Bhūta
Bhūta, “that which has come to be, a being”
Grammar: masculine and neuter noun, the past participle of the root bhū (to be, to become): “that which has come to be”.
Meaning: (1) a being, any creature; (2) the bhūtas or bhūtagaṇas, a host of beings of many forms who attend Bhagavān Śiva, the Devī and Skanda, named with the piśācas and rākshasas; (3) an element of creation.
In the scriptures: the Vāmana Purāṇa uses the word most often for the hosts of bhūtas.
In her battle with the army of Mahisha, when Namara’s body had become a drum in her hand, Kātyāyanī let out a great roar of laughter (aṭṭahāsa), and from that laughter many kinds of wondrous bhūtas came forth. Some had the faces of tigers or wolves; others had faces like horses, buffaloes, boars, rats, cocks, cows, goats and sheep. Bearing weapons of many kinds, some sang, some laughed, some sported, some played musical instruments, and the rest sang stotras to Parameśvarī Ambikā. Together with those bhūtagaṇas the Devī destroyed the rākshasa force as a rain of thunderbolts destroys standing crops (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 21).
When Vināyaka was born, Bhagavān Śiva appointed as his helpers Ghaṭodara, best of the gaṇas, and the mātṛ-gaṇas and bhūtas who cause vighnas (obstacles) (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 28).
In the Devī Kauśikī’s battle, the bhūta-gaṇas who dwell in the mountain caves, with her lion and her other attendants, struck down the dānavas; slain by Ambikā, Cāmuṇḍā, the lion and the bhūta-gaṇas, the foremost dānavas reached Śambhu’s loka (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 29).
When Skanda took the office of Devasenādhipati, he mounted the peacock, surrounded and served by all the bhūtagaṇas (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 31). When he set out against the rākshasas, the bhūtagaṇas the devas had given him, able to take any form at will, followed him through the sky in the form of birds (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 32).
In the rakshā stotra called the Vishṇu-pañjara, the gadā of Bhagavān Vishṇu, pouring forth the light of a thousand rays like fire, destroys the powers of rakshas, bhūtas, piśācas and ḍākinīs (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 59).
When the Sarasvatī flowed with blood for a year by Viśvāmitra‘s śāpa, bhūtas, piśācas and rākshasas gathered round the river, drank the blood and laughed hideous laughs, rejoicing as if they had conquered svarga, until the ṛshis made her pure with the waters of the Aruṇā (Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 19).
As an element: in a list of the best of each kind, among the bhūtas (the elements) the best is Pṛthvī, the earth (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 12).
Related terms: Bhūtagaṇa · Gaṇa · Piśāca · Rākshasa · Mātṛgaṇa · Pañcabhūta
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 12, 21, 28, 29, 31, 32, 59
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 19