Introduction
Diti is the mother of the Daityas, a class of powerful beings that are often opposed to the gods (the Devas). She is the daughter of Daksha and a wife of Kashyapa, and the sister of Aditi. Her name means "bound" or "limited", in contrast to Aditi, "unbound".
Family
Children
According to the Bhagavata Purana and Vishnu Purana, Diti's children include:
- Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, the powerful Asura brothers, killed by Vishnu in his Varaha and Narasimha forms
- Simhika, a daughter, in some accounts the mother of Rahu
- The Maruts, forty-nine storm gods
Conception at twilight
The Bhagavata Purana tells that Diti desired a child from Kashyapa at the time of dusk, an inauspicious hour. Kashyapa warned her that the sons she bore would be wicked, but she insisted. He told her that her grandson would be a great devotee of Vishnu, which was fulfilled in Prahlada, the son of Hiranyakashipu.
The Maruts
After her sons were killed, Diti performed austerity to obtain a son who could kill Indra. Indra learned of her plan and, while she slept, entered her womb and cut the embryo into seven pieces with his thunderbolt, and each piece into seven again. The forty-nine pieces became the Maruts, who accepted Indra as their leader.
In the Rigveda, the Maruts are the sons of Rudra and Prishni, and are storm gods. The Puranic story reflects the way the tradition integrated different views of the Maruts.
Daityas
The Daityas, "descendants of Diti", are one of the classes of Asuras, along with the Danavas, the descendants of Danu. Their struggle with the Devas is the main conflict of Puranic mythology.
Meaning
Diti is understood in the tradition as the counterpart of Aditi, representing limitation and desire in contrast to boundlessness.