We are all familiar with the stories of the eternal conflicts between Devas and Asuras in mythology. It's likely that the Asuras were probably an ethnic group contemporary to the Vedic People, and the cause of conflict was to acquire a much coveted region that lured both but was under the control of the 'Devas', namely, the Swarga. I recently came across an article in Wikipedia on ancient Iranian texts that provided an interesting interpretation of the issue. In the Gathas, the oldest hymns of Zoroastrianism and thought to have been composed by Zoroaster himself, the poet exhorts his followers to pay reverence to only the ahuras, and to rebuff the daevas and others who act "at Lie's command". This should not however be construed to reflect a view of a primordial opposition: Although the daevas would in later Zoroastrian tradition appear as malign creatures, in the Gathas the devas are (collectively) gods that are to be rejected. How sound is the hypothesis that the Asuras referred to in the Puranic literature were actually some ancient Iranian tribe? Discussions welcome.
