunder with
his thunderbolt, and it fell down upon the ground. And Kesin himself
was wounded by that falling mass of rock.[115] Thus sorely afflicted he
fled”. Indra rescues a beautiful lady who had been seized by the Asura,
and she informs the god that her sister had previously fallen a victim
to the demon....[116]
[115] In the combat between Thor and the giant Hrungner, the
thunder-hammer similarly cleaves a mass of flint hurled by the
enemy.—_Teutonic Myth and Legend._
[116] _Mahabharata, Vana Parva_ section, pp. 679-80, Roy's trans.
The Asuras obstructed sacrifices; they were ever hovering round
altars to discover if rites were properly performed; if a priest did
not perform a ceremony in orthodox fashion, the sacrifice was of no
avail, because the Asuras devoured it; if a man neglected a part of
a ceremonial performance, a demon might take possession of him and
accomplish his ruin.
One of the terrible Asuras is the demon Rahu, who causes eclipses by
swallowing the sun and the moon, like the Chinese dragon, the wolf
Managarm of Teutonic mythology, and the Grecian demons who devour
Helena, the sun maiden, sister of the twin Dioscuri. In the Vedic
period Rahu was represented by the demon Svarbhanu.
[Illustration: DURGA SLAYING GIANTS AND DEMONS
_From a sculpture at Mámallapuram_
13]
The Asuras of Ocean are the Daityas and Danavas, the descendants of
the chaos hags Diti and Danu, and Kasyapa, a superhuman sage. These
are the giants and demons who fought against the gods like the Titans,
the Irish Fomorians, and the Norse Jotuns. Indra confined them in
this region, which is called Patala, and they remain there “afflicted
by Time”,[117] and subject to the sway of Varuna. Like the Norse
giants, they will be let loose to take part in the “Last Battle”. An
“Asura fire” burns constantly in Patala, fed by water; it is “bound
and confined”, but cannot be extinguished; when the end of all comes,
it will burst forth and burn up the three worlds.[118] In Teutonic
mythology the Universe is similarly doomed to be consumed by fire at
Ragnarok, “the Dusk of the Gods”.
[117] “Overwhelmed by misfortune” (Roy).
[118] Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld.
The abodes of these giants and demons are exceedingly beautiful; they
are agleam with gold and precious stones; seats and beds are provided
in the mansions, and there are also recreation grounds, and forests
and mountains resembling clouds. Indeed, the Daityas and Danavas live
pretty much in the same manner as the gods, for “the gods and Danavas
are brothers, although ever hostile to one another”.[119] The Danava
women are of gigantic stature, and wear jewels as large as mountain
boulders; when terrified by the attacks of the gods, they “bewail like
unto cranes in Autumn”. One of the Daitya tribes reside in the moving
city named Hiranyapura, which they constructed for their protection;
sometimes it sinks below the sea, or under the earth; at other times it
soars across the heavens like the sun. Indra, as we have seen, has a
similar aerial city.
[119] _Mahabharata._
In the Underworld dwell also the Nagas, the demoniac Cobras; they
are of human form to the waist, the rest of their bodies being like
those of serpents. Their king is Shesha, who is also named Vasuki and
Karkotáka; he is sometimes represented with a thousand heads, and
resembles Typhon, who fought with Zeus. In the _Ramayana_ he is Ravana,
the Demon of Ceylon. The prototypes of Shesha and his hosts are the
dragons Vritra, “the encompasser”; Ahi, “the confiner”; and fierce
Kushna, “the scorcher”, who spits out the sunset fires and burns up day.
When serpent worship became prevalent among the Aryans, the Nagas
were regarded as demigods. They were occasionally “the friends of
man”, and to those they favoured they gave draughts of their nectar,
which endowed them with great strength. Their city was the Paradise of
serpent worshippers. The female Nagas were beautiful nymphs, who were
sometimes wooed by mortals.
As the Asuras are the enemies of the gods, the Rakshas or Rakshasas
are the enemies of man.[120] These demons are “night prowlers”; they
have greatest power after “the first forty seconds of grey twilight
preceding nightfall”. They travel faster than the wind, and go through
the air; they have also power to change their shape. Sometimes they
appear in the guise of tigers, bears, or great monkeys; and their hues
vary from yellow to red, and blue to green. In the _Ramayana_ they
are found associated with the Asuras of Ceylon; a spy enters a demon
dwelling and sees them in all their shapes, some frightfully deformed,
with small bodies and long arms; some as grotesque dwarfs, others
as horrible giants with long projecting teeth; some with one eye,
others with three eyes; some with one leg, two legs, or three, or even
four; and some with heads of serpents, horses, or elephants. In the
_Mahabharata_ the Rakshasas are like gorillas; they have arrow-shaped
ears, big red eyes, and red hair and beards, and mouths like caves;
they feast on human beings and cattle. The heroic Bhima, like Siegfried
Dietrich of Bern, Beowulf, and Finn-mac-Coul, is a mighty slayer of
these man-eating demons. They are impervious to weapons, but Bhima
wrestles with them and breaks their backs or tears them asunder, after
lively combats with trees and boulders. Female Rakshasas sometimes fall
in love with human beings, and transform themselves into beautiful
women. Bhima takes one for his bride, and she carries him through the
air to a Celestial retreat among the mountains.
[120] Asuras are sometimes called Rakshasas also.
The most loathsome Rakshasas are the goblin-like Pisachas,[121] who
are devourers of dead bodies in cemeteries, and are exceedingly vile
and malignant fiends. They are the bringers of diseases and wasting
fevers. In the _Atharvaveda_ Agni is invoked by the priests, who mutter
charms over suffering and “possessed” mortals, to take the Pisachas
between his teeth and devour them. They are “those who hound us in
our chambers, while shouting goes on in the night of the new moon ...
the flesh devourers, who plan to injure us, and whom I overcome”.
The priest declares: “I plague the Pisachas as the tiger the cattle
owners. As dogs who have seen a lion, these do not find a refuge....
From villages I enter Pisachas fly away.... May Nirriti (a goddess of
destruction) take hold of this one.”[122]
[121] _Pron._ pe-shatch'as.
[122] Bloomfield's _Atharvaveda_ iv, 36 (_Sacred Books of the East_,
vol. xlii).
Kali, a demon who holds friendly converse with the gods in the “Story
of Nala”, is attended by Dwápara, a flesh-eater like the Pisachas.
The Panis are aerial demons, who are hated by bluff, honest Indra,
because they are the inspirers of foolish actions, slander, and
unbelief, and the imps who encourage men to neglect homage to deities.
The black Dasyus are repulsive of aspect and jealous-hearted; they
are the stealers of the cloud cows who are held captive for Vritra in
the cave of the demon Vala. The Darbas, “the tearers”, are a variety
of Pisachas. Reference is made in _Mahabharata_ to “ugly Vartikas of
dreadful sight, having one wing, one eye, and one leg”; when they
“vomit blood, facing the sun”, a dreadful happening is known to be at
hand, because they are fiends of evil omen.
Among the supernatural beings who are sometimes the enemies, but in
most cases the friends of mankind, are the Yakshas, the Gandharvas, and
the Apsaras (Apsarasas).
The Yakshas are occasionally referred to as the Punyajanas, “the good
people”; they may be of human stature, with big benevolent eyes, or
powerful giants who can fight as fiercely as Rakshasas. They are
guardians of hidden treasure, like the dwarfs and giants of Teutonic
legend, being associated with Kuvera, god of wealth, whose abode is
situated among the Himalayan mountains. In Kuvera's domain are found
“multitudes of spirits” who do not visit the world of men as a rule,
but remain near the treasure for purposes of defence; “some are of
dwarfish stature, some of fierce visage, some hunchbacked, some of
blood-red eyes, some of frightful yells; some are feeding upon fat and
flesh, and some are terrible to behold; and all are armed with various
weapons, and endued with the speed of the wind”.[123]
[123] _Mahabharata_, Roy's trans. (_Sabha Parva_, p. 32).
[Illustration: THE CELESTIAL FAIRIES (APSARAS)
_Sculpture on a modern Hindu Temple, Benares_
14]
The Gandharvas are grouped in tribes, and number over six thousand
individuals. They are all of the male sex. They haunt the air, the
forests, and the mountains, and, like the Rakshasas, have power to
work illusions in the grey twilight before nightfall. References are
made in the Epics to their combats with human beings. To warriors who
overcome them they impart instruction in religious matters; those whom
they conquer they carry away, like the Teutonic elves and dwarfs. The
Gandharvas are renowned musicians and bards and singers. When they
play on their divine instruments the fairy-like Apsaras, who are all
females, dance merrily. In the various Aryan heavens these elves and
fairies delight and allure with music and song and dance the gods, and
the souls of those who have attained to a state of bliss. The Apsara
dancing girls are “voluptuous and beautiful”, and inspire love in
Paradise as well as upon earth. Their lovers include gods, Gandharvas,
and mortals. Arjuna, the human son of Indra, who was transported in
a Celestial chariot to Swarga over Suravithi, “the Milky Way”, was
enchanted by the music and songs and dances of the Celestial elves and
fairies. He followed bands of Gandharvas who were “skilled in music
sacred and profane”, and he saw the bewitching Apsaras, including the
notorious Menaka, “with eyes like lotus blooms, employed in enticing
hearts”; they had “fair round hips and slim waists”, and “began to
perform various evolutions, shaking their deep bosoms and casting their
glances around, and exhibiting other attractive attitudes capable of
stealing the hearts and resolutions and minds of the spectators”.[124]
[124] _Vana Parva_ section of _Mahabharata_.
In the _Rigveda_ there is a water-nymph, named Apsaras; she is the
“spouse” of Gandharva, an atmospheric deity who prepares Soma for
the gods and reveals divine truths to mortals. They vanish, however,
in later times; the other Vedas deal with the spirit groups which
figure so prominently in the Epics. No doubt the groups are older than
Gandharva, the god, and Apsaras, the goddess, who may be simply the
elf-king and the fairy-queen. The “black” Dasyus are sometimes referred
to by modern-day writers as the dark aborigines who were displaced by
the Aryans; a tribal significance is also given to the Rakshasas and
the Gandharvas. But this tendency to identify the creatures of the
spirit world with human beings may be carried too far. If “Dasyus”
were really “dark folk”,[125] it should be remembered that in Teutonic
mythology there are “black dwarfs”, who live in underground dwellings,
and “white elves” associated with air and ocean; there are also black
and white fairies in the Scottish Highlands, so that black and white
spirits may simply belong to night and day spirit groups. It may be
that the Indian aborigines were referred to contemptuously as Dasyus
by the Aryans. The application of the names of repulsive imps to human
enemies is not an unfamiliar habit even in our own day; in China the
European is a “foreign devil”, but Chinese “devils” existed long
before Europeans secured a footing in the Celestial Kingdom. Those
who seek for a rational explanation for the belief in the existence
of mythical beings should remember that primitive man required no
models for the creatures of his fancy. He symbolized everything—his
ideals, his desires, his hopes and his fears, the howling wind, the
low whispering breeze, the creaking tree, the torrent, the river, the
lake, and the mountain; he heard the hammer or the trumpet of a mighty
god in the thunderstorm, he believed that giants uprooted trees and
cast boulders down mountain slopes, that demons raised ocean billows
in tempest, and that the strife of the elements was a war between gods
and giants; day and night, ever in conflict, were symbolized, as were
also summer and winter, and growth and decay. If the fairies and elves
of Europe are Lapps, or the small men of an interglacial period in
the Pleistocene Age, and if the Dasyus and Gandharvas of India are
merely Dravidians and pre-Dravidians who resisted the Aryan invasion,
who, then, it may be asked, were the prototypes of the giants “big as
mountains”, or the demons like “trees walking”, the “tiger-headed”
Rakshasas, “ugly Vartikas” with “one wing, one eye, and one leg”?
and what animal suggested Vritra, or the fiery dragon that burned up
daylight, or Rahu, the swallower of sun and moon? If the redhaired and
red-bearded Rakshasas are to be given a racial significance, what of
the blue Rakshasas and the green? The idea that primitive man conceived
of giants because he occasionally unearthed the bones of prehistoric
monsters, is certainly not supported by Scottish evidence; Scotland
swarms with giants and hags of mountain, ocean, and river, although it
has not yielded any great skeletons or even a single artifact of the
Palæolithic Age. Giants and fairies are creations of fancy. Just as
a highly imaginative child symbolizes his fears and peoples darkness
with terrifying monsters, so, it may be inferred, did primitive man who
crouched in his cave, or spent sleepless nights in tempest-stricken
forests, conceive with childlike mind of demons thirsting for his blood
and giants of wind and fire intent on destroying the Universe.
[125] Dasyu and Dasa are “applied in many passages of the _Rigveda_
to superhuman enemies”. The colour reference in Dasa is probable, but
it is also used in other senses. For a full discussion on conflicting
views regarding Dasyu and Dasa see _Vedic Index of Names and Subjects_.
Macdonell and Keith, vol. i, pp. 347-9 and 356-8.
In India, as elsewhere, the folk of the spirit world might woo or be
wooed by impressionable mortals. A Gandharva related to Arjuna, the
Pandava prince, by whom he was defeated in single combat, the “charming
story”, as he called it, of King Samvarana and the fairy-like Tapati,
a daughter of the sun god, Surya. Tapati was of all nymphs the most
beautiful; she was “perfectly symmetrical” and “exquisitely attired”;
she had “faultless features, and black, large eyes”; and, in contrast
to an Apsara, she “was chaste and exceedingly well conducted”. For
a time the sun god considered that no husband could be found who was
worthy of his daughter; and therefore “knew no peace of mind, always
thinking of the person he should select”. One day, however, King
Samvarana worshipped the sun, and made offerings of flowers and sweet
perfumes, and Surya resolved to bestow his daughter upon this ideal man.
It came to pass that Samvarana went a-hunting deer on the mountains. He
rode swiftly in pursuit of a nimble-footed stag, leaving his companions
behind, until his steed expired with exhaustion. Then he wandered about
alone. In a secluded wood he beheld a maiden of exquisite beauty; he
gazed at her steadfastly for a time, thinking she was a goddess or “the
embodiment of the rays emanating from the sun”. Her body was as radiant
as fire and as spotless as the crescent moon; she stood motionless like
to a golden statue. The flowers and the creepers round about partook
of her beauty, and “seemed to be converted into gold”. She was Tapati,
daughter of the sun.
The king's eyes were captivated, his heart was wounded by the arrows of
the love god Kama; he lost his peace of mind. At length he spoke and
said: “Who art thou, O fair one? O maiden of sweet smiles, why dost
thou linger in these lonely woods? I have never seen or heard of one so
beautiful as thee.... The love god tortures me.”
That lotus-eyed maiden made no answer; she vanished from sight like to
lightning in the clouds.
The king hastened through the forest, lamenting for her: he searched
in vain; he stood motionless in grief; he fell down on the earth and
swooned.
Then, smiling sweetly, the maiden appeared again. In honeyed words she
spoke, saying: “Arise, thou tiger among kings. It is not meet that
thou shouldst lose thy reason in this manner.”
Samvarana opened his eyes and beheld Tapati. Weak with emotion he spoke
and said: “I am burning with love for thee, thou black-eyed beauty, O
accept me. My life is ebbing away.... I have been bitten by Kama, who
is even like a venomous snake. Have mercy on me.... O thou of handsome
and faultless features, O thou of face like unto the lotus or the
moon, O thou of voice sweet as that of singing Kinnaras, my life now
depends on thee. Without thee, O timid one, I am unable to live. It
behoveth thee not, O black-eyed maid, to cast me off; it behoveth thee
to relieve me from this affliction by giving me thy love. At the first
sight thou hast distracted my heart. My mind wandereth. Be merciful;
I am thy obedient slave, thy adorer. O accept me.... O thou of lotus
eyes, the flame of desire burneth within me. O extinguish that flame by
throwing on it the water of thy love....”[126]
[126] _Mahabharata_, Roy's translation (_Adi Parva_, section, pp.
495-6).
Tapati replied: “I am not mistress of mine own self. I am a maiden
ruled by my father. If thou dost love me, demand me of him. My heart
hath been robbed by thee.”
Then, revealing her identity, Tapati ascended to heaven, and once again
Samvarana fell upon the earth and swooned.
The ministers and followers of the king came searching for him, and
found him “lying forsaken on the ground like a rainbow dropped from
the firmament”. They sprinkled his face with cool and lotus-scented
water. When he revived, the monarch sent away all his followers except
one minister. For twelve days he worshipped the sun constantly on the
mountain top. Then a great Rishi, whom he had sent for, came to him,
and the Rishi ascended to the sun. Ere long he returned with Tapas, the
sun god having declared that Varanasi would be a worthy husband for his
daughter.
For twelve years the king lived with his fairy bride in the mountain
forests, and a regent ruled over the kingdom.
But although the monarch enjoyed great bliss, living the life of a
Celestial, the people of the kingdom suffered greatly. For twelve years
no rain fell, “not even a drop of dew came from the skies, and no corn
was grown”. The people were afflicted with famine; men grew reckless,
and deserted their wives and children; the capital became like to a
city of the dead.
Then a great Rishi brought Varanasi back to his capital with his
Celestial bride. And after that things became as they were before. Rain
fell in abundance and corn was grown. “Revived by that foremost of
monarchs of virtuous soul, the capital and the country became glad with
exceeding joy.”[127] A son was born to the king, and his name was Kuru.
[127] Like an Egyptian Pharaoh, the rajah is here a god among men.
His presence was necessary to ensure the success of rain-bringing
ceremonies.
There are many other uncatalogued Celestial beings like Tapati in
Indian fairyland. In the _Atharva-veda_ there are numerous named and
nameless spirits of good and evil, and throughout the Epics references
are made to semi-divine beings who haunt streams, lakes, forests, and
plains. A _Rigveda_ hymn is addressed to the forest nymph Aranyani. She
echoes the voices of man and beast and creates illusions:
She mimics kine that crop the grass,
She rumbles like a cart at even,
She calls The cow, she hews down wood,
The man who lingers says, “Who calleth?”
O Aranyani will not harm
If one will not invade her dwelling,
When, having eaten luscious fruit,
At her sweet will she turns to slumber.
The singing birds are all singing spirits in India as in Europe. The
“language of birds” is the language of spirits. When Siegfried, after
eating of the dragon's heart, understood the “language of birds”, he
heard them warning him regarding his enemies. Our seafarers whistle
when they invoke the spirit of the wind. Sir Walter Scott drew
attention, in his _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, to the belief
that the speech of spirits was a kind of whistling. As we have seen,
the wives of Danavas had voices like Cranes; Homer's ghosts twittered
like bats; Egyptian ghosts were hooting owls. In India the croaking
raven is still a bird of evil omen, as it is also in the West. In the
Scottish Highlands the spirits of the dead sometimes appear as birds;
so do fairies. The Irish gods and the Celestial Rishis of India take
the form of swans, like the “swan maidens”, when they visit mankind. In
the Assyrian legend of Ishtar the souls of the dead in Hades “are like
birds covered with feathers”. Numerous instances could be quoted to
illustrate the widespread association of birds with the spirit world.