The Devas and Asuras wage perpetual cosmic war, elder and younger siblings locked in an unending struggle for supremacy over the three worlds — a conflict that drives the great Puranic narratives from the churning of the ocean to Vishnu's demon-slaying descents.
⚠ Vishnu Purana 1.5 and Bhagavata Purana 3.20 trace both groups to Brahma, while Mahabharata Adi Parva 65-66 names Kashyapa as their common father through different mothers (Aditi and Diti).
Brahma created the Asuras at twilight from his thigh and breath — born as the elder brothers of the Devas and their eternal rivals for cosmic supremacy.
⚠ Bhagavata Purana 3.20 and Vishnu Purana 1.5 give different bodily origins for the Asuras (thigh vs. breath), though both agree Brahma created them at twilight.
The Asura race counts among its ranks the mightiest adversaries of the gods — Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha, the invulnerable Daitya brothers who seized heaven and earth; Bali, the generous king who conquered Indra's realm; Vritra, the drought-serpent who swallowed the cosmic waters; and Mahishasura, the shape-shifting buffalo demon who drove the Devas from their thrones.
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 pulled the opposite end of Vasuki during the churning of the Kshira Sagara, cooperating temporarily with the Devas in hope of sharing the Amrita. Vishnu as Mohini ultimately denied them the nectar they had helped produce.
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