Bhānus (Deva-gaṇa of the Uttama Manvantara)
Bhānu, “the radiant ones”
Bhānu has other meanings too: see all meanings of Bhānu.
The Bhānus are a gaṇa (group) of devas. The Brahma Purāṇa tells that they are the children of Bhānu, one of the ten daughters of Daksha whom he gave in marriage to Dharma, and it names them as the devas of the Uttama manvantara, the third of the manvantaras.
Their birth
Daksha, son of the Pracetases, gave ten of his sixty daughters to Dharma: Arundhatī, Vasu, Yāmi, Lambā, Bhānu, Marutvatī, Saṅkalpā, Muhūrtā, Sādhyā and Viśvā. Their offspring were the Viśvedevas, the Sādhyas, the Marutvantas, the Vasus, the Muhūrtas and others; and Bhānu’s children were the Bhānus. Lomaharshaṇa tells this to the munis in the account of Daksha’s creation.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 3
The devas of the Uttama manvantara
In his telling of the manvantaras, Lomaharshaṇa names the Bhānus as the devas of the time of Uttama Manu, when the seven sons of Vasishṭha were the ṛshis and Isha, Ūrjas, Tanūrja and the others were the ten sons of the Manu. “Here the devas are the Bhānus,” he says.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 5
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 3, 5