Your Favorite Demons

Wiki excerpt in parenthesis:

[[[ In Hinduism, the Asura (Sanskrit: असुर) are a group of creatures looking for more power, sometimes called demons. They went against the devas. The devas and asuras are the children of Kashyapa.

In today's Hinduism, the Asuras are demons. But this was not always that way. The idea of the Asuras is very, very old, from long before the time people learned how to read and write. The Asuras only became demons as much time had passed.

Some of the Asuras are very important, and have been worshiped for thousands of years. The most important of these are Varuna and Mitra. Varuna is the god of the ocean, which in olden times was thought to be flowing under the earth. So, Varuna came to be seen as god of the underworld. In ancient times, water was thought to be where wisdom came from. So Varuna is considered very wise, and he gives his wisdom to those who honor him. Varuna's closest companion is Mitra. Mitra mostly means "friend" in Hinduism, but it originally meant "promise". And so Mitra is the god of friendships and promises. He protects people who honor the truth and punishes those who tell lies. The Mi- in "Mitra" means "to tie tightly". Friendship and promises tie people to one another. ]]]]

Hindupedia excerpt in parenthesis:  

[[[ In the earliest layer of Vedic texts Agni, Indra and other gods are also called Asuras, in the sense of them being "lords" of their respective domains, knowledge and abilities. In later Vedic and post-Vedic texts, the benevolent gods are called Devas, while malevolent Asuras compete against these Devas and are considered "enemy of the gods" or demons. ]]]


Varuna gives wisdom and Mitra honors truth, promises, and punishes those who tell lies.  So we have these good entities with great qualities somehow becoming demonized.  Why do entities that give knowledge and wisdom such as Varuna and the Serpent amongst others become looked upon as being evil?  Probably because those who want to control others be it select religions, cults, or people, think anything that imparts wisdom and truth as being bad for them, but which is actually essential for the greater common good.  Alongside the opposition of certain religions/cults/myths/cultures who hold their god/gods as being the best and others being the worst or demonic.  Also within each structured belief it seems that sometimes the adversary was at one time an ally and throughout time becomes seen as a negative opposition in certain systems even though there inherent good qualities still exist.

Varuna



Mitra