 in hinduism, the vasus are attendant deities of indra, and later vishnu. they are eight elemental gods (called "aá¹£á¹­a-vasu", 'eight vasus') representing aspects of nature, representing cosmic natural phenomenon. the name vasu means 'dweller' or 'dwelling'. they are eight among the thirty-three gods. ==eight vasus== there are varying lists of the eight vasus in different texts, sometimes only because particular deities have varying names. the following are names and meanings according to the brihadaranyaka upanishad and according to the mahabharata as normally equated: {| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" align="center" |- !colspan = "2" style="background:#efefef;" | brihadaranyaka !! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;" |mahabharata |- !style="background:#efefef;" | name !! style="background:#efefef;" |meaning !!style="background:#efefef;" | name !! style="background:#efefef;" |meaning |- | prithvi || 50px "earth" || dharÄ || "support" |- | agni || 50px "hot fire" || anala (also called agni) || "living" |- | vÄyu || 50px "wind" || anila || "wind" |- | antariksha || "space" || aha || "pervading" |- | Äditya || "eternal", a very common name for the sun surya || pratyÅ«sha || "pre-dawn", that is morning twilight, but often used to mean simply "light" |- | dyaus || 50px "sky" || prabhÄsa || "shining dawn" |- | chandramas || 50px "moon" || soma || "soma-plant", and a very common name for the moon |- | nakstrani || 50px "stars" || dhruva || "motionless", the name of the polestar |} though the shatapatha brahmana uses the brhad-aranyaka names, most later texts follow the mahabharata names with the exception that Äpa 'water' usually appears in place of aha. the vishnu purana equates prabhÄsa with the lights of the 27 or 28 nakshetra (constellations/lunar mansions) and dhruva with akash tatwa, that is "space", dhruva seemingly taking over aha's role when aha is replaced by Äpa. ==ramayana and mahabharata== thumb|the wife of one of the vasus is tempted to steal the wish-bearing cow in the ramayana the vasus are children of the sage kashyapa by aditi and so are full siblings to the adityas. however the mahabharata makes them sons of prajÄpati son of manu son of brahma by various mothers. the ma
Hindu_deities Rigvedic_deities