Vasu
Encyclopedia
In Hinduism
, the Vasus are attendant deities of Indra
, and later Vishnu
. They are eight elemental gods representing aspects of nature, representing cosmic natural phenomenon. The name Vasu means 'Dweller' or 'Dwelling'. They are eight among the Thirty-three gods
.
and according to the Mahabharata
as normally equated:
Though the Shatapatha Brahmana
uses the Brhad-Aranyaka names, most later texts follow the Mahabharata names with the exception that Āpa
'water' usually appears in place of Aha. The Vishnu Purana equates Prabhāsa with the lights of the 27 or 28 Nakshetra (Constellations/Lunar Mansions) and Dhruva with Akash Tatwa, that is "space", Dhruva seemingly taking over Aha's role when Aha is replaced by Āpa.
the Vasus are children of the sage Kashyapa by Aditi
and so are full siblings to the Adityas
. However the Mahabharata makes them sons of Prajāpati
son of Manu
son of Brahma by various mothers.
The Mahabharata relates how the Vasus, led by "Prithu" (presumably here a male form of Privthvi) were enjoying themselves in the forest, when the wife of Dyaus spotted an excellent cow and persuaded her husband Dyaus to steal it, which he did with the agreement and aid of Pirthu and his other brothers. Unfortunately for the Vasus, the cow was owned by the sage Vasishta who learned through his ascetic powers that the Vasus had stolen it and immediately cursed them to be born on earth as mortals. Vasishta responded to pleading by the Vasus by promising that seven of them would be free of earthly life within a year of being born and that only Dyaus would pay the full penalty. The Vasus then requested the river-goddess Ganga
to be their mother. Ganga incarnated and became the wife of King Santanu
on condition that he never gainsaid her in any way. As seven children were born, one after the other, Ganga drowned them in her own waters, freeing them from their punishment and the king made no opposition. Only when the eighth was born did the king finally oppose his wife, who therefore left him. So the eighth son, Dyaus incarnated, remained alive, imprisoned in mortal form, and later became known in his mortal incarnation as Bhishma
.
A later section of the Mahabharata gives an alternate version in which each of the Vasus gives a portion of himself to create a ninth being and so all eight are later drowned leaving only this ninth composite as an incarnation of parts of all the Vasus to live out a very long mortal life as Bhishma.
raga
s in Carnatic music
. The names of chakras are based on the numbers associated with each name. In this case, there are 8 Vasus and hence the eighth chakra is Vasu.
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, the Vasus are attendant deities of Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...
, and later Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
. They are eight elemental gods representing aspects of nature, representing cosmic natural phenomenon. The name Vasu means 'Dweller' or 'Dwelling'. They are eight among the Thirty-three gods
Thirty-three gods
The ' heaven is an important world of the devas in Buddhist cosmology. The word ' is an adjective formed from the numeral ', "33" and can be translated in English as "belonging to the thirty-three [devas]"....
.
Eight Vasus
There are varying lists of the eight Vasus in different texts, sometimes only because particular deities have varying names. The following are names and meanings according to the Brihadaranyaka UpanishadBrihadaranyaka Upanishad
The Upanishad is one of the older, "primary" Upanishads. It is contained within the Shatapatha Brahmana, and its status as an independent Upanishad may be considered a secondary extraction of a portion of the Brahmana text. This makes it one of the oldest texts of the Upanishad corpus...
and according to the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
as normally equated:
| Brihadaranyaka | |Mahabharata | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | |Meaning | | Name | |Meaning |
| Agni Agni Agni is a Hindu deity, one of the most important of the Vedic gods. He is the god of fire and the acceptor of sacrifices. The sacrifices made to Agni go to the deities because Agni is a messenger from and to the other gods... |
"hot fire" | Anala Anala In Hinduism, Anala is one of the Vasus, gods of the material world. He is equated with Agni, and is essentially the name usually used for Agni when listed among the Vasus.... (also called Agni) |
"living" |
| Prithvi Prithvi Prithvi is the sanskrit name for earth and its essence Prithivi Tattwa, in the form of a mother goddess or godmother. Prithvi is also called Dhra, Dharti, Dhrithri, meaning that which holds everything. As Prithvi Devi, she is one of two wives of Lord Vishnu. His other wife is Lakshmi. Prithvi is... |
"earth" | Dharā Dhara In Hinduism, Dharā is one of the Vasus, gods of the physical cosmos. He represents the earth and the element earth, though Earth is usually the goddess Prithvi rather than a god. Dhārā is a Sanskrit term used to refer to the flow of a stream or waterfall.-External links:* "". .net.... |
"support" |
| Vāyu Vayu Vāyu is a primary Hindu deity, the Lord of the winds, the father of Bhima and the spiritual father of Lord Hanuman... |
"wind" | Anila Anila In Hinduism, Anila is one of the Vasus, gods of the elements of the cosmos. He is equated with the wind god Vāyu, Anila being understood as the name normally used for Vāyu when numbered among the Vasus.... |
"wind" |
| Antariksha | "space" | Aha | "pervading" |
| Āditya | "eternal", a very common name for the sun Surya Surya Surya Suraya or Phra Athit is the chief solar deity in Hinduism, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives, Aditi; of Indra; or of Dyaus Pitar . The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general. Surya has hair and arms of gold... |
Pratyūsha | "pre-dawn", that is morning twilight, but often used to mean simply "light" |
| Dyaus | "sky" | Prabhāsa | "shining dawn" |
| Chandra Chandra In Hinduism, Chandra is a lunar deity and a Graha. Chandra is also identified with the Vedic Lunar deity Soma . The Soma name refers particularly to the juice of sap in the plants and thus makes the Moon the lord of plants and vegetation. He is described as young, beautiful, fair; two-armed and... mas |
"moon" | Soma Soma Soma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities... |
"soma-plant", and a very common name for the moon |
| Nakstrani | "stars" | Dhruva Dhruva In the Hindu mythology, Dhruva is a devotee of the god Vishnu, who blessed to attain the position of the polar star, also known as Dhruva in Sanskrit. Dhruva was the son of Uttānapāda... |
"motionless", the name of the Polestar Polaris Polaris |Alpha]] Ursae Minoris, commonly North Star or Pole Star, also Lodestar) is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. It is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star.... |
Though the Shatapatha Brahmana
Shatapatha Brahmana
The Shatapatha Brahmana is one of the prose texts describing the Vedic ritual, associated with the Shukla Yajurveda. It survives in two recensions, Madhyandina and Kanva , with the former having the eponymous 100 adhyayas,7624 kandikas in 14 books, and the latter 104 adhyayas,6806 kandikas in 17...
uses the Brhad-Aranyaka names, most later texts follow the Mahabharata names with the exception that Āpa
Ap (water)
Ap is the Vedic Sanskrit term for "water", in Classical Sanskrit occurring only in the plural, , whence Hindi . The term is from PIE hxap "water"....
'water' usually appears in place of Aha. The Vishnu Purana equates Prabhāsa with the lights of the 27 or 28 Nakshetra (Constellations/Lunar Mansions) and Dhruva with Akash Tatwa, that is "space", Dhruva seemingly taking over Aha's role when Aha is replaced by Āpa.
Ramayana and Mahabharata
In the RamayanaRamayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
the Vasus are children of the sage Kashyapa by Aditi
Aditi
Aditi in Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language. In the Vedas Aditi is mother of the gods from whose cosmic matrix the heavenly bodies were born...
and so are full siblings to the Adityas
Ādityas
In Hinduism, Āditya , meaning "of or related to Aditi", refers to the offsprings of Aditi. Adityas are solar class deities. In later Hinduism, Aditya is used in the singular to mean the sun.-Vedas:...
. However the Mahabharata makes them sons of Prajāpati
Prajapati
In Hinduism, Prajapati "lord of creatures" is a Hindu deity presiding over procreation, and protector of life. He appears as a creator deity or supreme God Viswakarma Vedic deities in RV 10 and in Brahmana literature...
son of Manu
Manu (Hinduism)
In various Hindu traditions, Manu is a title accorded to the progenitor of mankind, and also the very first brahman king to rule this earth, who saved mankind from the universal flood. He was absolutely honest which was why he was initially known as "Satyavrata"...
son of Brahma by various mothers.
The Mahabharata relates how the Vasus, led by "Prithu" (presumably here a male form of Privthvi) were enjoying themselves in the forest, when the wife of Dyaus spotted an excellent cow and persuaded her husband Dyaus to steal it, which he did with the agreement and aid of Pirthu and his other brothers. Unfortunately for the Vasus, the cow was owned by the sage Vasishta who learned through his ascetic powers that the Vasus had stolen it and immediately cursed them to be born on earth as mortals. Vasishta responded to pleading by the Vasus by promising that seven of them would be free of earthly life within a year of being born and that only Dyaus would pay the full penalty. The Vasus then requested the river-goddess Ganga
Ganga in Hinduism
In Hinduism, the river Ganges - referred to as Gaṅgā in the Hindu context and India - is considered sacred. The river, personified as a goddess, is worshipped by Hindus, who believe that bathing in the river causes the remission of sins and facilitates liberation from the cycle of life and death...
to be their mother. Ganga incarnated and became the wife of King Santanu
Santanu
Shantanu was a Kuru king of Hastinapura, who is mentioned in the great epic of the Mahābhārata. He was a descendant of the Bharata race, of the lunar dynasty and the ancestor of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The Rigveda mentions Shantanu. He was the youngest son of King Pratipa of Hastinapura...
on condition that he never gainsaid her in any way. As seven children were born, one after the other, Ganga drowned them in her own waters, freeing them from their punishment and the king made no opposition. Only when the eighth was born did the king finally oppose his wife, who therefore left him. So the eighth son, Dyaus incarnated, remained alive, imprisoned in mortal form, and later became known in his mortal incarnation as Bhishma
Bhishma
Bhishma or Bheeshma or Devavrata or 'Bhishma Pitamah' was the eighth son of Kuru King Shantanu who was blessed with wish-long life and had sworn to serve the ruling Kuru king. He was one of the most prominent characters of the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata. He was the grand uncle of both the...
.
A later section of the Mahabharata gives an alternate version in which each of the Vasus gives a portion of himself to create a ninth being and so all eight are later drowned leaving only this ninth composite as an incarnation of parts of all the Vasus to live out a very long mortal life as Bhishma.
Other uses
Vasu is also the name of the eighth chakra (group) of MelakartaMelakarta
Melakarta is a collection of fundamental ragas in Carnatic music . Melakarta ragas are parent ragas from which other ragas may be generated. A melakarta raga is sometimes referred as mela, karta or sampurna as well.In Hindustani music the thaat is equivalent of Melakarta...
raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
s in Carnatic music
Carnatic music
Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
. The names of chakras are based on the numbers associated with each name. In this case, there are 8 Vasus and hence the eighth chakra is Vasu.