DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0248
236 Demon-worship and Spirit-worship.
Some classes of demons have shapes peculiarly their own which
they cannot alter. In general they are dwarfish and shorter
than men1, but the majority enjoy the faculty of assuming any
shape suited to their needs, and even that of human beings.
It would be difficult in fact to enumerate all the varieties
of these beings, separable as they are, both good and bad,
into numberless classes according to differences of rank,
powers, and functions.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that they all fall
under two grand divisions. The first division embraces all
demons created by God at the creation of the world, or
brought into existence by the act of superior deities at other
times.
The second comprehends all demons whose creation or
production is due to men, that is to say, to the spirits of
men who have once lived upon the earth.
To begin with the first of these grand divisions, although it
is said to comprise seven principal classes of beings cor-
responding to the seven worlds—seven demon-kings, with
frames in stature equal to a palm-tree, being mentioned in
the Sahkara-vijaya (chap. LI)—yet it would be easy to show
by extracts from both the earlier and later sacred literature
that no clearly definite classification or arrangement of
demoniacal creatures in any regular series or gradation is
possible.
Probably the earliest Sanskrit expression for a 'demon' is
Asura; and we know that although this word is used in the
later literature as a general term for evil demons of malignant
disposition, it was originally restricted to beings of a god-like
nature, and even applied to the gods themselves.
Thus in the Rig-veda the word Asura is used as the epithet
of Indra, the Maruts, Rudra, and other deities, and is espe-
cially an attribute of the ancient deity Varuna, who is first
1 I noticed that all Siva's troops of demons are represented as dwarfish
in the sculptures of the caves of Elephanta.
Some classes of demons have shapes peculiarly their own which
they cannot alter. In general they are dwarfish and shorter
than men1, but the majority enjoy the faculty of assuming any
shape suited to their needs, and even that of human beings.
It would be difficult in fact to enumerate all the varieties
of these beings, separable as they are, both good and bad,
into numberless classes according to differences of rank,
powers, and functions.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that they all fall
under two grand divisions. The first division embraces all
demons created by God at the creation of the world, or
brought into existence by the act of superior deities at other
times.
The second comprehends all demons whose creation or
production is due to men, that is to say, to the spirits of
men who have once lived upon the earth.
To begin with the first of these grand divisions, although it
is said to comprise seven principal classes of beings cor-
responding to the seven worlds—seven demon-kings, with
frames in stature equal to a palm-tree, being mentioned in
the Sahkara-vijaya (chap. LI)—yet it would be easy to show
by extracts from both the earlier and later sacred literature
that no clearly definite classification or arrangement of
demoniacal creatures in any regular series or gradation is
possible.
Probably the earliest Sanskrit expression for a 'demon' is
Asura; and we know that although this word is used in the
later literature as a general term for evil demons of malignant
disposition, it was originally restricted to beings of a god-like
nature, and even applied to the gods themselves.
Thus in the Rig-veda the word Asura is used as the epithet
of Indra, the Maruts, Rudra, and other deities, and is espe-
cially an attribute of the ancient deity Varuna, who is first
1 I noticed that all Siva's troops of demons are represented as dwarfish
in the sculptures of the caves of Elephanta.