The Devāsurasaṃgrāma Myth in Buddhist context: a textual study of the Deva-Asura war narrative in the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra

Meng, X. (2026)

Doctoral Thesis

Asuras have long been depicted as primordial antagonistic beings in the religious, mythological, and folkloric traditions of South Asia. Buddhism has integrated these figures since early on and regarded Asuras as warlike demons perpetually engaged in conflict with the gods. This became a Deva-Asura war (devāsurasaṃgrāma) motif that persisted throughout the history of Buddhist literature. This dissertation offers a comprehensive overview of the origin and transformation of the Deva-Asura war motif as attested in early Buddhist scriptures, with the primary focus on the most extensive version of the narrative as found in an encyclopedic Buddhist scripture Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra (“The Sūtra on the Application of Mindfulness of the True Dharma”, hereafter Sūtra). Early Buddhist Nikāya/Āgama canons as well as Aśvaghoṣa’s writings exemplify the mode of transmission and localization of the Asura figure from pan-Indian cultural substratum into Indian Buddhism. In Buddhist cosmological texts—those of the Sarvāstivāda, (Sarvāstivāda-)Dharmaguptaka, Sāṃmītīya, and Mahāsāṅghika-Lokottaravāda schools, as well as the Sūtra —Asuras and the Deva-Asura war occupy a stable place. And the Deva-Asura war of the Sūtra has been expanded and sophisticated into a Dharma allegory, expressing didacticism, scholasticism, and polemic. Based on the cosmological texts and the Sūtra, generations of Buddhist mythmakers and storytellers have told and retold the Deva-Asura war meta-myth. In this way, the war narrative has assumed many lives. All in all, the Asuras were not monopolized by Indian Brahmins but also engaged by Indian Buddhists. In the Sūtra, the Deva-Asura war myth functions as an allegory of Buddhism’s invincible cosmic-military power, ethical integrity, and inter-sectarian superiority. To some extent, it provides a mythopolitical framework through which early Indian Buddhists conceptualized the metaphysical nature and moral dynamics of both the macrocosm and the microcosm, and the interconnections between them. Thus, by reconfiguring ancient stories, Buddhist mythmakers sought not only to entertain, but also to cultivate and ultimately to save their audiences.

• Asura
• Sanskrit Buddhist Literature
• Manuscript Studies
• Cosmology
• Mythology
• Saddharmasmṛtyupasthānasūtra
• War and Violence

• All authors: Meng, X.
• Supervisor: Silk, J.A.; Bisschop, P.C.
• Co-supervisor: Szántó, P.D.
• Committee: Jong, A.F. de; Hartmann, J.U.; Harrison, P.; Jansen, B.K.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS), Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University
• Date: 2026-06-18
• Sponsorship: The Khyentse Foundation Doctoral Student Support Program (2020–2024) ;J. Gonda Fund Foundation, Gonda PhD Grant (2024–2025)