Abhasvaras () is a term used in
Buddhism to refer to a heaven and in
Hinduism to refer to a class of
deities
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...
.
Buddhism
In
Buddhism, Abhasvaras is the name of a
heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
. The words roots are Sanskrit (from "a" near to, towards + the verbal root "bhas" to shine upon, illuminate).
Hinduism
In
Hinduism, abhasvaras refers to a class of deities featured in the
Puranas
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
. They are 64 in number, and described to be personifications of mental qualities, serving as the sovereigns of all varieties of spiritual and physical enlightenment. The twelve primary abhasvaras are:
* Ātmā
* Jñātā
* Dama
* Dānta
* Śānti
* Jñāna
* Sama
* Tapas
* Kāma
* Krodha
* Mada
* Moha
The abhasvaras are referred to as one of the nine
gana deities:
adityas,
visvedevas
The Visvedevas () ( ' "all-gods") are the various Vedic gods taken together as a whole. In the Rigveda a number of hymns are addressed to them, including (according to Griffith)
1.3,1.89,
3.54-56,
4.55,
5.41-51,
6.49-52,
7.34-37, 39, 40, 42, 43,
...
,
vasus,
tushitas, abhasvaras, anilas,
maharajikas
The maharajikas () refers to a class of minor deities in Hinduism, numbering 220 or 236 members.
Description
The Puranas feature the maharajikas among the nine classes (''gaṇas'') of deities, among the adityas, rudras, vasus, visvedevas
Th ...
,
sadhyas
The sadhyas () refers to a class of minor deities in Hinduism. According to the Puranas, they are the sons of Dharma and Sadhya, a daughter of Daksha. Numbering either twelve or seventeen according to various texts, the sadhyas are described to b ...
, and the
rudras. They are stated to be the attendants of deities such as
Shiva,
Ganesha, and
Vayu, dwelling on Gaṇaparvata, located on
Kailasha.
References
{{reflist
Hindu deities
Locations in Buddhist mythology