We know of the devas and the daityas. How did they come to exist? What is the mystery behind their inception?
INTRODUCTION
The earliest mentions of how the human race began, are in the Vedas, especially the Atharvaveda, where Diti is mentioned as the mother of the Asuras (Daityas) and the Marutas. Diti is also the name of an earth goddess in the Hindu religion. She is the mother of the Marutas (storm deities) and the Daityas (a race of giants), as well as to a number of other children. In Sanskrit, the word Diti means ‘Tej’ or ‘Brilliance’.
UNDERSTANDING DITI’S VEDIC ORIGINS
As mentioned in the Vedas and puranas and the Adiparva of Mahabharata, Diti is mentioned to be one among a group of sixty daughters of Daksha Prajapati and Panchajani. Her sisters include Aditi and Satī too. Her two most famous sons were Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyākṣa, who were Jaya and Vijaya, the reborn gatekeepers of Lord Vishnu at Vaikuntha, and who are said to have failed to keep their dharma. They were slain by Vishnu in subsequent rebirths until they went back as the gatekeepers Jaya and Vijaya. Diti also had a daughter named Holikā.
HER SIGNIFICANCE IN HINDUISM
Rishi Kashyap, one of the Manas Putras of Brahma had married 13 out of 60 daughters of Prajapati Daksha. Among the 13 were Aditi (mother of the Devas) and Diti (mother of the asuras).
Aditi was impregnated during the boon hours of the day while Diti had approached Kashyapa Muni during the Sandhya kaala/Rudra kaala (when Shiva’s ganas return to Kailasha, an inauspicious time). Kashyapa knew the consequences of Diti’s untimely desire but he couldn’t refuse it. Afterwards he performed the Sandhyavandanam to reduce the prakopa, but no one can escape the clutches of fate. And hence were born the Aditya’s from Aditi and Daityas from Diti. They both are related by blood i.e., same father. According to puranas the Daityas rejected the Varuni Madeira also called Sura (wine) offered to them and became known as Asuras, whilst the Adityas accepted the wine and became known as Suras.
HOW SHE BECAME THE MOTHER OF THE MATRUTAS
And after one particular incident, Diti was so angry, that she was burning with a sense of revenge. She appeared at the gates of Amravati. She made her way to Indra’s throne room, where Indra was sitting comfortably drinking his Soma and enjoying the dance of apsaras. At the sight of the furious Diti who was marching across the room, the apsaras fled and the other gods grew anxious, but still Indra smiled, sipping his soma. This infuriated her further. She vowed in Indra’s court that a day will come when her offspring would be more powerful than Indra. She would do whatever it takes to achieve the same. After she left Indra became anxious and wanted to know her plans.
Diti went outside and swore to perform tapas for 100 years along with tantra. She drew a white circle with chalk, sat in the middle of it and started chanting. Indra felt something amiss, up in the heavens, and summoned Vayudeva to keep an eye on her.
Vayu observed Diti with his mystic powers and saw that each dawn, Diti would sit in the circle and chant until dusk. Once the sun was about to set, she would get out, wash her feet and then go back inside. Indra tried his best but could not could not harm her. Diti was careful and didn’t make a mistake for many, many years. In the 99th year, Indra desperately prayed to Vishnu, the god who resided in the soul, from him came matters of remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. He made Diti forget to wash her feet just once before going to bed. The moment Diti laid down, she remembered that she had broken a rule, but it was too late. Indra’s vajra hurtled towards her stomach and disintegrated the child. But instead of dying, it broke into many pieces. They became the Marutas. Brihaspati assured Indra, that since Diti had not fulfilled her tapas, these children were not enemies, who later on became attendants and companions of Indra.
