The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c23.s1.19

v1.c23.s1.19

Another suggestion is made by von Schroeder,⁶ based on von Bradke’s view⁷ of the term Asura, as applied to the gods, as meaning not ‘spirit’ as usually held, but ‘master’ or ‘lord’, and cognate with Latin *erus*. The name would thus normally have applied specifically to Dyaus, as the great sky god, or rather the god created by the moral sense of men, and also regarded as a nature deity, but as usual with the Vedic poets would have been extended by henotheism to other gods, such as Varuṇa, Parjanya, Indra, Agni, and Savitṛ. The degradation of such a term seems unlikely, and accordingly von Schroeder believes that there originally existed two distinct words, *asura*, ‘lord’, and *asura*, ‘spirit’. In India the latter use prevailed, and the older or contemporaneous *asura*, ‘lord’, was given up, because perhaps of risk of confusion with the other term, while the Iranians retained the use of Ahura as ‘master’. This suggestion is ingenious, but purely hypothetical, and hardly necessary to explain the facts. Moreover, the idea that *asura* as ‘spirit’ is naturally applied to evil beings is decidedly fantastic. The precise sense which *asura* had in the minds of those who used it is unknown to us, but there is nothing to show that it had any connexion with the worship of the spirits of the dead, as frequently suggested.¹ On the contrary, even from its possible connexion with *asu*, ‘breath’, the word may rather have meant that which is essentially alive and possessed of power and strength.²