asura

Japanese: asura
asura

In Hindu mythology, a kind of demon deity, dedicated to fighting. A transliteration of the Sanskrit word asura. In the time of the Aryans in both India and Iran, both asura and deva meant gods, but after they separated and settled, in India asura came to mean evil gods and devas to mean good gods, and in Iran asura became Ahura Mazda, the chief god of Zoroastrianism.

From Indian Mythology

Indra is a representative deva. A deva is a god, and its counterpart is an asura. In the Rig Veda, the word asura was not necessarily used in a negative sense, but gradually came to refer to demons who were enemies of the gods.

From the Eight Guardians

…(4) Gandharva: A god of music who serves the deity Taishakuten and lives on incense (gandha). It is said that he is related to the centaurs of Greek mythology. (5) Asura: A violent deity who is said to be the enemy of the heavens. It is sometimes translated as non-heaven. …

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "asura" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…インド神話における鬼神の一種で,闘争をこととする。サンスクリットのアスラasuraの写音。アーリヤ人のインド・イラン共通の時代にはアスラとデーバdevaはともに神を意味したが,彼らが分かれて定住してからは,インドではアスラが悪神を,デーバが善神を意味するようになり,イランではアスラはゾロアスター教の主神アフラ・マズダとなった。…

【インド神話】より

…インドラは代表的なデーバdevaである。デーバは神であり,それに対するものがアスラasura(阿修羅)である。アスラは《リグ・ベーダ》においては,必ずしも悪い意味で用いられなかったが,しだいに神々に敵対する悪魔を指すようになった。…

【八部衆】より

…(4)乾闥婆(けんだつば)(ガンダルバgandharva) 帝釈天に仕える音楽神で香(ガンダgandha)を食べて生きるとされ,ギリシア神話のケンタウロスとの関係も指摘されている。(5)阿修羅(アスラasura) 天に敵対するとされる乱暴な神。非天と訳されることもある。…

※「asura」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典|株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第2版について | 情報

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