Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c30.32

c30.32

As these peoples were generally enemies, these names turned to mean alien and hated, hostile or savage, men.⁹ So Kṛṣṇa’s son Aniruddha married the daughter of Bāṇa, who is called king of the Daityas.¹⁰ These names next became terms of hatred, opprobrium and abuse. Thus the adherents of Kaṃsa, king of the Yādavas at Mathurā, are called Dānavas; ¹¹ and Madhu, the great king of the Yādavas, Kṛṣṇa’s ancestor, from whom he obtained the patronymic Mādhava, is styled a Daitya and king of the Dānavas, although his descent from Yayāti and Yadu is acknowledged (p. 66). This abusive use led to the attribution of evil characteristics to such people, who were then described as demonic beings, and so these terms approximated to asura in meaning.¹² Thus Madhu’s descendant, Lavaṇa Mādhava, is called Dānava, Rākṣasa and asura (p. 170); Jarāsandha, the great king of Magadha, who was a Bhārata, is stigmatized as an asura; ¹³ and the Buddhists and Jains are treated as asuras and Daityas.¹⁴