Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 6.9.1

6.9.1

I then tried them on the nature of their Deütas, but their explanation was very confused. These Gods consist, they said, of three kinds, good, bad, and indifferent. Some of the learned believe that the Deütas are composed of fire, others that they are formed of light, and many are of opinion that they are Biapek; a word of which I could obtain no clearer explication than that God is Biapek, that our soul is Biapek, and that whatever is Biapek is incorruptible and independent of time and place. There are Pendets again who, according to my learned host and his companions, pretend that Deütas are only portions of the divinity; and lastly, others consider them as certain species of distinct divinities, dispersed over the surface of the globe.