Editing Vasu (section)

{{Short description|Group of deities in Hinduism}}
{{other uses}}[[File:Udaigiri cave 5 Vasus.jpg|thumb|Agni, Vayu and other other Vasus, [[Udayagiri Caves]], c. 401 CE]]
The '''Vasus''' ({{Langx|sa|वसु|translit=Vasu}}) are a group of deities in [[Hinduism]] associated with fire and light.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dalal |first=Roshen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zrk0AwAAQBAJ&dq=eight+vasus&pg=PT1333 |title=Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide |date=2014-04-18 |publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=978-81-8475-277-9 |pages=1333 |language=en}}</ref> They are described as the attendant deities of [[Indra]],<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Coulter |first1=Charles Russell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QEJUEAAAQBAJ&dq=vasus+attendants+vishnu&pg=PA493 |title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities |last2=Turner |first2=Patricia |date=2021-12-06 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-9179-7 |pages=493 |language=en}}</ref> and later [[Vishnu]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Achuthananda |first=Swami |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F9FqDwAAQBAJ&dq=vasus+attendants+vishnu&pg=PA65 |title=The Ascent of Vishnu and the Fall of Brahma |date=2018-08-27 |publisher=Relianz Communications Pty Ltd |isbn=978-0-9757883-3-2 |pages=65 |language=en}}</ref> Generally numbering eight and classified as the '''Ashtavasu''',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Balfour |first=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XCE_AQAAMAAJ&dq=eight+ashtavasu&pg=PA182 |title=The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia: Commercial, Industrial and Scientific, Products of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and Manufactures |date=1885 |publisher=B. Quartitch |pages=182 |language=en}}</ref> they are described in the [[Ramayana]] as the children of [[Kashyapa]] and [[Aditi]], and in the [[Mahabharata]] as the sons of [[Manu (Hinduism)|Manu]] or [[Yama (Hinduism)|Dharma]] and a daughter of [[Daksha]] named Vasu.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hopkins |first=Edward Washburn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-H0eiuvcG5IC&dq=vasus+manu&pg=PA170 |title=Epic Mythology |date=June 1968 |publisher=Biblo & Tannen Publishers |isbn=978-0-8196-0228-2 |pages=170 |language=en}}</ref> They are eight among the [[thirty-three gods]] featured in the [[Vedas]].