Diti-Marudgaṇa Janma - Vedic People

Diti was the wife of Kaśyapa and the mother of the daityas Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyāksha. This episode is told in the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 6th Skanda, Chapter 18. After Indra helped to destroy her two sons, Diti won her husband’s love by devoted service and asked him for a vara (boon): a son who would kill Indra. Kaśyapa gave her the year-long puṃsavana vrata (a vow for the birth of a son) with strict rules. Diti kept it faithfully. Indra found out her purpose and served her, looking for a flaw in her vow.

One evening she fell asleep at sandhyā without washing her face, hands and feet. Indra entered her womb by yogic power and cut the embryo into seven pieces with his Vajra. Then he cut each piece into seven more, making forty-nine pieces. To his surprise, none of them died. The power of the worship of Bhagavān Vishṇu protected them. Each piece became a Marudgaṇa, and they said they were Indra’s brothers. Diti accepted this with joy. Indra owned that his act had been selfish and asked forgiveness. The forty-nine Marudgaṇas became Indra’s companions and received an equal share of soma in the yajñas.

Diti’s grief and resolve

Indra, with the help of Vishṇu, had caused the deaths of Diti’s two sons Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyāksha. This is told in the 3rd Skanda. Diti was full of grief and anger. She thought: “Indra killed my sons for the sake of this perishable body. A person who harms others for such a body does not know his purpose. Only naraka (hell) waits for him. He goes about without check and thinks this body will last for ever. What means can I find to humble his pride?”

She decided to win Kaśyapa’s favour by loving service. She served him with devotion, spoke sweetly, and gave him gentle smiles and sidelong glances. Kaśyapa was a man of clear judgement. But Diti used the power that Brahmā gave to women at the start of creation, when Brahmā divided his own body into male and female. By it she overcame even Kaśyapa’s wisdom, as Kaśyapa himself said later. He was won over.

The request and Kaśyapa’s dilemma

Kaśyapa said to Diti with joy: “You have served me with such devotion. Ask for a vara. When a husband is pleased, what can a wife not gain?”

Diti asked: “O Maharshi! Indra killed my two sons. I ask for a son who will kill Indra, and who will not die.”

Kaśyapa at once regretted his promise. He said to himself: “Alas! Today māyā in the form of a woman has taken hold of my mind. I have grown dull in chasing the pleasures of the senses, and I will soon fall into naraka. She has only followed the nature of a woman. What fault is hers? The fault is mine. I am without viveka (discernment) and without control of the senses (indriya-jaya).” He also saw that he could not take back a promise he had given freely.

He decided that a promise given must be kept. Even Indra, he thought, might deserve to be killed, for brahmahatyā. So he showed her a path: “O Kalyāṇī! If you keep the puṃsavana vrata that I will give you for one full year, without a break, you will have a son who will destroy Indra.”

The rules of the puṃsavana vrata

Kaśyapa gave these rules for Diti’s puṃsavana vrata:

Do not harm any creature.
Do not use harsh words, and do not speak untruth.
Do not cut the nails or the hair.
Do not touch impure things.
Take only poured water. Do not bathe by dipping in water.
Do not become angry, and do not speak to wicked people.
Do not wear unwashed clothes.
Never wear again a garland that has been worn once.
Do not eat food that others have left, food spoiled by ants, food with meat in it, food gained by adharma, or food that has had even slight contact with a menstruating woman.
Do not drink water from the cupped palm.
Do not go out without bathing and washing the face, hands and feet. Do not go out at sandhyā. Do not go out with the hair loose. Do not go out without proper decoration (tika and the like). Do not go out without the body fully covered. Do not talk too much.
Do not sleep without washing the feet. Do not sleep unclean. Do not sleep with wet feet.
Do not lie with the head to the north or the west. Do not sleep naked. Do not sleep in company with others. Do not sleep at the two sandhyās.
Always wear freshly washed cloth, and be adorned with auspicious marks.
Before eating in the morning, worship the cows, the knowers of the Veda, Lakshmī and Bhagavān Śrī Hari.
Every day, give garlands, sandalwood, food and ornaments to suvāsinīs (married women whose husbands are alive).
Serve and honour the husband in every way, and meditate on the tejas of the husband as living within the womb.

Indra’s service and watching

Indra was clever and found out Diti’s purpose. He came to her āśrama and served her all the time. Each day, at the right hours, he brought flowers, fruits, roots, samidhas (sticks for the fire), darbha grass, leaves, shoots, earth and water from the forest. His real aim while doing this was to watch for any flaw (lopa) in her keeping of the vrata that he could use.

Śuka Maharshi likens Indra to a hunter who dresses as a deer to come close to the deer he wants to kill. For a long time Indra found no flaw, for Diti’s vrata was spotless. Indra grew more and more anxious.

The flaw: sleep at sandhyā

One day Diti was tired from the long vrata and overcome by her prārabdha-karma. She ate her meal and then fell asleep at sandhyā without first washing her face, hands and feet. This broke one of the rules of the vrata.

Indra saw his chance. By his yogic power he entered Diti’s womb in his subtle form. He found the embryo, golden in its brightness, and cut it into seven pieces with his Vajra. The pieces cried out. He said to them, “Mā ruda! Mā ruda!” (Do not cry! Do not cry!). Then he cut each of the seven pieces into seven more, making forty-nine pieces in all. To his amazement, not one of the pieces died. The life-force of the worship of Bhagavān Vishṇu had protected them.

The forty-nine pieces spoke to Indra with joined hands: “O Indra! Why do you wish to kill us? We are the Marudgaṇas. We are your own younger brothers.”

The name Marut

The name is explained like this. Indra kept saying “Mā ruda” (do not cry) to the pieces of the embryo. They heard “mā ruda” as they came into being, and so they became known as the Marutas, the Marudgaṇas.

Diti’s response

Diti woke from sleep and saw forty-nine blazing figures, like fires, standing with Indra. She was filled with joy.

Then Indra told her the truth. He had found out her purpose and stayed by her side. He had found the flaw on the day she slept at sandhyā without ritual purity. He had entered the womb and cut the embryo again and again, and yet none of the pieces had died. He said this was because of the power of the worship of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He said: “Those who worship Purushottama with no wish for reward (nishkāma-bhāva), not even asking for moksha, are truly skilled in seeking their own good.” He admitted that his act had been selfish and asked Diti’s forgiveness. Diti was pleased by his changed intention. She forgave him and blessed him.

The forty-nine Marudgaṇas

The forty-nine Marudgaṇas were sons of Diti, protected by the power of the worship of Bhagavān Vishṇu. They became companions of Indra. Their mother was an asura, Diti, but Indra set aside the bias of that lineage. He counted them among the devas and gave them an equal share of soma in the yajñas. They are counted among the Fifty Devas, Indra and the forty-nine Marutas.

Sources

Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 6th Skanda, Chapters 18–19