The Devaputra and the Asuras wage eternal war over Mount Meru — the Asuras were cast down from heaven and storm its slopes to reclaim what they lost, while the devas hurl them back each time, the cycle never ending because neither side can extinguish the other's karma.
Indra wages recurring war against the Asuras, who were cast out of Tavatimsa heaven and continually battle to reclaim it.
Vepacitti and Rahu are the foremost Asura kings in Buddhist cosmology — Vepacitti leads the armies against Sakka's heaven, while Rahu terrorizes the celestial bodies by swallowing the sun and moon to cause eclipses.
The Ashtasena gathers before the Buddha as the great assembly of eight non-human classes — devas descending from their heavens, nagas rising from underwater palaces, yakshas and asuras setting aside their warfare, gandharvas and kinnaras filling the air with celestial music, garudas folding their vast wings, and mahoragas dragging their serpent coils forward — all drawn by the power of the dharma to hear, protect, and transmit the teaching.
The Hindu Asuras and Buddhist Asuras share a direct line of transmission — the Buddhist concept of the Asura realm as one of the six domains of rebirth derives from the Vedic and Puranic class of power-hungry anti-gods who war against the Devas.
The asuras dwell at the base of Mount Meru, perpetually envious of the devas who feast above. They wage war to seize the wish-fulfilling tree whose roots are in their realm but whose fruit ripens in the heavens — a central image of the asura realm's jealousy and futile aggression.
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