[Perhaps you are aware]
Pulak Kumar Sinha
General Manager (retd.) at State Bank of India | Expertise in General Banking, Credit, Payments | Trustee at Birbhum Welfare Society
In our childhood, our grandmother used to tell us that there are 33 Koti Devatas. We used to be stunned as according to our understanding then, the number of deities are 33 crore. On so many occasions, we ventured to count the deities in and around our village but failed to find any clue. It was after a long time, I came to know that ‘Koti’ in Sanskrit means ‘Types’. Here, I would like to mention the concept of 33 Koti Devata.
The Vedas refer to not 33 crore Devatas but 33 types of Devatas. They are explained in Shatpath Brahman and many other scriptures very clearly.
"Yasya Trayastri nshad Devaa Ange Sarve Sama
ahitaa, Skamma Tam Bruhi Katamah Swideva Sah”. (Atharva Veda)
This means: with God’s influence, these thirty-three (supporting Devatas) sustain the world.
The number 33 comes from the number of Vedic Gods explained by Yajnavalkya in Brhadaranyaka Upanishad – the eight (8) Vasus, the eleven (11) Rudras, the twelve (12) Adityas, one (1) Indra and one (1) Prajapati. (Chapter I, hymn 9, verse 2)
· 8 Vasus are - Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Ether, Moon, Sun, and Star. They are called Vasus, because they are abode of all that lives, moves or exists.
· 11 Rudras are - the ten Pranas (Praana, Apaana, Vyaana, Samaana, Udaana, Naag, Kurma, Krikal, Devadutta and Dhananjaya) i.e. the forces which live in the human body. The eleventh is the human soul. Rudra means one who makes a person to weep. These are called ‘Rudras’ because when they desert the body, it becomes dead and the relations of the deceased, consequently, begin to weep.
· 12 Adityas are - the twelve months of a year. They cause the lapse of the term of existence of each object or being.
· 1 Indra is - known as the (all-pervading) electricity, as it produces great force.
· 1 Prajaapati is - also called the “Yajna” because it benefits mankind by the purification of air, water, rain and vegetables and because it aids the development of various arts, and in it the honour is accorded to the learned and the wise.
The master of these 33 Devatas is the Mahadeva or Ishwar who alone is to be worshipped as per 14th Kanda of Shatpath Brahman.