TheThirty-three gods, orTridasha (Sanskrit:त्रिदश,romanized: Tridaśa,lit. 'three tens'), is apantheon ofHindu deities of the currentmanvantara.[1][2] TheSamhitas, which are the oldest layer of text in theVedas, enumerate 33 deities classified asDevas, either 11 each for thethree worlds, or as 12Adityas, 11Rudras, eightVasus and twoAshvins in theBrahmanas.[3][4]
The thirty-three deities are:
The list of deities varies across the manuscripts found in different parts of South Asia, particularly in terms of the Ashvins and the personified devas. One list based on Book 2 of theAitereya Brahmana is:[5][6]
The reported identity of the two Ashvins sometimes varies:
There are eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Âdityas; and these two, Heaven and Earth, are the (thirty-second and) thirty-third. And there are thirty-three gods, and Pragâpati is the thirty-fourth;--thus he makes him (the sacrificer, or Yagña) to be Pragâpati 2: now that 3 is, for that is immortal, and what is immortal that is. But what is mortal that also is Pragâpati; for Pragâpati is everything: thus he makes him to be Pragâpati, and hence there are these thirty-four utterances, called expiations.[note 1][8]
— Satapatha Brahmana 4:5:7:2
TheBrihadaranyaka Upanishad describes the existence of these deities with a different lineup:[9]
Yājñavalkya said, 'These are but the manifestations of them, but there are only thirty-three gods.' 'Which are those thirty-three?' 'The eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras and the twelve Ādityas—these are thirty-one, and Indra and Prajāpati make up the thirty-three.'
— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Section 9, Verse 3.9.2
