Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c22.28

c22.28

Uśanas-Śukra, for he had both names,¹³ is generally connected with the Daityas, Dānavas and asuras, who meant originally tribes hostile to the Aryans, being called their guru,¹ ācārya,² upādhyāya,³ purohita,⁴ and yājaka.⁵ His intimate connexion with them is often alluded to.⁶ In later notices his position was improved and he became guru or ācārya of the gods (deva) as well as of the Daityas,⁷ and then more positively of the gods and asuras⁸—an impossible status. So he is called divine,⁹ but never, as far as I know, unequivocally teacher or priest of the gods alone. The change was manifestly in this direction, for it is incredible that it could have been the reverse way, since the Daityas and Dānavas were metamorphosed into demons by later fancy; hence in the passages where he is called priest of the suras, ‘gods,’ also, the word sura has probably superseded asura sometimes. Why the change took place is not clear, but improvement may have been felt to be required after that metamorphosis and after the Bhārgavas became famous brahmans; and it is worthy of note that fables say Śiva took Kavi as his son (chapter XVI), and Umā prevented Śiva from slaying Uśanas, whence Uśanas became her son.¹⁰