Thirty-three gods

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Part of Vyomamandala Showing Rudras - Circa 5th Century CE, Katra Keshav Dev; currently at Mathura Museum.

The Thirty-three gods or Tridasha (Sanskrit त्रिदश tridaśa "three times ten") is a pantheon of Hindu deities, of Vedic origin and some developed later. Tridasha generally includes a set of 31 deities consisting of 12 Ādityas, 11 Rudras, and 8 Vasus, while the identity of the other two deities that fill out the 33 varies.[1]

The 33 are:

  • Eight Vasus (deities of material elements) – Dyauṣ "Sky", Pṛthivī "Earth", Vāyu "Wind", Agni "Fire", Nakṣatra "Stars", Varuṇa "Water", Sūrya "Sun", Chandra "Moon"
  • Twelve Ādityas (personified deities) – Vishnu, Aryaman, Indra (Śakra), Tvāṣṭṛ, Varuṇa, Bhaga, Savitṛ, Vivasvat, Aṃśa, Mitra, Pūṣan, Dakṣa. This list sometimes varies in particulars.
  • Eleven Rudras, consisting of:
    • Five abstractions – Ānanda "bliss", Vijñāna "knowledge", Manas "thought", Prāṇa "breath" or "life", Vāc "speech",
    • Five names of Śiva – Īśāna "revealing aspect", Tatpuruṣa "concealing aspect", Aghora "destroying aspect Bhairava", Vāmadeva "preserving aspect", Sadyojāta "creation aspect"
    • Ātmā "self"

Other sources include the two Aśvins (or Nāsatyas), twin solar deities.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ There are eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Âdityas; and these two, Heaven and Earth, are the (thirty-second and) thirty-third. And there are thirty-three gods, and Pragâpati is the thirty-fourth;--thus he makes him (the sacrificer, or Yagña) to be Pragâpati 2: now that 3 is, for that is immortal, and what is immortal that is. But what is mortal that also is Pragâpati; for Pragâpati is everything: thus he makes him to be Pragâpati, and hence there are these thirty-four utterances, called expiations. Satapatha Brahmana 4:5:7:2 (aṣṭau vasavaḥ | ekādaśa rudrā dvādaśādityā ime eva dyāvāpṛthivī trayastriṃśyau trayastriṃśadvai devāḥ prajāpatiścatustriṃśastadenam prajāpatiṃ karotyetadvā astyetaddhyamṛtaṃ yaddhyamṛtaṃ taddhyastyetadu tadyanmartyaṃ sa eṣa prajāpatiḥ sarvaṃ vai prajāpatistadenam prajāpatiṃ karoti tasmādetāścatustriṃśadvyāhṛtayo bhavanti prāyaścittayo nāma)[1]
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