This discourse gives an extensive account of divine beings. Some are familiar from elsewhere in the Pali texts, others found in various Brahmanical sources, while still others occur only here. For the names we can compare the edition of the Sanskrit text by Waldschmidt and Sander and available on SuttaCentral as SF 140.

The Pure Abodes are inhabited entirely by non-returners.

“Great congregation” is mahāsamaya.

A village (Bu Pj 2:3.8) or royal compound (Bu Pc 83:1.3.56.1) was marked with a “boundary-post” (indakhīla). It symbolized a fixed and immovable point, either in a good sense (SN 56.39:4.1) or, as here, an obstacle. The Sanskrit indrakīla is a two-foot long iron bolt securing a fort, presumably fixed in the ground (Arthaśāstra 2.3.26), or else a mountain in the Himalayas. The warrior Arjuna, journeying beyond the Gandhamādana, is stopped at the Indrakīla mountain by Sakra/Indra disguised as a brahmin ascetic, at whose urging Arjuna undertakes asceticism in order to gain the power he would need (Mahābhārata 3.3.37). The symbolic sense of “stopping” relates to the Pali sense of immovability, and suggests that the underlying metaphor is the irresistible power represented by Indra. | For Mahāsaṅgīti’s ūhacca manejā read ūhacca-m-anejā.

Nāga can refer to a class of semi-divine beings in a powerful serpentine form (“dragon”); a large and powerful snake, especially a king cobra; a bull elephant; or any powerful and mighty being (“giant”).

The discourse up to here is also found at SN 1.37.

This recalls DN 14:1.10.1, where the relative sizes of the mendicant congregations of different Buddhas are tallied. That sutta, in another point of similarity, also featured a conversation with deities of the Pure Abodes.

“Paean of praise” is siloka, a rare case where this means “verse (of praise)” rather than “fame, renown”. Siloka is also a poetic metre, the most common form in Pali. | Anukassāmi is present tense from the root kass, “to draw (up), to drag”. Compare Sanskrit anukarṣa in the sense “invoking, summoning by incantation”.

This gives a hint as to one of the purposes of this sutta. Living alone in remote forests can be terrifying. Such places were widely believed to be haunted by all manner of supernatural creatures, not all of them friendly. While for an arahant this posed no threat, there would have been then, as there are today, many young or aspiring meditators who faced such challenges with trepidation. These verses offer succor, surrounding them with powerful, albeit invisible, allies.

“Spirit” is yakkha. In later legend they appear as monstrous figures, but in the suttas they are ambiguous and may often be friendly to the Dhamma. Early statues of yakkhas at Madhurā (circa 100 BCE) depict noble and powerful kings, not ogres. Yakkha is also sometimes used more generally in the sense of an individual or deity.

Colorful like the nymphs of MN 50:25.6 or Susīma’s gods at SN 2.29:7.1.

Mount Sātā is unidentified, but according to the commentary it was in the middle region.

Vessāmitta (“friend of all”) is the name of a Vedic hermit. Legend has it that he was a khattiya who earned brahminhood due to his intense austerities in the remote Himalayas. Perhaps this is a mountain named for him, although I can find no trace of it in Sanskrit.

Kumbhīra means “crocodile”.

For this mountain, see SN 15.10:2.2, SN 15.20:2.3, and notes.

We met two human King Dhataraṭṭhas (“Strongrealm”) in the Mahāgovindasutta.

“Centaur” is gandhabba. Gandhabbas are wild, sexual beings who, being first to yoke the horse (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 5.1.4.8) and riding the steed called “Racer” (vājin, 10.6.4.1), “take the reins” from Indra (Rig Veda 1.163.2) as his charioteer Mātali. It is likely the Sanskrit gandharva stems from the same root as the Greek kentauro, and the ultimate origin of the idea comes from the proto-Indo-Europeans, who rode the horse, creating a potent entity that was invincible in battle. At Sanchi Stupa No. 2 there are images of men and women riding centaurs, although this may be a later Greek borrowing.

By implication, they are renowned as being powerful as Indra, the king of gods who in Pali is more commonly called Sakka. It is also a nod to the multiplicity of divinities in the Vedic system, where one becomes many and many become one.

Virūḷhaka is “growth”; he was probably a god of the fertile crops. In the Pali it is spelled Virūḷha here due to the meter.

“Gnomes” is kumbhaṇḍa (Sanskrit kuṣmāṇḍa), “pumpkin-belly”, a race of lesser deities often depicted as pot-bellied, ugly and misshapen. But see SN 19.10 for another interpretation.

One of the “royal snake families” at AN 4.67:3.2. His name means “multiple eyes” (virūpa-akkha) for the false eyes on a cobra’s hood.

Also known as Vessavaṇa (DN 32:7.43, Snp 2.14:6.1), which means “Son of the Renowned” from his father Viśrava. These two names appear together elsewhere in contemporary literature (Atharvaveda 8,10.28c, Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 13.4.3.10), where, although the passages are obscure, he appears to be associated with wickedness, concealment, and theft. Although a god of wealth (dhanada), the name Kuvera is explained by lexicographers as “deformed”. Probably he was originally a god of the underground, blessed with the earth’s riches, yet deformed by its great pressure.

The following verses are a treasure-trove of ancient Indian mythology, recording the names of deities otherwise lost to history. Many of the names are obscure and variant readings are recorded in manuscripts and noted in the commentary. My spellings follow Ānandajoti’s translation, The Discourse on the Great Convention, unless there is a reason to change. I try to identify the deities as best as I can, but many of them remain speculative.

These deities are called dāsa, which normally means “slave” in Pali. But here, it seems, we have a singular instance of the old Vedic meaning, an uncivilized foe. The dāsas Vṛtra, Namuci, and Vṛṣaśipra are described as “deceivers” (māyin, Rig Veda 1.53.7; 2.11.10; 7.99.4; 10.73.7). This epithet is also used of the closely related dasyu (Rig Veda 1.33.10; 4.16.9; 8.14.14; 10.73.5; see note on DN 5:11.5). Such beings are said to be “godless” since they oppose the Vedic deities (Rig Veda 2.19.7; 3.31.19; 7.1.10; 10.11.6; 10.138.4, etc.), so we can translate as “heathen”.

I am not able to identify any of these names with confidence, but perhaps kuṭeṇḍu and viṭeṇḍu could be traced to indu (“moon”), thus “crooked moon” and “defective moon”. Compare khaṇḍendu, a later term for Śiva as the crescent moon.

The Sanskrit names are kiṭi, vikiṭi, bhṛgu, and bhṛkuṭi. Only bhṛgu is attested in the Vedas, but he was a sage, not a “crafty heathen”.

Candana appears in MN 134:6.4, SN 2.15, and SN 40.11:1.1, and together with Kāmaseṭṭha in DN 32:10.4. Candana means “sandalwood”, although the name of the god might also relate to its root “shining”. | Kāmaseṭṭha means “Chief of Sex”, i.e. “Eros”; he does not seem to appear in a Brahmanical context.

Panāda (“roarer”) was the name of an ancient king who performed the horse sacrifice (Thag 2.22:1.1, DN 26:26.1). In Ja 265 he is said to have been the son of Vessavaṇa (Kuvera). | Opamañña is a descendant of the ascended sage Upamanyu (“zealous one”; see note on MN 99:10.3).

Mātali is the charioteer of Sakka (i.e. Indra; SN 11.6:1.5, MN 83:14.1, etc.), a role he plays throughout Brahmanical literature as well. He appears here as one of the centaur lords, and is father to the centaur Sikhaṇḍī, Pañcasikha’s rival in love DN 21:1.6.8. | A sūta was a high-ranking officer attending the king, close in meaning to the (admittedly obscure) military term “equerry”, in contrast with the regular charioteer, sārathi.

The gandharva Citrasena (“Brightspear”) appears in the Sanskrit Purāṇas as a friend of Arjuna in various adventures.

Nala means “reed”. There was a King Nala of Vidarbha whose love for his Queen Damayantī is celebrated in the Mahābharata. | Janesabha is an alternate spelling of Janavasabha (DN 18).

In DN 21 we shall learn of how the centaur Pañcasikha (“Fivecrest”) wooed Timbaru’s daughter Suriyavaccasā (“Sunshine”).

Read nābhasa, which means “celestial, heavenly”. The commentary says this was the name of a lake, which agrees with the legend that a Nābhasa was a son of Nala (“reed”) and father of Puṇḍarīka (“lotus”). The Sanskrit here, however, has sahabhuṁ nāgo.

Vesālā is from the adjectival form vesāla (“of Vesālī”). | Pali taccha can represent Sanskrit takṣa, and the Sanskrit does indeed have takṣakaḥ here, so Tacchaka is probably “of Takṣasilā”. This famous city, normally spelled Takkasilā in Pali, is Taxila in West Pakistan, an ancient center of learning.

These nāgas are frequently mentioned together in Sanskrit literature such as the Mahābhārata (1.31.1a, 2.9.9a, 5.101.9c), where they are also said to come from Pāyāga (3.83.72a: prayāgaṁ sapratiṣṭhānaṁ kambalāśvatarau).

Payāga (modern Prayagraj, formerly Allahabad) is the sacred ford at the confluence of the Ganges and the Yamunā beside Kosambī (see Bu Pj 1:4.18).

The Dhataraṭṭha and Erāvaṇa nāgas also appear frequently in Sanskrit literature, and often in association with other deities in our text as part of a loose cluster of divinities (eg. Harivamśa 3.112–117). Erāvaṇa also appears at Snp 2.14:5.1. Here he is a nāga as in “dragon”, but later tradition saw him as a nāga as in “elephant”, in which role he became the mighty mount of Indra/Sakka.

The enmity between snakes and birds is legendary (Ja 518), its origins related in the story of Suparṇa and Kadrū, mother of dragons (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 3.6.2). It is rooted as much in the common sight of birds attacking snakes as it is in the cosmic opposition between the solar and the chthonic, the forces of light in the sky and darkness beneath the earth.

Birds are called “twice-born”, once from the mother, once from the egg. “Twice-born” is also an epithet of brahmins (Thig 15.1:31.3).

The supaṇṇa (Sanskrit suparṇa, “bright-feathered”), later garuḷa (Sanskrit garuḍa, “devourer”), is to the eagle as the nāga is to the cobra. He has been falsely compared with the loathsome harpy; but his golden wings, closeness to the sun (eg. Rig Veda 5.47.3), and role as bearer of the nectar of immortality (RV 4.26.4, 8.100.8) show that he is the Indian phoenix, the golden eagle of the sun. As the brother of the Dawn (Aruṇa, Matsya Purāṇa 174.47), his golden wings at sunset “devour” the sun. He disappears in darkness only to be born again the next day, just as the European phoenix combusts itself and is born anew. Thus he is both the older and the younger brother of Aruṇa, for which came first, sunrise or sunset?

Upavhayati occurs only here and SN 7.9:4.3 in Pali. It is a Vedic term for invoking or calling up blessings in a whisper.

The Buddha reconciles even such inveterate enemies. In the Buddhist view, all of these beings have their place in the great pattern of nature.

Vajirahattha (“thunderbolt-in-hand”) is a synonym of vajirapāṇi (DN 3:1.21.3, MN 35:14.1). It is a frequent epithet of Sakka in the Vedas (eg. Rig Veda 1.173.10a indro vajrahastaḥ), an identification confirmed by the commentary here.

Vāsava is another epithet of Sakka (see below, DN 20:14.9), meaning “endowed with wealth” (vasu; see for example Rig Veda 1.9.9a indraṁ vasupatiṁ “Indra, lord of wealth”). The Buddhist explanation of his name SN 11.13:9.1, rather, plays on the word āvasatha and calls him the “giver of a guesthouse”. Later Brahmanical texts enumerated eight Vasus, with Indra as their lord, who are reckoned among the thirty-three. | Sakka’s wife is the demon (asura) princess Sujā, daughter of Vepacitti, hence they are his “brothers”, technically in-laws (SN 11.12:6.1).

The Kālakañja is the lowest class of titans (DN 24:1.7.19). Legend has it that they tried to build a fire altar of bricks (i.e. a mountain) to ascend to the heavens and contest with the gods (Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa 1.1.2.4–6, alluded to at Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 2.1.2.13). Three are mentioned as being godlike at Atharvaveda 6.80.2. The Mahābhārata (eg. 4.44.9) says they are Dānavas, an association supported in the next line. They seem to be associated with the ferocious Kālakeyas, children of Kālā. But a common Sanskrit spelling is kālakhañja, where khañja means “lame”. This calls to mind the lame smith-god Hephaestus, who also ascended to heaven. Kāla (“black”) then would be the black metal iron (cf. English “blacksmith”), yielding the sense “iron-lamed”.

The Dānavas are a prominent group of asuras otherwise unattested in early Pali. The name stems from “rivers, waters” after their mother Danū. | Ghasa (“devourer”) is occasionally mentioned as the name of a rakṣasa (Rāmāyaṇa 5.22.36a praghasā nāma rākṣasī). The commentary treats them as a single class of arrow-wielding asuras.

Vepacitti means “wise thinker”, Sucitti means “good thinker”. Vepacitti was the lord of the asuras and Sakka’s counterpart. Their relationship was complicated (SN 11.23). Brahmanical literature regards him as the eldest son of Danū and hence chief of the Dānavas. The Sanskrit form is vipracitti, but in Buddhist texts it is incorrectly Sanskritized to vemacitra. Vepacitti’s fame matches Sucitti’s obscurity, for he does not seem to appear elsewhere.

Pahārāda the ocean-loving asura lord appears in AN 8.19. His name (Sanskrit prahlāda) means “mirth”. Later Brahmanical legends say he was a righteous son of the wicked Hiraṇyakaśipu, who hated him for his devotion to Viṣṇu. | The story goes that when Namuci stole the soma from Indra, Indra’s vengeance was frustrated by his vow not to harm him with anything wet or dry, in the dark or the light (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 12.7.3.1). Indra’s ingenious solution was to dismember him with foam (Rig Veda 8.14.13) at dawn. Namuci’s name is explained as na-muci, “not letting go” (the waters). In Buddhism, Namuci is a name of Māra, although here Māra appears separately below..

According to legend, Bali was the grandson of Pahārāda and son of Virocana. His hundred sons were dread warriors (Bhāgavata Purāṇa 8.10.30). The word bali also refers to a kind of sacrificial offering, but the roots of the term are obscure.

Virocana was their grandfather. He was another adversary of Indra, despite which they were both said to have sought knowledge from Prajāpatī, but Virocana misunderstood since he saw only the surface meaning (Chāndogya Upaniṣad 8.7.2–8.5). Here he is associated with Rāhu, while Gaṇeśa Purāṇa 2.29 says he was granted a crown by the sun which he then lost. These details hint at a connection with the eclipse, in which case virocana would be the rays that emanate during a solar eclipse.

Rāhu is the mighty asura who “seizes” the moon (SN 2.9) or the sun (SN 2.10) to create an eclipse. He is the son of Vepacitti. It is strange to see him described as “auspicious” (bhadda), as he is a black planet and a force of darkness.

These four are normally treated in the suttas as physical properties. Each of them is worshiped in the Rig Veda as a deity, and the Upanishads list them together along with other elements (eg. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.5). I am not aware of any earlier contexts that group the four together systematically as deities in this way.

Varuṇa is invoked frequently in the Vedas, and in the suttas he is associated with other leading deities such as Indra and Soma (DN 13:25.2, DN 32:10.2, SN 11.3:5.1). As one of the twelve children of Aditi he stood for a calendar month, and grew a wide and sometimes baffling array of associations—the oceans, water, the sky (at night), and justice. Vedic Varuṇa was the god of command, the king of tough rule. He was identified with the aristocrats, while his partner Mitra was the brahmins (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 4.1.4).

Soma is the divine nectar that filled the ancient proto-Indo-Europeans with vitality. Its biological identity is disputed, but may have been ephedra. It is associated with the moon, hence the connection with Varuṇa as the night sky. | Yasa means “fame, glory”; so far as I know it is not personified in early Brahmanical texts, and rarely later. The connection between these two is illuminated by such passages as Rig Veda 7.85.3. To uphold Indra and Varuṇa in battle, there is an offering of Soma, which is described as svayaśasaḥ, “Self-Glorious”, i.e. the state of being high on speed, if speed were a god.

In the Vedas, Mitra (“friend”) is almost always paired with Varuṇa, and the appearance of Mettā (“friendliness”) here echoes that closeness. He was the god of alliances. | Karuṇā in the sense of “compassion” does not occur at all in pre-Buddhist Sanskrit. It is probably introduced here as companion to Mettā by association with Mitra. The Sanskrit here, however, is maitrī varuṇikā. From a Buddhist point of view, these are deities reborn due to the development of jhāna based on love and compassion.

Veṇhu (variant veṇḍu) is the Pali spelling of Sanskrit viṣṇu, who appears only here and at SN 2.12. In the Rig Veda he was a solar god who made three great strides (said to encompass the earth, the sky, and the heavens). | A deity named Sahalī (“with plow”) appears at SN 2.30:3.1 where he praises Makkhali Gosāla, but I cannot trace him anywhere else.

Yama often refers to a god who guards the paths to the land of the dead (SN 1.33:10.3, MN 130:5.1), lord of the Yāma gods. Here, however, it refers to “twins” who in the Vedas are often identified with the Aśvins (the twin horses yoked to the chariot). In the Vedas, it seems asama (“unequalled”) is used as an epithet only, although the commentary says it is a name. | In Pali these lines lack a verb, while the Sanskrit supplies āgataś (“come”) instead of asamā, so perhaps we should read “the pair of Twins came”.

Vāsava is above at DN 20:12.3.

Purandara (“Fortbreaker”) is another epithet of Sakka or Indra (eg. Rig Veda 1.102.7). The Buddha reforms it to Purindada (“Firstgiver”) at SN 11.12:2.1. But Indra’s generosity is long renowned, eg. Rig Veda 1.10.6c: “He is the able one, and he will be able for us—Indra who distributes the goods” (sa śakra uta naḥ śakad indro vasu dayamānaḥ).

Sanskrit has sabhikā. Most of the deities in the following verses do not seem to be met with elsewhere. The Sanskrit forms are often quite different but equally untraceable.

Their names might mean “Unhurt” and “Hurter”. The Sanskrit implausibly has romā (“Romans”).

For Varuṇa see above (DN 20:13.3). | Sahadhamma means “who share the same duty”.

The “Unfallen” and the “Unshakeable”.

The Sūleyyas might be “spear (or trident) bearers”; śūli is a name of Shiva. | Rucira means “brilliant, beautiful”.

Vāsavanesi means “seekers of Vāsava”.

“Equals” and “Great Equals”.

“Humans” and “Superhumans”, but here perhaps “Descendants of Manu”.

As per DN 1:2.7.2.

DN 12.10.2.

Hari means “yellow, green” and is the astrological color of the planet budha (“Mercury”). It came to have the general meaning of “sacred, holy” and was an epithet for various deities, which in the Rig Veda included Indra and Vishnu. However the astrological connection is suggested by the references to Mars and Venus below.

“Dwellers in the Red Place (= planet)”, i.e. “Martians”.

Pāraga means “one who has crossed over”.

These deities represent the three lights that announce a new day: the morning star, the newborn sun, and the aura of the dawn. | Sukka (“Bright”) is the name of the planet Venus, the morning star. | Aruṇa is the dawn, a major Vedic deity signifying the arising of consciousness and order. | Karambha means “porridge”, which was offered to the sun under the name Pūṣan (Rig Veda 3.52.7, 6.56.1; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 4.2.5.22; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa 6.8.18; Maitrāyaṇī Saṁhitā 3.10.6; Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 5.15.1). Hence he became known as karambhād, “porridge-eater”. Apparently the sun lost its teeth and could only eat porridge (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 1.7.4.8). Being toothless like a baby, and lacking the risen sun’s “teeth” (i.e. “rays”), he probably represents the “newborn sun”. Compare for example Rig Veda 10.35, where Pūṣan is invoked, along with many other deities, in a hymn to the dawn.

Mahāsaṅgīti has veghanasā, for which the Buddha Jayanthi variant vekhanasa is preferable. We meet a wanderer of that name in MN 80, and in Sanskrit vaikhānasa is a general term for ascetics; but this meaning seems unlikely in context. The astrologer Varāhamitra names it a constellation (Bṛhat-saṁhitā 47.62), but that is much later. The Sanskrit here is nīlakavāsinī (“Dwellers in the Blue”), which pairs well with lohitavāsino above. Nīlavāsa is a name for Saturn, whose color is blue.

Odātagayha is probably “white planet”, i.e. the sun. Sanskrit has avadātakeśā (“white-haired”). Compare the description of solar gods Sūrya at Rig Veda 1.50.8 as śociṣkeśaṁ vicakṣaṇa (“flame-haired, brilliant”) and Varuṇa at Rig Veda 8.41.9 as śvetā vicakṣaṇā (“white, brilliant”).

Sanskrit has pītakavāsinī, “dwellers in the yellow”, either Mercury or Jupiter.

The sadāmatta (“everdrunk”) gods appear in some later Buddhist texts, alongside the māyādharas (or mālādharas), but they don’t seem to appear in a Vedic context. | I cannot find any reference to the hāragaja gods. Sanskrit has hāritakā, perhaps “sons of Harītī” (the yakkhinī; but see below, DN 20:20.12).

“Assorted” is missaka, not elsewhere attested as a name of gods.

Pajjuna (Sanskrit parjanya) is a Vedic god of thunderstorms closely associated with Indra/Sakka. His daughters appear in SN 1.39 and SN 1.40. Sanskrit has instead śuddhakā rucikā (“pure, bright”).

The gods of Tusita and Yama are normal parts of the Buddhist cosmology. Neither khemiya nor the Sanskrit kṣemaka appear to be the names of gods elsewhere, and the commentary explains that they dwell in both the Tusita and Yama realms.

The commentary acknowledges the variant readings kaṭṭhakā (from “stick” or “plowed”) and kathakā (“reciters”), while Sanskrit has kṛṣṇuktāś (“reciters of the black”). Perhaps related to Sanskrit kāṭhaka, a recension of the Black Yajur Veda taught by the sage Kaṭha.

Perhaps from lamba (“hang, droop”) in reference to deities of the sunset (cp. Mahābhārata 4.31.4c sūrye vilambati). Sanskrit has lumbinī lumbinīśreṣṭhā, which is perhaps normalized to mean “of Lumbinī”.

“Shining” (joti) is used widely of many gods, including the Sun and Indra. | The commentary derives āsavā from āsa (“wish”) not āsava (“defilement”), explaining that they achieved their status due to desire (chandavasena). This agrees with the Sanskrit svāśiṣā (“well-wish, prayer”), i.e. words of wishing or blessing uttered over the sacrifice (see Rig Veda 10.44.5; cp. 8.44.23). However, I think it’s more likely this stems from the common Vedic idiom of describing heavenly bodies as “yonder”, an idiom closely connected to the shining sun. The masculine nominative singular form is asau, and the Pali taddhita construction āsavā would mean “those who are yonder”.

Pavuṭṭha (“shed”), from pavasati (“stay away”), seems to be unique in the Pali in this sense. Commentary glosses vigata, “disappeared”. | The first part of this verse, according to the commentary, addresses the Saṅgha as a group in the singular, but I translate in plural for clarity.

Subrahmā appears as a godling at SN 2.17, but given his company this is likely the “independent divinity” of SN 6.6–8. | Paramatta appears only here in Pali. In Brahmanical texts it is a common term for the highest conception of Brahmā as the “supreme soul” (paramātman) of the cosmos. This term came into common usage later, but is found occasionally in earlier texts such as Maitrāyaṇī Saṁhitā 2.9.1.

Sanaṅkumāra makes regular guest appearances in the suttas (DN 3, DN 18, DN 19, DN 27, SN 6.11, AN 11.10). | Tissa is a common name, meaning “born under the star Sirius”. Perhaps this is the former monk of that name who was reborn in the Brahmā realm (AN 6.34).

The moniker “Great Brahmā” (mahābrahmā) is here used of an individual, but sometimes it is a class of leading Brahmās.

“God Almighty” (issara) is a Brahmā god to whom the creation of the world is falsely attributed (DN 24:2.14.3, MN 101:22.5, AN 3.61:1.6).

Sanskrit has hāritī, the name of the fabled yakkhiṇī of Madhurā converted by the Buddha.