Supernatural Beings

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In Indian mythology there are always many supernatural beings that inhabit the

stories. They are very strange to a non-Indian audience, as there are really no

counterparts for them in the mythologies of the other nations. This is an

attempt to explain some of the salient features of the most common supernatural

beings so that anybody who comes to these pages does not feel at sea - and also

so that the other articles do not have to constantly stop and explain what is

meant when one of these beings are referred to.

Apsaras

 

 

The are usually translated as heavenly nymphs but that is a very inadequate

term. Nymphs were usually modest and bashful, but the apsaras were anything

but. Their name literally means 'moving in the water' or alternatively 'water

that moves'. They are found in Indra's heaven, each of the great gods having a

separate world or heaven of their own. The apsaras are the ultimate Pleasure

Principle incarnate, visions of voluptuous beauty that have stamped themselves

on the Indian psyche as the ideal feminine form.

Their origins are controversial, some saying that the Indian Adam, Manu, created

them while others state that they emerged at the great churning of the ocean of

milk. In any case they are powerful beings who have the ability of flight and

can pronounce frightful maledictions and even perform a few minor miracles.Form

changing is amongst their abilities and an excessive love for dice and wine

their weakness. However they have no power to grant boons like the devas or

gods - a vital distinction. Primarily their function is to make the heaven of

Indra an alluring delight and hence they are called Sumad-atmajas, the

daughters of pleasure. They are also supposed to be the reward of the just man

and the hero fallen in battle in the afterlife and are hence well nigh

irresistible inducements for virtue.

Apsaras marry where they will, though they have a certain cold-blooded nose for

the main chance about them. When they do fall in love however they become very

good wives. One text says that here are 35 millions of them though only one

thousand and sixty of them are the principal apsaras. A prime function of

apsaras is to be the entertainers at Indra's court and they are supreme masters

of dance and song.

Apsaras are known in India however for a special function that they perform for

Indra. Whenever a person begins to perform too much askesis or tapasya, Indra

is scared that their accumulating virtue will allow them to depose him. To

these people are sent the apsaras to seduce and charm them away from the path

of penance and to exhaust their accumulated merit in acts of pleasure. This can

be a long-term project, apsaras actually getting married to the men or

supernatural beings they distract from the path of tapasya. It is also a

dangerous business as the constantly run the risk of being cursed by an

irascible sage.

Meneka seduced Vishwamitra away from his austerities for three years till she

gave birth to his child Shakuntala. Apsaras are genetically compatible with all

humanoid forms of life and bear all of them children. Coming to his senses he

resumed his tapasya whereupon Indra sent the even more beautiful Rambha to

attract him but this time the sage cursed her to turn into stone for ten

thousand years. The dazzlingly beautiful apsara striving to distract a

meditating sage has become an important part of the Indian imagination and

finds its echo in popular films to this day.

Asuras

The shadow side to the gods, being made of the same cosmic material as the devas

are. The word asura actually meant spiritual and divine at one time. This can be

seen even in the texts of ancient Zorashtrianism, which is written in a language

practically indistinguishable from Vedic Sanskrit. The good guys there are the

asuras, and the bad guys the devas! Even Indra, Agni, Mithra, Varuna of the

Vedic gods were praised as being great asuras. They are believed to have

emerged from the breath or asu of Prajapati the Primal Creator. They are the

same class of beings as the devas, having the same religious beliefs praying to

Shiva and Brahma, and having the same cultural practices too. The asuras are in

constant dispute with the devas for the Overlordship of the Universe and they

occasionally manage to wrest control for a while. Usually they live in the

Shadow region called Patala or the Underworld.

They have a fatal flaw in them however, which causes them to fail each time, and

that is their identification of the Self with the body. They are literal to an

amazing degree, and hardly ever evolve in consciousness because the body

satisfies them. They build great civilizations, which are monuments to

pleasure, and they have an unfortunate tendency to chase after and abduct any

pretty face they see - a habit that has more than once brought doom upon their

heads. The asuras are what the devas might have been if they had not evolved in

wisdom, powerful yet petty, immature in thinking but possessed of magical

abilities, and constantly losing what they have gained because they have only

drive but no discipline.

Danavas and daityas

Asura like beings with considerably more strength, exceedingly long lives and a

great deal more uncouth than any other life form. Unlike the asuras they do not

share the cultural values of the devas and they have made a specialization of

wrecking sacrifices that are being made to the gods. This consists of flying

over the venue and dropping garbage, human wastes and blood and flesh over the

sacred spot and fire. They are too disorganized to be more than nuisance value

most of the time, though an occasional leader arises who leads them to some

temporary victory over the devas. Human heroes regularly take on the danavas

and daityas and rout them, though that is very rare in the case of the asuras.

They love to torment mankind too because man performs the fire-sacrifices that

keep the devas strong.

One of the Danavas, Maya by name, however went against type and became the

greatest palace architect and city designer of mythology. All classes of beings

used to get him to design their city to signify their new status as having

arrived. This includes the Pandavas and their capital city of Indraprastha and

the famous golden city of Lanka too. His daughter Mandodari, is one of the

exemplars of perfection in mythology, so it would seem that the problem lay in

what they choose to be rather than in any original danava predilection to

uncouthness and brutality.

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