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Help[Facts] Re: Asura
in reply to a message by Night Blossom
Sura is Sanskrit. If you add an "a" to a name in Sanskrit, it makes it the opposite. "Sura" means a saintly person or a servant of God; "asura" is a demon or a non-spiritual person. Although an asura doesn't have to be an evil person (in the Hindu scriptures there were children of asuras who were great devotees of God yet were still officially "asuras"), still the term "asura" has pretty negative connotations in the Hindu community as the word "demon" is the best translation for it.
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It is probably worth pointing out that the root as relevant to this word probably means to throw (as an arrow) or drive away, and the predominant sense of asura in the vedic language, is `divinely powerful'. There, the gods are often called asura, and in the Rgveda the beneficial power in its meaning is quite clear. In the Avesta, the supreme being is ahUrA mazdA, whose vedic reflection is asura medhAvI, a very common epithet of varuNa, the enveloping sky god (who became in later mythology the ocean god), cognate to Uranus.
The term sura is attested later in Sanskrit, and may or may not be related to the root for brightness, and today refers to the gods. The opposition of sura and asura, which today refers to evil powerful spirits, makes up a lot of the later mythology.
The term sura is attested later in Sanskrit, and may or may not be related to the root for brightness, and today refers to the gods. The opposition of sura and asura, which today refers to evil powerful spirits, makes up a lot of the later mythology.
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