Danava

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indraprastha

Here in this above referred page --Maya --who built the city of Indra Prastha is mentioned as Danava --

see the similarity between Danava and Danaan's mentioned in Greek literature

Note that Danaan's were 100 in number (50 brothers + 50 sisters), same way Kaurava's were also 100 in number

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danava_(Hinduism)

Danava (Hinduism)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

In Vedic mythology the Danavas were a race of the Asuras.

The Danavas were the sons of Danu, who in turn was a daughter of Daksha. Danu is connected with the waters of heavens and she is probably associated with the formless, primordial waters that existed prior to the creation. The name is connected with the PIE root *danu,"river" or "any flowing liquid". The Danavas revolted against the Devtas under the leadership of Bali[1] and others, but were defeated.[2] In the Rig Veda, nearly all the demons described as being defeated by the Devas are Danavas.

After their defeat, the Danavas were cast into the deepest oceans and locked there forever by Indra,[1] or sometimes Rudra.[3]

In Buddhism

In Buddhism where they are known as the "bow-wielding" Dānaveghasa Asuras.

Historical basis

Some argue for an historical basis for the Vedic stories, and that the Danavas, and other defeated beings (Rakshasas, Gandharvas, Nagas, et cetera) were non-Aryan tribes. This is supported by non-Vedic legends and mythologies, for example Naga legends.[4][3][5][6] Rightly or wrongly, some scholars identified the Danavas in theMahabharata with the Indus Valley Civilization, the builders of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa.[7]

[edit]Some Famous Danavas

1) Puloman - Father of Indrani or Sachi

2) Viprachitti - Husband of Holika or Sinhika

3) Rahu - Son of Holika and Viprachitti

4) Vrishparva - Father of Sharmishtha

False cognates

The Danavas descendants of Danu are sometimes conflated with the Danai descendants of Danaus.[8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danaus

Danaus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Greek mythology Danaus, or Danaos (Greek: Δαναός), was the twin brother of Aegyptus and son of Achiroe and Belus, a mythical king of Egypt. The myth of Danaus is a foundation legend (or re-foundation legend) of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus. In Homer'sIliad, "Danaans" ("tribe of Danaë") and "Argives" commonly designate the Greek forces opposed to the Trojans.

Mythology

Danaus had fifty daughters, the Danaides, twelve of whom were born to Polyxo and the rest to Pieria and other women, and his twin brother, Aegyptus, had fifty sons. Aegyptus commanded that his sons marry the Danaides. Danaus elected to flee instead, and to that purpose, he built a ship, the first ship that ever was.[1]

In it, he fled to Argos, to which he was connected by his descent from Io, the maiden wooed by Zeus and turned into a heifer and pursued by Hera until she found asylum in Egypt. Argos at the time was ruled by King Pelasgus, the eponym of all autochthonous inhabitants who had lived in Greece since the beginning, also called Gelanor ("he who laughs"). The Danaides asked Pelasgus for protection when they arrive, the event portrayed in The Suppliants by Aeschylus. Protection was granted after a vote by the Argives.

When Pausanias visited Argos in the 2nd century CE, he related the succession of Danaus to the throne, judged by the Argives, who "from the earliest times... have loved freedom and self-government, and they limited to the utmost the authority of their kings:"

"On coming to Argos he claimed the kingdom against Gelanor, the son of Sthenelas. Many plausible arguments were brought forward by both parties, and those of Sthenelas were considered as fair as those of his opponent; so the people, who were sitting in judgment, put off, they say, the decision to the following day. At dawn a wolf fell upon a herd of oxen that was pasturing before the wall, and attacked and fought with the bull that was the leader of the herd. It occurred to the Argives that Gelanor was like the bull and Danaus like the wolf, for as the wolf will not live with men, so Danaus up to that time had not lived with them. It was because the wolf overcame the bull that Danaus won the kingdom. Accordingly, believing that Apollo had brought the wolf on the herd, he founded a sanctuary of Apollo Lycius."[2]

The sanctuary of Apollo Lykeios ("wolf-Apollo", but also Apollo of the twilight) was still the most prominent feature of Argos in Pausanias' time: in the sanctuary the tourist might see the throne of Danaus himself, aneternal flame, called the fire of Phoronius.

When Aegyptus and his fifty sons arrived to take the Danaides, Danaus gave them, to spare the Argives the pain of a battle. However, he instructed his daughters to kill their husbands on their wedding night. Forty-nine followed through, and subsequently buried the heads of their bridegrooms in Lerna;[3] but one,Hypermnestra, refused because her husband, Lynceus, honored her wish to remain a virgin. Danaus was angry with his disobedient daughter and threw her to the Argive courts. Aphrodite intervened and saved her. Lynceus and Hypermnestra then began a dynasty of Argive kings (the Danaid Dynasty).[4][5][6] Some sources relate that Amymone, the "blameless" Danaid,[7] and/or Bryce (Bebryce)[8] also spared their husbands.

Aegyptus, after the death of his sons, escaped to Aroe in Greece and died there. His monument was shown in the temple of Serapis at Patrae.[9]

In some versions, Lynceus later killed Danaus as revenge for the death of his brothers.

The remaining forty-nine Danaides had their grooms chosen by a common mythic competition: a foot-race was held and the order in which the potential Argive grooms finished decided their brides (compare the myth of Atalanta). Two of the grooms were Archander and Architeles, sons ofAchaeus: they married Scaea and Automate respectively.[10][11]

In later accounts, the Danaides were punished in Tartarus by being forced to carry water in a jug to fill a bath without bottom (or with a leak) and thereby wash off their sins, but the bath was never filled because the water was always leaking out.[12][13][14]

Even a cautious reading of the subtext as a vehicle for legendary history suggests that a Pelasgian kingship in archaic Argos was overcome, not without violence, by seafarers out of Egypt (compare the Sea Peoples), whose leaders then intermarried with the local dynasty. The descendants of Danaus' "blameless" daughter Hypermnestra, through Danaë, led to Perseus, founder of Mycenae, thus suggesting that Argos had a claim to be the "mother city" of Mycenae.

[edit]Danaus in Rhodes

Another account of the travels of Danaus gave him three daughters, Ialysos, Kamiros and Lindos, who were worshipped in the cities that took their names in the island of Rhodes, Ialysos, Kamiros and Lindos (but see also Cercaphus). According to Rhodian mythographers who informed Diodorus Siculus,[15] Danaus would have stopped and founded a sanctuary to Athena Lindia on the way from Egypt to Greece. Herodotus heard that the temple at Lindos was founded by Danaus' daughters.[16] Ken Dowden observes[17] that once the idea is dismissed that myth is directly narrating the movements of historical persons, that the loci of Danaian institutions at Lindos in Rhodes as well as at Argos suggests a Mycenaean colony sent to Rhodes from the Argolid, a tradition, in fact, that Strabo reports.

Daitya

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daitya

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daitya

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Hinduism, the Daityas (दैत्‍य) are a clan or race or Asura as are the Danavas. Daityas were the children of Diti and the sage Kashyapa. They were a race of giants who fought against the Devas because they were jealous of their Deva half-brothers. The female Daityas are described as wearing jewelry the size of boulders.[1]

[edit]List of some known Daitya

Hiranyakashipu - son of Diti and Kashyapa

Hiranyaksha - younger brother of Hiranyakashipu

Holika or Sinhika - sister of Hiranyakashipu

Prahlada - son of Hiranyakashipu

Virochana - son of Prahlada, father of Bali

Victore - mother of Bali

Bali - son of Virochana

Banasura - son of Bali

Daksha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daksha

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daksha

In Hinduism, Daksha, "the skilled one", is an ancient creator god, one of the Prajapatis,[1] theRishisand the Adityas.

According to Puranas, Daksha is said to be the son of Brahma. Brahma after generating the 10 Manas Putras, generated Daksha, Dharama, Kamadev and Agni from right thumb,chest,heart and eye-brows respectively.[2].

According to Puranas, Daksha had 24 daughter from his wife Prasuti[3] and another 60 from his wife Panchajani (Virini)[4][5].