The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c20.s6.28

v1.c20.s6.28

Compared with Aditi the goddess Diti is merely a name. She occurs thrice in the Rigveda,⁵ twice with Aditi, who with Diti is said to be seen by Mitra and Varuṇa from their car. Agni is also begged to grant Diti, and preserve from Aditi. Finally Diti is said to give what is desirable. In the later Saṁhitās⁶ she appears as a colourless deity beside Aditi, except that in the Atharvaveda¹ we find already mentioned the Daityas as her sons : in the post-Vedic mythology the gods and the Daityas are the sons of Aditi and Diti respectively, the common father being Dakṣa Prajāpati. It is obvious that, even assuming that the second of these passages is not to be explained as having no connexion with deities at all, and as merely referring to giving and not-giving, regarded perhaps as powers, just as Arāti in the Atharvaveda is deified, the existence of Diti is merely derived from Aditi, and that it is idle to give any real meaning to such a personality.²