Devas

Deva, “the shining ones”

The devas, also called the suras, the amaras and the devatās, are the beings who hold the offices of the worlds: Indra (Devendra), Sūrya, Candra, Vāyu, Agni, Varuṇa, Yama, Kubera and the Aśvins, with the twelve Ādityas, the eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras, the Viśvedevas, the Sādhyas and the Maruts. The Vāmana Purāṇa calls them the sons of Kaśyapa, born of Aditi, the mother of the devas. Kaśyapa is their first guru, Brahmā (Pitāmaha) is the lord of the devas, and Bhagavān Vishṇu is their master (prabhu): when he sleeps, they sleep. Their dharma, the ṛshis teach, is yajña, the study of the Vedas and of their meaning, and the pūjā of Bhagavān Vishṇu. They live on their share of the yajña, and when yajñas are not performed they are not pleased and send no rain for the crops.

The Purāṇa shows them conquered again and again, and often driven from svarga: by Andhaka, by Mahishāsura, by Hiraṇyakaśipu and his line, by Bali and by Dhundhu. Again and again they took refuge: in Śrī Hari at Śvetadvīpa, in Brahmā at Brahmaloka, in Bhagavān Śiva, in Devī Kātyāyanī. When Mahisha drove them out, the fire of their tejas became Devī Kātyāyanī, and each deva gave her his own weapon. They consecrated Kumāra as the lord of their armies. And when Bali held the three worlds, they performed tapas for a thousand years at Amṛta beyond the ocean of milk, until Śrīman Nārāyaṇa offered them a vara and Aditi and Kaśyapa asked him to be born as her son; as Vāmana he bound Bali and gave the devas back their portions of the yajña.

The text calls them of pure vratas, devoted to japa and homa. They are mighty yet often afraid, and they are shown in error too: for the garbha-havana of Devī Bhavānī, Bhagavān Śiva took away their sight, and they won it back only by the taptakṛcchra vrata and a great abhisheka. They serve the holy land of Kurukshetra to keep their own positions, and they are present at its tīrthas always.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 11, 17, 19, 22, 32, 36, 65; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 3–6, 12, 26

Who the devas are

The text names them in many ways: devas and devatās; suras, against the asuras; amaras, the deathless; tridaśas, the thirty, so that Brahmā is called Tridaśādhipati, lord of the thirty; and vibudhas, the wise. In the Saro Māhātmya they are “the sons of Kaśyapa“, and the text itself explains that these sons are the devatās.

Their father Kaśyapa is the son of Marīci, a supreme treasure of tapas, the first guru of the devas, and the guru of both the suras and the asuras, who are brahmavādīs and truthful. Their mother is Aditi, the Devamātā. The daitya Dhundhu too was a son of Kaśyapa, born of Danu.

When Vīrabhadra entered Daksha‘s yajñaśālā, the text names the devas who rose to face him: the eight Vasus, the nine Grahas, the twelve Ādityas headed by Indra, the eleven Rudras, the Viśvedevas and the Sādhyas, with the siddhas, gandharvas, kiṃpurushas, pannagas, yakshas, khagas (birds), the cakradharas and others.

Bhagavān Vishṇu is the master (prabhu) of the devas. Brahmā is called the lord of the devas. Bhagavān Śiva, destroyer of the pride of the daityas, was the commander of the devas’ army until, after Satī gave up her body, he took the dīkshā of brahmacarya and gave up that office. Later the devas consecrated Kumāra as devasenādhipati, the lord of the deva armies, and Skanda led them into battle. Devarāja Indra leads them in war and in council. At the time of Bali‘s war the devas had not yet drunk amṛta.

The stotras of the Purāṇa say what the devas are before Bhagavān Vishṇu. In the Vishṇu Sārasvata stotra, Acyuta in the form of four-faced Brahmā creates the world with the devas, asuras and men, and Ādi-Vishṇu Janārdana lifted the earth, slew the daityas and protected the devas. Prahlāda teaches that the daityas, the dānavas, the devas from Brahmā onward, every vibhūti and the whole world arose from a small portion of the Paramātmā. In his stotra to Vāmana, Brahmā says: “Neither I, nor Īśa, nor Indra and the devas, nor Sanaka and the munis, nor the yogīs can know you.”

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 4, 11, 17, 22, 32, 37, 47, 52, 59, 62; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 3, 6, 8, 9, 24

Their dharma and the yajña

When the rākshasa king Sukeśī asked the ṛshis of Magadha what dharma gives happiness even to the devas, they gave him the dharmas of the twelve yonis, laid down by Brahmā, and the first is the dharma of the devas: performing yajñas and yāgas, the study of the Vedas, the knowledge of the Vedas’ meaning, and Vishṇu-pūjā. “These are the dharma-acts the devas must always perform.”

The devas live by the yajña. When King Vena forbade dāna and yajña, the ṛshis told him: “If yajñas are not performed, the devatās are not pleased and do not send the rains the crops need. In this way this whole creation and the devatās depend on yajñas.” Even under the rule of the daityas, while the worlds kept dharma, the devatās spread the splendour of yajña on every side. When Bali took their places, Bhagavān Vishṇu promised to give the havyas back to the devas who share in the yajña, and the kavyas to the pitṛs; as Vāmana he bound Bali “to have the devas given their kratu-bhāgas”.

The devas also honour the remembrance of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Prahlāda teaches Bali that the dhyāna, smaraṇa, kīrtana, śravaṇa and paṭhana of Bhagavān Vishṇu’s name the devas count as equal to pūjā, and praise it. Those who keep the order of their lineage, like Bhāskara, Vasishṭha, Manu and Agastya, become worthy of worship by the devas and the siddhas. The Purāṇa promises that one who reads it gains the fruit of worshipping the devas, Agni, the ṛshis, the brāhmaṇas and the pitṛ-devatās.

In Satyaloka, the abode of Brahmā, the devas blossom in the waves of the sound of the Vedas, while the daityas shrivel.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 11, 40, 52, 66, 67, 69; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 2, 6, 26

Their vāhanas and their array

When Indra rode out of Amarāvatī on Airāvata against Andhaka, the dikpālas followed him with their armies, and the deva host marched in order: the twelve Ādityas in front, the Rudras behind, and in the middle the eight Vasus, the Viśvedevas, the Sādhyas, the Maruts, the Aśvins and all the yakshas and vidyādharas, each on his own vāhana. Nārada asked on which vāhanas they came, and Pulastya Maharshi told him:

• Airāvata, the white elephant born from the palm of Rudra‘s hand, of matchless speed and strength, is Indra’s vāhana.
• Pauṇḍraka, a black buffalo of fearsome form born from Rudra’s thighs, travelling with the speed of the mind, is Yama‘s.
• Jaladhi, a black śiśumāra (a beast like a crocodile) born from Rudra’s ear-wax, of graceful movement, is Varuṇa‘s.
• A best of men, born from the feet of Ambikā Devī, with eyes as large as cart-wheels, fearsome and shaped like a mountain, is Kubera‘s.
• The eleven Rudras ride gandharvas, mighty pannagas and the white bull-kings who are the sons of Surabhi.
• Candra‘s chariot is drawn by five hundred haṃsas, and the chariots of the Ādityas by fine horses.
• The Vasus ride elephants, the yakshas men, the kinnaras serpents, the Aśvins horses and the fearsome Maruts deer.
• The Bhṛgus set out on parrots, and the gandharvas went on foot.
• The other amaras of great radiance mounted the vāhanas fit for them.

In the war against Bali‘s daityas the deva army was arrayed again: Skanda in front bearing a gadā, Indra in the middle, Bhagavān Vishṇu at the rear, Jayanta on the left and the mighty Varuṇa on the right.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 9, 47

The sleep of the devas

When Uttarāyaṇa has passed and Āshāḍha comes, Bhagavān Vishṇu, Lakshmīpati, sleeps on the bed of Śesha, and as soon as he sleeps, the devas, the gandharvas, the yakshas and their mothers sink one after another into deep sleep. On Āshāḍha śukla ekādaśī, when Sūrya enters Mithuna, Jagannātha begins to sleep. On the trayodaśī Manmatha sleeps on a bed of kadamba flowers; on the caturdaśī the yakshas sleep on a cool bed of golden lotuses; on the full moon Bhagavān Śiva, his jaṭā tied up with a tiger skin, sleeps on a tiger skin.

When Sūrya enters Karkaṭa, the night of the devas begins: that is Dakshiṇāyana. Then, from the pratipad, they sleep in order: Brahmā on a bed of blue water-lilies, then Viśvakarmā, the śilpī of the devas, Devī Pārvatī, Vināyaka, Yama-dharmarāja, Kumārasvāmī, Sūrya, Kātyāyanī and Mahālakshmī, the serpents who live on air on the daśamī, and the Sādhyas on the ekādaśī of the dark fortnight. “In this order the devas sleep in the month of Śrāvaṇa; from then the rainy season begins.” The day Viśvakarmā sleeps is the holy Aśūnya-śayana Dvitīyā, and the devotee keeps the cāturmāsya vrata until Sūrya enters Vṛścika; then the devatās wake from their sleep one by one.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 17

The trees and flowers dear to them

In the month of Āśvayuja, as soon as the lotus was born from the navel of Jagannātha, the other devatās too brought forth their own flowers and plants:

• From the tip of Kāmadeva‘s hand, the beautiful kadamba.
• From Maṇibhadra, lord of the yakshas, the vaṭa (banyan).
• From the heart of Bhagavān Śiva, the ummetta (dhattūra), which is ever dear to him.
• From the middle of Brahmā‘s body, the khadira, emerald in colour.
• From Viśvakarmā, the kaṇṭakī, a thorny tree.
• From the palm of Devī Pārvatī, the kunda (jasmine).
• From the cheeks of Gaṇeśa, the sinduvāraka.
• From the right side of Yama, the pālāśa. The black fig arose there as well.
• From the body of Rudra, the vṛshaviṭapa, which causes kshobha (agitation).
• From Kumārasvāmī, the bandhujīva.
• From Sūrya, the aśvattha (the sacred fig).
• Through Kātyāyanī, the śamī.
• From the hand of Mahālakshmī, the bilva.
• From the lord of the nāgas, the clump of reeds; from the broad tail and back of Vāsuki, the white and black dūrvā grass.
• From the hearts of the Sādhyas, the haricandana trees.

“The trees and plants born from them became dear to those devatās.”

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 18

Kātyāyanī, born of the devas’ tejas

Conquered by Mahisha, all the devas left their worlds with their weapons and vāhanas and, with Brahmā in front, went to Nārāyaṇa, the lord of Lakshmī. Seeing Śiva and Keśava both there, they bowed and told them: “The wicked Mahisha dānava has seized the offices of the devas, of Sūrya, Candra, Vāyu, Agni, Pitāmaha, Varuṇa, Indra, the Aśvins and the rest, and has driven them from svarga to the earth. We have taken refuge in you. Tell us a way that will be good for us. Otherwise, unable to bear that dānava’s blows, we shall go down to Rasātala.”

At their pitiful words the tejas of Śrī Hari blazed out like the kālāgni, the fire of the end of time; the same fierce fire went forth from Śaṅkara and Pitāmaha, and the faces of Indra and all the devas grew red with krodha (wrath). That fire of the devas rose up like a towering peak, and in the āśrama of Kātyāyana Maharshi it joined with his tejas and blazed. From that great light, shining like a thousand suns, came forth Kātyāyanī Devī, her body purified by yoga, of surpassing beauty. Each part of her form came from the tejas of a deva: her face from the light of Bhagavān Śiva, her three eyes from Agni, her hair from Yama, her eighteen arms from Bhagavān Vishṇu, her breasts from Candra, her waist from Indra, her thighs, shanks and hips from the fire of Varuṇa, her lotus feet from Brahmā, her toes from the Ādityas, her fingers from the Vasus, her teeth from the Prajāpatis, her nose from the yakshas, her hands from the Maruts and her eyebrows from the Sādhyas. So formed, she shone like the bow of Kandarpa, and by the power of Kātyāyana’s tapas she became famous in the world as Kātyāyanī.

Then the devas gave her their divine weapons and ornaments: Bhagavān Śiva the triśūla, Śrī Hari the cakra, Varuṇa the śaṅkha, Agni the śakti, Vāyu the bow, Sūrya inexhaustible arrows and quivers, Indra the vajra and a bell, Yama the daṇḍa, Kubera the gadā, Brahmā the akshamālā and kamaṇḍalu, Kāla a fierce sword and shield, Candra a necklace and cāmaras, Samudra a garland, Himavān the lion as her vāhana, with a crest-jewel, earrings and the crescent moon, Viśvakarmā the paraśu, Kubera a fine drinking vessel, Śesha a necklace of serpent-jewels, and the Ṛtus a garland of flowers that never fade. Honoured thus by the best of the devas, Tryambakeśvarī let out a great roar of laughter, and all the devas, with Brahmā, Vishṇu, Rudra and Indra, rejoiced. Devas, siddhas, uragas, vidyādharas, bhūtagaṇas and apsarases forgot their troubles and served her.

The devas praised her in a stotra: “Devī, worshipped by the devas, namaskāra to you! Parameśvarī, who fill all beings on the earth in the forms of sleep, thirst, modesty, hunger, fear, radiance, faith, memory, nourishment, forbearance, shade, power, Lakshmī, livelihood, compassion, delusion, desire and māyā, and who exist in the form of saṃsāra: namaskāra to you! Mother, salutations to you!” Then, riding the lion, Kātyāyanī Devī went to the Vindhya.

In the battle, amazed at the onslaught of Mahisha’s army, the devas led by Brahmā begged Durgā Devī to put on armour. When Mahisha was slain, the devas praised Nārāyaṇī Kātyāyanī Devī as Ghoramukhī, Saundaryarāśī and Sarvajagadrakshakī, the protector of all the worlds.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 19–21

The devas in the accounts of the Purāṇa

Daksha’s yajña and the wars of Andhaka

The devas, Candra with his wives, the ṛshis and all the beings of the fourteen bhuvanas were invited to Daksha‘s yajña, and they went. When Vīrabhadra entered the yajñaśālā, the devas stood up against him with the daityas and dānavas gathered there, and heaped their matchless weapons on him; he broke them all with his own. Badly hurt by his astras, with nothing left to do, all the devas submitted to him. (Chapter 4)

When Prahlāda fought Nārāyaṇa, the Sādhya son of Dharma, the devas stood in the sky, sounded dundubhis and showered flowers on the two heroes, while their arrows covered the earth, the sky and the eight directions. (Chapter 8)

Andhaka, made unconquerable by Bhagavān Śiva‘s varas, overran the earth and came to Meru. Before the battle jackals cried as ill omens; devas and rākshasas trembled, and the heroes of both sides, each longing to conquer the three worlds, staked their lives. Andhaka crushed Indra‘s elephant and then crushed the remaining devas with kicks and fists; with Dharmarāja Yama gone, Prahlāda scattered the deva army. Having conquered the devas headed by Indra, Rudra, Yama and Soma, Andhaka received the pūjā of the daityas and went back to Bhūloka. (Chapters 9–10)

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 4, 8–10

Mahisha, Menā and the birth of Kumāra

When Bhagavān Śiva had given up the command of their army, the devas, without their senānāyaka, were defeated by Mahishāsura. Led by Devendra, they took refuge in Śrī Hari, holder of the cakra and the gadā, who dwells in Śvetadvīpa in the form of the Mahāhaṃsa. Purushottama smiled and spoke in a voice deep as a cloud: “Has the wicked Mahishāsura defeated you? Do as I tell you for your good, and you will surely gain victory.” He told them to worship on the Mahātithi with supreme śraddhā and bhakti, so that Menā, the mind-born daughter of the Agnishvātta pitṛs, would marry Himavān; from her Satī Devī, who had given up the body born of Daksha, would be born again, and Pārvatī‘s son, bearing a share of Śaṅkara’s tejas, would slay Mahisha. “Go to Kurukshetra, which gives great fruit, and worship the pitaras at the Pṛthūdaka tīrtha on the holy Mahātithi. There is no other way.” The devas asked him with folded hands what Kurukshetra is, how Pṛthūdaka arose and when the Mahātithi falls, and Hari told them the account of Kurukshetra; they asked him too of the Sarvapañcaka vedi in the north and how many Brahmavedis there are. (Chapters 22–23)

Bhagavān Vishṇu sent them to the great tīrtha that reaches as far as the Sannihita, to perform śrāddha on the bank of the ancient Sarasvatī on the akshaya tithi, when Sūrya, Candra and Bṛhaspati stand together in Mṛgaśira. The devas led by Indra went to Pṛthūdaka and bathed. Sūrya and Candra had already entered Mṛgaśira, so they prayed to Bṛhaspati: “Gurudeva, enter Mṛgaśira and make this tithi holy. All the work of the devas now rests on you.” Bṛhaspati agreed only if they gave him the lordship of the year, and they agreed. On the amāvāsyā of Āshāḍha joined with Mṛgaśira, Devendra offered piṇḍa of sesame, honey and havishya-anna to the pitaras; pleased, the pitṛs gave Menā to Himavān, who received her as the prasāda of the devas and lived happily with her. (Chapter 24)

The devas saw Menā’s three daughters at their tapas. The Ādityas and Vasus took Kuṭilā to Brahmā, and then the devas took Rāgiṇī; Brahmā said that neither could bear Śiva’s vīrya. He sent the devas again to bring Kālī, but they feared the fire of her tapas and could not even go near her; before her even Indra lost his tejas. Brahmā told them that she who had overcome them all was Śaṅkara’s ardhāṅgī, and glad at his words Indra and the suras gave up their fear and went home. Bhagavān Śiva later blessed the clay mūrti that Umā had worshipped as Bhadreśvara: devas, dānavas, gandharvas, yakshas, kiṃpurushas, nāgas and humans who worship it gain all that is auspicious. (Chapter 25)

After the betrothal, the munis set out to consult with the devas. Surrounded by the devas and the bhūtagaṇas, his loosened jaṭā floating in the wind, Girīśa shone like a great sky-touching tree in a forest of sarja and kadamba trees. (Chapter 26)

When Kumāra was born, the devas consecrated him as devasenādhipati. He bowed to them: “O devas, namas to you! By the grace of you all I shall conquer Mahisha and Tāraka. Give me leave.” At his words the devas gave up their fear, and the bhūtagaṇas they had given him in their delight followed him through the sky in the form of birds. When Mahishāsura was slain, Brahmā, Indra, Rudra, the Maruts, the Aśvins, the Vasus and the other devas went back to svarga shouting with joy. (Chapter 32)

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 22–26, 32

Mura, and the devas’ expiation

When Bhagavān Vishṇu, by a skilful stratagem, split the chest of the dānava Mura with his cakra and became known as Murāri, all the devas, freed of their troubles, praised Kamalanābha with cries of “Jaya! Jaya!” (Chapter 35)

Then the world was shaken, and the devas went to the abode of Murāri, bowed and asked the cause. Śrī Hari took them to Mount Mandara, the dwelling of Bhagavān Śiva, but the devas saw neither Śiva and Pārvatī, nor Nandīśvara, nor the bull, and stood staring at the empty mandira. “Do you not see Mahādeva seated before you?” Bhagavān Vishṇu asked. They could not see Girijānātha. Then Śrī Hari told them: “You are great pāpīs. You have committed Śiva-droha: blinded by self-interest, you performed the garbha-havana of Bhavānī Mṛḍānī. Therefore Śūlapāṇi has taken away your jñāna and viveka, and though he is before you, you cannot see him.” For that pāpa he gave them two rites.

The first was the taptakṛcchra vrata, to purify the body: three days drinking hot water, three days milk, three days ghee and the last three days living on air, with the measures of twelve palas of water, eight of milk and six of ghee. The second was the abhisheka of Bhagavān Śiva: a hundred and fifty pots of milk, sixty-four of curd, thirty-two of ghee, sixteen of pañcagavya and eight of honey, and then pure water in twice as many pots as all of these; gorocana applied a hundred and eight times; kuṅkuma and candana; worship with bilva leaves, lotuses, ummetta, suracandana, mandāra, pārijāta and atimukta flowers; dhūpa of agaru with kāleya; and the japa of the Śatarudrīya with the pada-krama of the Ṛgveda. “Then your pāpas will go, the Svāmī will be pleased, and he will give back your lost sight. There is no other way.”

The devas with Indra performed the taptakṛcchra and were freed of pāpa. When they asked where Śambhu was, Bhagavān Vishṇu said that Śaṅkara was within his own body, and showed them the Īśvara-liṅga as if lying on his heart-lotus. Rejoicing, the suras did abhisheka to the liṅga with milk and the rest, anointed it with gorocana and candana, worshipped it with bilva and flowers and agaru dhūpa, offered the great herbs as naivedya, and did japa of the hundred and eight names, pradakshiṇa and namaskāra.

Then they wondered how Hari and Hara, whose natures are of the opposed guṇas of sattva and tamas, could be one. Even as they wondered, Bhagavān Vishṇu, holding all weapons and bearing every auspicious mark, took the viśvarūpa: Śiva joined in Hari, with three eyes, earrings of serpent and lotus, jaṭā, the banners of Garuḍa and the bull, serpent necklaces, pītāmbara and tiger skin, the vanamālā, and the weapons of both, the cakra, sword, śaṅkha, plough, Śārṅga, Pināka, śūla, Ajagava, khaṭvāṅga, kapāla and bell. The devas headed by Brahmā bowed: “Namaskāra to you, Sarvagata, Avyaya!” and knew the two to be one.

Śrī Hari then led them to Kurukshetra, his own āśrama, where Śaṅkara stood in the waters as Sthāṇu. They praised him, “Sthāṇudeva, namas to you!”, and Indra prayed him to come out and grant a vara. Vṛshabhadhvaja came out smiling and welcomed them, and they bowed to Trinetra. “The three worlds are shaken by the fire of your tapas; give up this severe vrata,” they said, and he gave up his dīkshā at once. The devas went happily to their abodes. Of the Saptasārasvata tīrtha, blessed by Śiva in the same chapter, the text says that suras, asuras, gandharvas, vidyādharas, kinnaras and others are always present there. (Chapter 36)

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 35–36

Hāṭakeśvara, the Daṇḍakāraṇya and the war with Andhaka

When Viśvakarmā regained his own form, Śakra came with the Maruts, the suras and the Rudra-gaṇas to the Hāṭakeśvara kshetra for the weddings there, and the devas, gandharvas and apsarases all gathered. Ṛtadhvaja told Indra and the devas that it is best to dwell in the holy Sapta-Godāvarī tīrtha, above all in Vaiśākha, and they agreed; then the devas went to their abodes. (Chapter 39)

Daṇḍa‘s kingdom, destroyed by Śukra’s śāpa, became the Daṇḍakāraṇya, and from that time the devatās shun it. Andhaka boasted that the devas headed by Indra bore his command on their heads. (Chapter 40)

In Andhaka’s great war against Bhagavān Śiva, Brahmā, watching from the sky, sent Indra and the devas to help Śaṅkara. They dropped from the sky and merged with Śiva’s army as great rivers merge into the ocean, and the two sides clashed with a terrible roar. The gaṇādhipatis with the deva-gaṇas fought close with the dānavas, and the pramatha and deva gaṇas worshipped Janārdana and praised Indra. (Chapter 43)

Cakrapāṇi Janārdana told the devas: “Kill his horses and his charioteer, break his chariot and make him chariotless; then Hara will burn him. Do not neglect this wicked one.” Bhagavān Vishṇu slew the thousand horses with his gadā, Skanda the charioteer, and the devas headed by Indra and the pramathas headed by Vināyaka broke the chariot. When Andhaka cried that so many helped Śiva while he stood alone, Śiva took all the devas, with Indra and Brahmā, into his own body and called: “Come! I too am alone!” After the battle he called the devas led by Brahmā out of his body, and they came out and bowed to him. (Chapter 44)

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 39–40, 43–44

Kālanemi, Bali and Dhundhu

When Bali was made king of the daityas and the rākshasas marched, Devarāja Indra urged the devas to go out with their armies, and when Bhagavān Vishṇu, Trilokanātha, came to join them, Indra and all the devas bowed humbly. The armies met on a stone plain beside Udayagiri. The battle was like the ancient terrible war of the vānaras and elephants; the red dust of the chariots outdid the red clouds of sandhyā, cries of “Strike! Kill! Pierce!” filled every side, and the dust was laid only by the streams of blood. Then the deva armies following Skanda fell on the rākshasas, but the devas, who had not yet drunk amṛta, could not withstand them and were defeated. Śrī Hari drove the rākshasas back with the Śārṅga bow, and they took refuge with Kālanemi, who grew by māyā until his body filled the directions, threw the devas into his mouth and crushed Indra, Candra and Sūrya; the devas, gandharvas, yakshas, siddhas and sādhyas fled trembling. (Chapter 47)

When Bāṇa came back to the field, Bhagavān Vishṇu withdrew, and Śukra urged Bali on. Bali took up his gadā and fell upon the devas; Bāṇa with his thousand arms slew thousands of them; Maya spread his māyā and threw their army into disorder. Seeing that Bhagavān Vishṇu was not there, Indra and the devas turned back, and, unable to bear the asuras’ blows, they abandoned svarga and went to Brahmaloka. The daityas took their offices: Bali became Indra, Bāṇa Yama, Maya Varuṇa, Rāhu Candra, Hlāda Agni and Svarbhānu Sūrya, and Śukra was anointed in the place of Bṛhaspati. In Satyaloka Brahmā gave darśana with Indra and the devas present, and Indra, his head hung low, went with the devas to Brahmā’s abode. Prahlāda later told Bali that, defeated by him, Indra, Rudra, Sūrya, Agni and all the devas had gone to Śrī Hari, worshipped by the three worlds, and taken refuge in him. (Chapters 48–51)

The daitya Dhundhu, son of Kaśyapa and Danu, won from Brahmā the vara that he would not die at the hands of Indra and the devas. At the beginning of the fourth Kali yuga he drove out the devas and sat on Indra’s throne, and in the time of Hiraṇyakaśipu all the devas went in distress to Brahmaloka. When Dhundhu began a hundred aśvamedhas on Śukra’s counsel to reach Brahmaloka too, Vāyu carried the scent of his yajña smoke there; the devas lost heart and, overwhelmed by fear, went with Indra to Janārdana, bowed to Padmanābha, the giver of varas, and pleaded in choked voices: “O Devadeva, protector of the moving and the unmoving, remover of the suffering of the suras, Vishṇu, hear us! Dhundhu, mighty by Brahmā’s varas, has conquered all the devas and seized svarga; like a neglected disease he has grown, and has taken dīkshā for a hundred aśvamedhas to conquer even the dwellers of Brahmaloka. Destroy his yajña before it is completed.” Madhusūdana gave them abhaya and sent them back, and by his grace Indra regained svarga and ruled with the devas, free of enemies. In the same chapter, the Mānasa tīrtha, where Prahlāda worshipped Acyuta, is surrounded by the devas and bestows kalyāṇa. (Chapter 52)

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 47–52

Gajendra and the Vāmana avatāra

When Bhagavān Vishṇu had freed Gajendra, he went away while the ṛshis, devas, gandharvas and yakshas offered stotras, and Indra and all the devas, having seen the Gajendra-mokshaṇa, bowed with joined palms to the bhakta-vatsala. (Chapter 58)

Bhagavān Vāmana told Bharadvāja Ṛshi that his principal aṃśas, fashioned by the devas, dānavas and siddhas, are on the earth; by darśana, sparśana, kīrtana and smaraṇa of these devatās, devas, humans and sādhyas attain all four purushārthas. “Now let us go to the yajña of the lord of the asuras, to bring welfare to the devas.” When he had bound Bali, he took Yajña with him, went with the devas to Indra’s city, gave Indra Trivishṭapa and restored the devas’ yajña portions: Bhagavān Vishṇu took the form of Vāmana to accomplish the work of the devas. In Brahmā’s house, where Vāmana stayed, devas, dānavas and siddhas in their groups praise Bhagavān Vāmana with stotras. (Chapters 62–66, 69)

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 58, 62–63, 65–66, 69

Their tapas for the birth of Vāmana

The Saro Māhātmya tells the devas’ part in the coming of Vāmana in full. Hiraṇyakaśipu conquered all the devas, and after him his line ruled the three worlds unopposed; every effort of the devas to defeat them failed. Bali was consecrated king of the daityas, and Lakshmī, served by all the devas, entered into him.

Indra went to his mother Aditi on Meru and told her how the Ādityas had been defeated. Aditi said that no one but Bhagavān Vishṇu could conquer Bali, and the devatās went with her to Kaśyapa. The deva heroes with the Ādityas bowed to him as the mind-born sons of Brahmā bow to Brahmā, joined their palms and said: “In battle Bali has become unconquerable for Indra. In this time of danger, make the effort for the welfare and the growth of strength of the devatās.” Hearing the pitiful words of his sons, Kaśyapa led them to Brahmā. The devas of great strength mounted divine vehicles that go wherever one wishes and reached Brahmaloka in a moment. Seeing Brahmā’s sabhā, resounding with Sāma singing and the hum of bees, they were supremely joyful. There the devas, of pure vratas, heard the Ṛgveda chanted in krama, pāda and akshara, and the discourses of the dvijas learned in śikshā, in the meaning of the Veda and in every vidyā. Those sons of Kaśyapa, devoted to japa and homa, saw in the middle of the sabhā the glorious Brahmā, served by the prajāpatis, by the elements and the Vedas in bodily form, by artha, dharma and kāma, by the grahas, the Maruts, the Vasus, Sūrya and Candra and the seasons. With the brahmarshis they bowed their heads to him, and stood free of pāpa and stain, with composed minds.

Brahmā, lord of the devas, said that he knew beforehand why they had come: “Your wish will be fulfilled. A mahātmā who will conquer Bali will be born.” The means was intense tapas with yoga-dīkshā at the dwelling of Bhagavān Vishṇu called Amṛta, beyond the ocean of milk. At the end of their vrata they would hear a voice deep as the first rain-clouds of summer, the voice of Nārāyaṇa offering a vara, and Aditi and Kaśyapa should ask him to be born as their son. The devas with Aditi and Kaśyapa bowed and said, “We will do so.” They set out for Śvetadvīpa, crossed every ocean, mountain, forest, river and land as Brahmā had told them, came to the ocean of milk, and entered a terrible darkness without sun or living being or limit. Reaching Amṛta, Kaśyapa gave them the dīkshā of a thousand-year vrata, and the devas performed fierce tapas to Śrīman Nārāyaṇa: in silence, with the dīkshā of brahmacarya and yoga, seated in vīrāsana. Kaśyapa sang his stotra to Purushottama.

Nārāyaṇa spoke: “O devatās, ask the vara you need; I will give it. May kalyāṇa be yours.” Kaśyapa and Aditi asked him to be born as Aditi’s son, and the devas took refuge in him, asking him to be their adhinātha and protector. He promised to destroy their enemies in a muhūrta, to restore the havyas to the devas who share in the yajña and the kavyas to the pitṛs, and told them to return to their places. The devas with Aditi and Kaśyapa offered pūjā and namaskāra to the Devadeva and went quickly east to Kaśyapa’s wide āśrama in the forest of Kurukshetra. There they pleased Devamātā Aditi and established her in the dīkshā of tapas, and she performed tapas for ten thousand years, thinking of her sons defeated by the rākshasas.

As Vāmana’s birth drew near, Prahlāda told Bali that it seemed a time of rising for the devatās. At the avatāra all the sorrows of the devas and the Devamātā vanished.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 2–4, 6, 8–9

The devas at the tīrthas of Kurukshetra

When King Kuru ploughed the dharmakshetra, he asked as his vara that the place be called by his name, and that all the devas, with Śaṅkara the bearer of the triśūla and Puṇḍarīkāksha, dwell there always. The devatās take refuge in the Sannihita and serve that tīrtha. The land between the deva-rivers Sarasvatī and Dṛshadvatī, the Brahmāvarta, was made by the devas. The devas, ṛshis and siddhas always serve Kurujāṅgala and so see Brahman within themselves, and Brahmā, the devas, the ṛshis, siddhas, yakshas, gandharvas and apsarās serve Kurukshetra to keep their own positions. (Chapter 23; Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 1, 12)

At the Pañcanada stands Vāmanadeva, installed by all the devas. For one who performs kanyādāna at Pushkara in Kārtika, the devas, pleased, fulfil every desire. Sutīrthaka is the eternal dwelling of the devas and the pitṛs. One who bathes at Iḍāspada and worships the devas and the pitṛ-gaṇas has his desires fulfilled, and no evil end comes to him. (Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 13–15)

At the Anyajanma tīrtha, when Bhagavān Vishṇu remained in the form of Narasiṃha after slaying a cruel rākshasa, the devas, gandharvas and others worshipped Bhagavān Śiva, made sāshṭāṅga praṇāma and told him of Vishṇu’s fierce form; Maheśvara took the form of Śarabha. At Phalakīvana the devas, gandharvas, sādhyas and ṛshis have been performing tapas for a thousand divine years, and the mahātīrtha there, the dwelling of all the devatās, gives the fruit of giving a thousand cows. At the Haṃsa tīrtha, when Vyāsa, shaken by sorrow for his son, was ready to give up his life, the devas comforted him and turned him from that resolve. When Vāyu, in grief for his son, merged into the Pavana kuṇḍa, Brahmā and the devas, in their grace, established him again; and the Amṛta kshetra is the holy Śiva-kshetra where Hanumān was made manifest by the devas and gandharvas. When the muni Maṅkaṇa would not stop dancing, Brahmā, the devas and the ṛshis went to Mahādeva and prayed him to stop the muni. The devas, gandharvas and apsarās grieved to see the Sarasvatī full of blood. (Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 15–17, 19)

When the liṅga of Bhagavān Śiva fell in the Dāruvana, the ṛshis with Brahmā and the devatās tried to move it and could not move it at all. With Brahmā in front they went to the great lake where Śiva shines, searched and did not find him, and stayed there with troubled hearts. When Śiva brought the liṅga and set it by the lake, the devatās and ṛshis rejoiced that their births were blessed and praised Paramaśiva with a stotra of some ninety-six names, from Paramātmā, Anantayoni and Lokasākshī to Bhaktavatsala, and Śiva declared that all the devatās would worship the liṅga by the name Sthāṇu. (Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 23)

After Bhagavān Śiva had told the devatās led by Brahmā the glory of the Sthāṇu tīrtha and vanished, they went to their places. But all who had darśana of the liṅga gained svarga, and svarga filled with humans; frightened, the devatās went to Brahmā and asked his protection from that trouble. At Brahmā’s word Indra rained dust for seven days and filled the lake, and the ṛshis who smeared that dust on their bodies became worthy of worship even by the devatās. When humans gained the paramapada by the mere touch of the stone liṅga Brahmā had placed on the Ādyaliṅga, the devatās told Brahmā, and for their good he set seven liṅgas one above another on the stone liṅga. Since then, for many years, hosts of ṛshis, munis and devatās have served it. (Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 24–25)

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 23; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 1, 12–17, 19, 23–25

Vena and the rite of the tīrthas

When the ṛshis churned the right hand of the slain King Vena, a purusha as tall as a sāla tree arose, with the lines of the banner, the bow and arrow, the śaṅkha and the cakra on his hands, and Indra and all the devatās anointed him protector of the earth. Later, when Vāyu warned him that his father, a reviler of the Vedas, would destroy the purity of the tīrtha if he bathed, the king begged the devatās to tell him a prāyaścitta for his father’s pāpa. The devatās counselled him: “Bathe in each tīrtha in order, from the Ojasa tīrtha to the Culuka tīrtha on the far side of the Sarasvatī, and anoint him with that water. Those who have śraddhā and bathe in the tīrthas in this way become mukta. But this man is very selfish, a reviler of the devas, abandoned by the brāhmaṇas, and he cannot become pure by bathing himself. So you dip in the tīrthas intending him and do mārjana with that water; then he becomes pure.” Vena himself later said that only out of fear of a dog had he dipped in the lake the devatās had forbidden him, and so the dog had done him a great service; he asked mukti for it.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 26–27

Sources

• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 4, 8–11, 17–26, 32, 35–37, 39–40, 43–44, 47–52, 58–59, 62–63, 65–67, 69
• Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 1–4, 6, 8–9, 12–17, 19, 23–27