A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.519

c5.519

In the Rāmāyana and in the Purānas she is daughter of Daksha, wife of Kasyapa, and mother of the Daityas. The Vishnu Purāna relates that having lost her children, she begged of Kasyapa a son of irresistible prowess, who should destroy Indra. The boon was granted, but with this condition: “If, with thoughts wholly pious and person entirely pure, you carefully carry the babe in your womb for a hundred years.” She assiduously observed the condition; but Indra knew what was preparing for him. So he went to Diti and attended upon her with the utmost humility, watching his opportunity. In the last year of the century, Diti retired one night to rest without washing her feet. Indra then with his thunderbolt divided the embryo in her womb into seven portions. Thus mutilated, the child cried bitterly, and Indra being unable to pacify it, became angry, and divided each of the seven portions into seven, thus forming the swift-moving deities called Maruts, from the words, ‘Mā-rodīh,’ ‘Weep not,’ which Indra used to quiet them.