Diti
Mother of the Daityas
Aditi's sister and the mother of the Daityas, the mighty demon clan. Her sons include the villains of the Narasimha and Varaha stories.
- Sanskrit/Telugu name: దితి
- Also known as: Mother of the Daityas
- Symbols: Twilight
Story
Diti is Aditi's sister, and in many tellings both sisters married the sage Kashyapa - but their children could not have been more different. While Aditi's sons became the devas, Diti's sons became the Daityas, powerful beings who often battled the gods. Her most famous sons were Hiranyaksha, the demon who dragged the Earth to the bottom of the cosmic ocean until Vishnu rescued her as the great boar Varaha, and Hiranyakashipu, the tyrant king who tortured his own devoted son Prahlada until Vishnu burst from a pillar as Narasimha - the man-lion so beloved in Telugu lands, from Ahobilam to Simhachalam and Yadadri. The puranas say Diti's children turned out fierce partly because she was impatient and broke the rules of a sacred vow. Still, she loved her sons deeply, and her story reminds us that devas and asuras are actually cousins - one big, complicated cosmic family.
Fun fact
The word "Daitya" literally means "child of Diti" - so every time you hear about the Daityas in a story, you're hearing her name.