Realms of Animals, Hungry Spirits, and Asuras
The Abhidharmakosa describes animals, beings that move horizontally: “Animals may live in water, on the earth, or in the sky. They originated in the ocean and later moved from there to the land and sky.”16 This concept, of course, agrees with the modern theory of evolution.
Hungry spirits are the dead; the Sanskrit term preta means “the departed.” The idea of hunger was added later to express the miserable condition in which the dead spirits were thought to exist. The original abode of these spirits lies 500 yojanas beneath Jambudvipa. Among the dead spirits, some are virtuous and some are not. The former pass a pleasant life in groves and trees or escape this nether world to sport in heavenly palaces. The latter live in holes filled with urine and feces, and suffer from continuous hunger. The typical depiction of a hungry spirit without virtue is a being with a distended stomach and a long, thin neck like a needle who, though starving, cannot ingest anything through the throat (see photo 2). Some are shown managing to catch moths by attracting them to flames from their mouths, and others appear eating excrement, snivel, pus, and scum. In Japan a colloquial term for children is gaki (“hungry spirit”) because of the large amount of food they eat. Yama is the king of the realm of hungry spirits; more will be said of him later.
Asuras dwell in the sea surrounding Mount Sumeru, and are considered inferior to human beings but superior to animals. They surpass human beings and match the devas in strength. Most are terrifying creatures, for they use their power for evil purposes. They are well known in Hinduism as being in constant battle with the devas, headed by Indra. In the famous drama Sakuntala, King Duhsyanta chastised the asuras at the request of the devas, who were continually subjected to the orof violence.
In the most ancient sacred Hindu text, the Rg Veda (12th-8th century B.C.E.), however, asura had no such negative connotation. The word shares a common etymology with the ahura (“lord”) of Zoroastrianism and signifies a god possessing mystical powers. Asu is interpreted as “breath”; asura therefore denotes a spiritual existence and is used as an epithet of Indra and Varuna. In India, though, asura eventually came to signify a demonic god. With the establishment of asuras as dark powers, interpretations of the etymology changed. A was interpreted as a negative prefix, and sura as “god” (deva), “drinking,” or “delight and pleasure.” All of these are possible meanings, but the most accurate is probably asura meaning “not-<fez,” a being that is godlike but not a god.
The most famous asura is Rahula Asura. According to the Chinese translation of the Long Discourses, this asura rules a great city 80,000 yojanas in length and breadth on the bed of the great ocean north of Mount Sumeru. The size, therefore, equals that of the ocean itself. Within the city are palaces, halls, and parks. Rahula was not happy that the thirty-three gods, the sun, and the moon passed to and fro above his territory, so he fought with Indra and threatened to make earrings of the sun and moon. According to other sutras, Rahula sometimes leaves his dwelling beneath the sea and ascends Mount Sumeru to see the heavenly maidens. Unable to see them for the brightness of the sun, he covers the sun with his right hand. This creates a solar eclipse. When he covers the moon, a lunar eclipse occurs.
