Ashura

AŠURA. - In the most ancient religious texts of India, the word A., corresponding to the Iranian Ahura, means spirit, god (from asu, vital spirit?). It is an epithet of Varuna, the all-seeing god of the starry sky, the highest mythological figure of the Rgveda (v. RGVEDA). But in the later texts of the same Rgveda and in subsequent literature, A. came to mean demon, and the reason for this change is unclear. According to Oldenberg, the epithet A., “spirit,” was chiefly applied to gods endowed with obscure magical powers, also common to demons; the meaning “evil spirit” prevailed, and A. became synonymous with demon. From A., erroneously understood as a (privative) + sura, the neologism sura, god, was subsequently derived. The Aryans, invaders of India, called A. the subdued black-skinned aborigines, who did not pay homage to the gods. It is not certain whether the present-day A., a non-Aryan tribe of Chota Nagpur (Bengal), numbering 4,894 members, are descendants of the A. subdued at that time by the Aryans. They are not farmers, but miners like their ancestors, and work in iron mines.