Birth of the Maruts (Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa)

The Maruts are the forty-nine storm-devas who go with Indra. The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa tells how they were born. Diti, the mother of the asuras, did great tapas to win a son who could kill Indra. Indra entered her womb and cut the child into forty-nine pieces. He spoke words of comfort to them, and they became his companions.

Diti’s tapas

Bhagavān Narasiṃha had killed Hiraṇyakaśipu. His mother Diti, the second daughter of Daksha, who was given to Kaśyapa, was full of grief and a fierce wish for revenge. She did hard tapas with one aim. She wanted to have a son by Kaśyapa who would be strong enough to destroy Indra, the king of the devas and the friend of Vishṇu. She held Indra to blame for the fall of the asuras.

Her tapas came with strict vows and careful discipline of ritual. It was fed by her grief and her firm will.

Indra’s plan

Indra learned by divine knowledge what Diti wanted and how great her tapas was. He made a careful plan. To oppose her openly would have been useless, because her power was growing. So he came to her as a faithful and attentive servant. He carried wood, brought water, and did every kind of service with care.

His real aim was to wait for one moment when she failed in the rules of śauca (purity) and ācāra (right conduct) that bound her tapas. Then he could enter and destroy the child in her womb before it became unbeatable.

The moment of impurity

After long and patient service, Indra’s watching was rewarded. One night Diti fell asleep in a state of ritual impurity. This broke the rules of ācāra that she had bound herself to keep. The slip was small, and it came from the tiredness of long tapas, but it opened a gap. Indra used the moment. By his mastery of māyā he made himself very small and entered her womb.

The forty-nine Maruts

In the womb, Indra took up his vajra and cut the growing child into seven pieces. He then cut each piece again into seven, so there were forty-nine pieces in all. As he did so, each piece began to weep and cry out. Indra was suddenly filled with compassion for these new lives he had made. He said to each of them, “Mā ruda”, which means “weep not”.

The tradition records that from these words of kind command the beings were named the Maruts. The Purāṇa keeps this explanation of the name from Indra’s words of comfort.

The forty-nine Maruts came forth as fully formed devas, swift, shining and strong. They did not become the enemies of Indra, as Diti had meant. They became his faithful companions. They are the most famous gaṇa (troop) of storm-devas in the Vedic world.

The seven vāta-skandhas

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa joins its account of the Maruts to a teaching on the seven vāta-skandhas. These are the seven divisions or streams of the cosmic wind (vāyu) that fill and hold up the universe. The seven streams match the seven gaṇas of the Maruts.

  1. Āvaha, the wind that carries offerings
  2. Pravaha, the wind that flows forward and keeps the solar system moving
  3. Udvaha, the rising wind
  4. Saṃvaha, the wind that bears clouds and rain
  5. Vivaha, the scattering wind
  6. Anuvaha, the following or trailing wind
  7. Parivaha, the encircling wind

Each of the seven Marut gaṇas has seven members, forty-nine in all. Each is linked with one of the seven vāta-skandhas. The names of the Maruts in each gaṇa are kept in the Purāṇa. Together they form the Marut-gaṇa that appears with Indra in all great gatherings and battles. Their joint power is the full force of the cosmic wind that keeps life going in the three worlds.

Diti wakes

When Diti woke and understood what had happened, she felt a deep mixture of grief that her plan had failed and wonder at the beings who had come out. The Maruts were born from her womb, from the child she had nourished with such great purpose. Yet they were shining and happy, and they were deeply fond of Indra. Her plan had been turned around by the very hand of the one she had meant to destroy.

The Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa account

The Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa tells the same event too.

  • In the Vāyu Purāṇa, Diti’s lapse of purity comes at midday, when the sun is at its highest. She rests with her head on her knees, and her hair falls over her face.
  • The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa says she slept with her feet toward the auspicious direction and her head unwashed.
  • Both texts tell of Indra’s entry into the womb, the cutting into sevens, and the meaning of Marut from Mā ruda.
  • The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa names the vāta-skandhas Āvaha, Pravaha, Udvaha, Saṃvaha, Vivaha, Anuvaha and Parivaha. The Vāyu Purāṇa has Suvaha and Parāhata (Parāvaha) in place of Saṃvaha and Anuvaha.
  • The Vāyu Purāṇa names the Maruts in four gaṇas. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa sets them out differently.

Both texts tell of the forty-nine Maruts who live in seven layers of the air from the earth up to Dhruva, joined to the retinue of Indra.

Sources

  • Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 5
  • Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 6