Sources present Mayasura as a scion of non‑Vedic supernatural lineages associated with Danu and Kashyapa (i.e., the Danavas) while other texts classify him among Daityas or more generally as an asura/rākṣasa figure; this variation is attested in textual summaries and discussion (see Wikipedia and StackExchange summary of classification). He is repeatedly named Maya/Mayāsura or Maya Danava, the compound indicating both his identity as a maker/craftsman (maya: artifice/illusion) and his affiliation with asura/Danava lineages (Wikipedia; Wikidata; StackExchange discussion).
The supplied sources do not offer a consistent physical description (height, complexion, dress). Narrative markers identify him as a king and master‑craftsman: he appears in courtly or architectual contexts (builder of palaces and cities), as husband (e.g., to the apsara Hema in the Uttara Kanda account) and father (sons Mayavi and Dundubhi; daughter Mandodari). The absence of an explicit anthropological portrait is noted in the available summaries (Wikipedia).
Mayasura is credited primarily with extraordinary architectural and technical skill: constructing the Mayasabha (Hall of Illusions) for the Pandavas (Mahabharata episode) and building the Tripura three cities for the sons of Tarakasura (Tripura mythology) — the latter feat is consequential enough that Shiva (Tripurantaka) destroys those cities in the mythic cycle. The Surya Siddhanta describes Mayāsura as a Daitya who received divine astronomical knowledge from the Sun God near the end of Satya Yuga, indicating transmitted scientific/astronomical lore. In narrative behavior he can shift political alignment: in the Mahabharata he surrenders to the victorious Pandavas after the burning of Khandava forest and then serves them by building a grand palace; elsewhere his constructions become objects of divine contest and destruction. He is also linked by kinship and alliance to other supernatural actors — friend of the nāga Takshaka; father‑in‑law of Ravana via daughter Mandodari — embedding him in wider mythic politics (Wikipedia; Surya Siddhanta summary; Ramayana Uttara Kanda summary).
Weaknesses
- conditionsubject to divine retribution (Tripura destroyed by Shiva / Tripurantaka)
Wards
None recorded.
Naga
Divine serpent beings of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain cosmology — powerful guardians of water, earth, and underground treasures. Revered as deities in South and Southeast Asia.
Rakshasa (Himalayan variants)
A Himalayan reception of the pan-Indian rakshasa motif: hostile or disruptive non‑human beings known from Sanskrit epic and Puranic literature, here noted where Himalayan sources and discussions intersect with the broader epic tradition. The supplied sources do not document distinct, well‑attested Himalayan folklore variants; the entry therefore presents primarily the epic/legendary profile as transmitted into Himalayan contexts in general references.
*Péh₂usōn (reconstructed)
Péh₂usōn is a hypothetical Proto‑Indo‑European pastoral guardian reconstructed by comparative scholars from parallels in Greek and Vedic traditions. Proposed as a Graeco‑Aryan ancestor‑figure, the reconstruction describes a protector of flocks, roads, and travellers rather than an attested historical cultic personality.
Abhimanyu
Abhimanyu is a youthful Kuru/Pandava warrior-hero in the Sanskrit epic Mahābhārata. Son of Arjuna and Subhadra, he is famed for entering the Chakravyuha battle formation on the thirteenth day of the Kurukshetra War and dying at age sixteen; his posthumous son Parikshit continues the Kuru line.
Achyuta
Achyuta (Sanskrit: अच्युत, acyuta) is primarily an epithet/theonym in Vaishnava Hindu tradition applied to Vishnu and Krishna, signifying the divine quality of being 'not fallen' — immutable, infallible, and imperishable. It functions as a devotional name in scripture, liturgy, and Pancharatra lists of divine emanations rather than as an autonomous folkloric spirit.
Acintya
Acintya is an Indonesian Hindu theological-symbolic representation of the ineffable supreme divine principle. In Balinese and Javanese practice it functions as a way to make ultimate reality present in ritual and art—often aniconically as an empty throne (padmasana) or anthropomorphically as a naked, flame-surrounded figure—rather than as a narrative, intervening deity.
Adi (asura)
Adi is attested in modern reference works as the name of an Asura who 'appears in the Matsya Purāṇa.' Beyond this single-line citation in secondary sources, no descriptive material about the figure is provided in the supplied research notes.
Adi Shakti
Adi Shakti (also Adi Parashakti, Mahadevi, Adya Shakti) is the primordial feminine power in Hindu/Shakta theology, regarded as the ultimate reality (Para Brahman) and the source from which all goddesses and gods manifest. She is both an impersonal cosmic principle (Mulaprakriti) and a focus of devotional invocation in temples, mantras, and pilgrimage sites such as Shakti Peethas.
Adi Vinayaka
Adi Vinayaka (Ādi Vināyaka; also called Nara Mukha Vinayaka) is a named iconographic and devotional form of the Hindu god Ganesha portraying the deity with a human head, described in sources as the form before the episode of decapitation by Shiva. It is rarely worshipped and appears in a small number of South Indian shrines and in devotional/musical repertoires.
Aditi
Aditi is a major Vedic goddess in Hindu tradition who personifies the boundless, infinite cosmic principle and functions as the maternal matrix from which many celestial deities (the Ādityas and other groups) are born. In the Vedic hymns she is invoked as a protective liberator who guards petitioners, provides wealth and safety, and frees devotees from hindrances such as sin and sickness.
Agastya
Agastya (also Agathiyar/Agasti) is a revered Vedic and later-period Indian rishi (sage) figure credited in textual traditions as an inspired seer, ascetic, teacher, culture-founder, and attributed author of Vedic, Puranic and Tamil works; in South Indian tradition he is associated with origins of Tamil grammar and Siddha medicine and is identified astronomically with the star Canopus.
Aghasura
Aghasura is an asura from the Vaishnava/Hindu narrative tradition (notably the Srimad‑Bhāgavatam) who, at the command of Kamsa, assumed the form of a vast serpent to ambush Kṛṣṇa and the cowherd boys in Vṛndāvana. The episode demonstrates Kṛṣṇa’s protective, divine power as he enters and destroys the demon from within.
Agiya Baital
The fire-form of the Vetala — a cremation ground spirit of UP and Bihar that manifests as a wandering flame rather than a corpse-inhabitor, leading night travellers off roads and into marshland or flames with a dancing fire that seems always just ahead.
Agneya / Āgneyī
Āgneyī (feminine) or Āgneya (masculine adjective) is a Vedic–Puranic divine figure and ritual principle tied to the fire-god Agni and the southeastern direction. In textual traditions she appears both as a personified daughter/shakti of Agni and as an adjectival/technical term applied to fire-consecrated things (direction, astra, etc.). She also occurs as the name Agneya (or Anala) among items revealed in a Shaiva-Agamic list associated with the Aghora face of Sadashiva.
Community Record
- [1]Mayasura — Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 'Mayasura' (summary of mythic roles, Mayasabha, family ties, Khandavaprastha episode, Uttara Kanda marriage)wiki
- [2]Mayasura — Wikidata entry Q2723049. Wikidata entry for Mayasura (classification as ancient king associated with asuras/daityas/rākṣasas)other
- [3]Surya Siddhanta reference (as reported in secondary summaries). As noted in the Wikipedia summary citing Surya Siddhanta 1.02: Mayāsura described as a Daitya who received astronomical knowledge from the Sun God around the end of Satya Yugaliterary
- [4]Tripura (mythology) — Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 'Tripura (mythology)' (description of the three cities and their destruction by Shiva)wiki
- [5]StackExchange: Is Mayasura a Daitya or Danava?. Hinduism StackExchange discussion noting variance in sources about Danava vs Daitya classificationother
- [6]Vedantu: Story of Arjuna and Mayasura (popular retelling). Popular retelling summarising the Mahabharata episode in which Mayasura surrenders to the Pandavas and builds Mayasabhafolk