The Thirty-three gods, or Tridasha, is a pantheon of Hindu deities of the current manvantara. The Samhitas, which are the oldest layer of text in the Vedas, enumerate 33 deities classified as Devas, either 11 each for the three worlds, or as 12 Adityas, 11 Rudras, eight Vasus and two Ashvins in the Brahmanas.

List

The thirty-three deities are:

Variations

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 the Aitereya Brahmana is: 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."

Literature

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad describes the existence of these deities with a different lineup: "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.'"