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The bas-relief of Samudra manthan from Angkor Wat, Cambodia, shows Vishnu in the center, in his Kurma Avatar, with the Asuras and the Devas on either side.

In Hinduism, the Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes considered sinful and materialistic. The Daityas and Danavas together are Asuras. The Asura were opposed to the Devas. Both groups are children of Kasyapa. However, in early Vedic religion, both the Asura and the Devas were deities who constantly competed with each other, some bearing both designations at the same time.

Mahishasura Statue, Chamundi hills, near Mysore.

In general, in the earliest text, the Rigveda, the Asura preside over moral and social phenomena. Among the Asura are Varuna, the guardian of Ṛtá, and Aryaman, the patron of marriages. Conversely, the Devas preside over natural phenomena. Among the Devas are the Ushas, whose name means "dawn", and Indra, the leader of the Devas. However, by the time that the Brahmana texts were written, the character of the Asura had become negative.

In later texts, such as the Puranas and the Itihasas, the Devas are the good beings, and the Asura are the bad ones. According to the Bhagavad Gita (16.6), all beings in the universe assume either the divine qualities (Daivi Sampad) or the material qualities (Asuri Sampad). The sixteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita describes the divine qualities briefly and the materialistic qualities at length. In summary, the Gita (16.4) says that the Asuric qualities are pride, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness, and ignorance.

The Padma Purana says that the devotees of Vishnu are endowed with the divine qualities (viṣṇu-bhaktaḥ smṛto daiva) whereas the Asura are just the opposite (āsuras tad-viparyayaḥ).

Per P.L. Bhargava, in his book Vedic Religion and Culture, "The word, Asura, including its variants, asurya and aasura, occurs 88 times in the Rg Veda, 71 times in the singular number, 4 times in the dual, 10 times in the plural, and 3 times as the first member of a compound. In this, the feminine form, asuryaa, is included twice. The word, asurya, has been used 19 times as an abstract noun, while the abstract form asuratva occurs 24 times, 22 times in each of the 22 times of one hymn and twice in the other two hymns."

Bhargava believes that, in most of the ancient hymns, the word, Asura, is always used as an adjective meaning 'powerful' or 'mighty'. In the Rig Veda, two generous kings, as well as some priests, have been described as Asura. One hymn requests a son who is an Asura. In nine hymns, Indra is described as Asura. Five times, he is said to possess asurya, and once he is said to possess asuratva. Agni has total of 12 Asura descriptions, Varuna has 10, Mitra has eight, and Rudra has six. Bhargava gives a count of the word usage for every Vedic deity.

Moreover, Bhargava states that the word slowly assumed a negative connotation toward the end of the Rig Vedic period. The Avesta, the book of the Zoroastrians, describes their supreme God as Ahura Mazda (compare Vedic Asura Medhira) – Mighty and Wise. For them, the word Deva (daeuua) is negative. Asura is therefore regarded as an epithet. Ravanasura means mighty Ravana. Ravana was a Brahmana—Rakshasa. There was no ‘Asura Jati‘ in the way that there were Rakshasas, Daityas, Devas, and Brahmanas.

In an Indo-Iranian context[link]

The term Asura is linguistically related to the Ahuras of Zoroastrianism, but has, in that religion, a different meaning. The term applies to three deities--(Ahura Mazda, Mithra, and Apam Napat). Furthermore, there is no direct opposition between the Ahuras and the Daevas: The fundamental opposition in Zoroastrianism is not between groups of deities but between Asha (truth) and Druj (falsehood). The relationship between the Ahuras and Daevas is an expression of that opposition: on the one hand, the Ahuras, like all of the other Yazatas, are defenders of Asha. On the other hand, the Daevas are, in the earliest texts, deities that are to be rejected because they are misled by "the lie" (see Daeva).

The supposition, regarding the existence of the dichotomy between Ahuras/Asuras and Daevas/Devas in Indo-Iranian times, was discussed at length by F.B.J. Kuiper.^[1] The dichotomy is evident in the earliest texts of either culture, though neither the Rigveda's Asuras nor the Gathas' Daevas are 'demons'. However, sometimes the deities cooperate. Nevertheless, the demonisation of the Asuras in post-Rigvedic India and the demonisation of the Daevas in Zoroastrian Iran took place "so late that the associated terms cannot be considered a feature of Indo-Iranian religious dialectology".^[2]

Originally presented in the 19th century but popularized in the mid-20th century, the idea of a prehistoric opposition between the *Asurás and the *Devás had already been largely rejected by Avesta scholars when a landmark publication (Hale, 1986^[3]) attracted considerable attention among Vedic scholars. Kuiper, and then Hale, discussed, "as no one before him" (so Insler's review^[4]), the attestations of ásura and its derivatives in chronological order within the Vedic texts, leading to new insights into how the Asuras came to be the evil beings that they are today and why the venerated Varuna, Mitra, Rudra, Agni, Aryaman, Pusan and Parjanya are all Asuras without being demonic. Hale's work has raised further questions—such as how the later poets could have overlooked the idea that the RigVeda's Asuras are all exalted Gods.

Following Hale's discoveries, Thieme's earlier proposal^[5] of a single Indo-Iranian *Asura began to gain widespread support. In general (particulars may vary), the idea is as follows:

• Indo-Iranian *Asura became Varuna in India and Ahura Mazda in Iran.
• Those deities are the most closely related to that "Asura [who] rules over the Gods" (AV 1.10.1, cf. RV II.27.10) and inherit the epithet, Deva Asura (V 42.11).

In Buddhism[link]

Asuras also appear as a type of supernatural being in traditional Buddhist cosmology.

In pop culture[link]

• Asura is a race in the computer game Rappelz. Asuras, representing the Darkness, are enemies to the Deva race, representing the Light.
• In Grand Chase, Asura is the next job released after the Shisa. It is only common in Jin's case.
• In the action-adventure game Asura's Wrath, the titular character, who seeks vengeance on his daughter's kidnappers, is based on an Asura.
• A humanoid race introduced in the MMORPG add-on Guild Wars: Eye of the North and playable in Guild Wars 2.
• Asura is a powerful kishin in the hit manga and anime Soul Eater. He is considered the main antagonist.
• Asura is the main character in the Japanese arcade video game Samurai Shodown: Warrior's Rage. He also appears in Samurai Shodown! 2 and in Neo Geo Battle Colliseum. His story is somewhat similar to Asura's Wrath main character's story.
• The base name of a antagonistic alien race's home world of immoral machines with a desire to consume resources from Stargate: Atlantis. Asuras, the replicator home world in the Pegasus Galaxy, eventually destroyed via implosion(ironically using the very same technology that the machines used to hold themselves together).
• There is an Asura Heavy Armour set in the video game, Xenoblade Chronicles.
• The character Roronoa Zoro from One Piece, has a set of technique that give him the appearance of have 3 heads & 6 arms, the name of this set of techniques is called Asura.

See also[link]

• Daityas
• Danavas
• Kalakeyas
• Nivatakavacha
• List of Asuras
• Æsir-Asura etymological connection
• Æsir
• Apsara
• Asura the composer.
• Wekufe
• Daeva
• Rakshasa

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Asuras

v t e Hindu deities and texts Gods Deva Ganesha Brahma Vishnu Shiva Rama Krishna Murugan Hanuman Indra Surya more Goddesses Adi parashakti Devi Saraswati Lakshmi Sati Parvati Durga Shakti Kali Sita Radha Mahavidya Navadurga Matrikas more Texts Vedas Upanishads Puranas Ramayana Mahabharata Bhagavad Gita more Hinduism Hindu mythology

Bob Lennon
Outfielder
Born: (1928-09-15)September 15, 1928 Brooklyn, New York
Died: June 14, 2005(2005-06-14) (aged 76) Dix Hills, New York
Batted: Left	Threw: Left
MLB debut
September 9, 1954 for the New York Giants
Last MLB appearance
May 11, 1957 for the Chicago Cubs
Career statistics
Batting average	.165
Home runs	1
Runs batted in	4
Teams
New York Giants (1954; 1956) Chicago Cubs (1957)
Career highlights and awards
Hit 64 home runs for the 1954 Nashville Vols, the season HR record for the Double-A Southern Association

Robert Albert Lennon (September 15, 1928 – June 14, 2005), nicknamed "Archie," was an American professional baseball player. Although Lennon struggled at the Major League level in three different trials during the mid-1950s, he was a prolific home run hitter in minor league baseball, hitting 278 homers in a 16-year career^[1] and setting the single-season home run record for the Double-A Southern Association when he belted 64 for the 1954 Nashville Vols.

An outfielder, Lennon was born in Brooklyn, New York, and signed with his hometown Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945. After three seasons in the low minors, he was acquired by the Dodgers' bitter rivals, the New York Giants, who became the parent club of the Vols in 1952. The Vols played at Sulphur Dell, which was famous for its short right field fence — which was only 262 feet (80 m) from home plate. The park's dimensions favored pull-hitting, left-handed batters like Lennon, and he smashed 24 homers in his first year with Nashville, in 1953. The following season, he adjusted his swing and shattered the Southern Association home run record, clubbing 64 homers in 153 games played, which would stand as the SA's all time record during its 61-year (1901–1961) history. He also knocked home a league-leading 161 runs batted in, won the Triple Crown by posting a .345 batting average, and led the league in runs scored (139) and hits (210).^[2] The breakout season led to Lennon's first MLB trial, as a late-season callup for the pennant-bound 1954 Giants.

Lennon didn't stick with the 1955 Giants, however. He was sent to the Triple-A Minneapolis Millers of the American Association, where he hit 31 home runs and batted .280 with 104 RBI. The following season, he had his longest Major League stint with the 1956 Giants, appearing in 26 games, including 21 in the outfield, but he batted only .182 with one extra base hit, a double. He was then sent to the Chicago Cubs in an off-season trade, where he made his final appearances in MLB during the early weeks of the 1957 season. As a Cub, he hit his only Major League home run, in Brooklyn's Ebbets Field on April 30, 1957.^[3]

He was reacquired by the Dodgers after that season, and played four more seasons of Triple-A baseball, including seasons of 28 and 27 home runs for the Montreal Royals of the International League. Lennon then retired after the 1961 season. As a minor leaguer, he batted .281 in 1,784 games, with 1,699 hits and 1,067 RBI to go with his 278 four-baggers.^[4]

Bob Lennon died at age 76 in Dix Hills, New York.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Corbett, Warren, Bob Lennon, Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project