Asura

Asura

Description

Most Vendhyans worship Asura who is their chief god, much as Mitra is the primary god of the Hyborians. But, unlike Mitra, Asura leads an entire pantheon of mysterious gods including Agni, Katar, Yama, Soma, Yizil, Hanuman. Many northern Iranistani have adopted the Asuran religion, though their culture flavoured their worship, adding even more fatalism in it. Outside Vendhya the religion of Asura is largely an underground, secretive one, since many Hyborians regard Asura as no more than a demon. Despite the oppressiveness of the Mitran religion, Asura still has a small following in Aquilonia.

Rituals and Beliefs

Worship consists primarily of sacrifices and chanting. Enormously complex rituals are derived from four great books, the compilations of centuries of religious thought and practices. Rituals of meditation and purification include ritual baths in the holy rivers of Vendhya. The dead are burned to dust on great funeral pyres, their ashes blessed and spread on the winds. Anyone not properly cremated may rise as undead. Human sacrifices and trafficking with demons are prohibited. Slavery is accepted and practiced. Believers pay a regular tithe to the local priests of Asura.
The priests teach that if the mysterious rituals are performed incorrectly, the cosmic order will be disturbed and catastrophe will follow, for Asura keeps a keen eye on how smoothly the world runs. Of course, the priest are the only ones able to perform those rituals properly. Water and pigment play a large role in Vendhyan rituals. Sound is also important, since creation time came about when Asura beat upon a drum.
In Hyborian kingdoms worshippers meet in hidden safe-houses. In Aquilonia the dead are usually carried out on pilgrim boats and buried in the sea.

His Priests

The priestly class prize their intellectual acumen and use that that intelligence to further their aims. Some priests of Asura wander the land as beggar-priests, while others are members of the upper caste of Vendhyan society, the Brahma, who are scholars and rulers. The priests command the lowest caste, the Untouchables, during cremation ceremonies. Scrupulous honesty is required in all things except in the matter of concealing the existence of the cult from outsiders. Priests are not allowed to become personally wealthy and must work for the greater good of the cult and the god in everything they do. The cult has developed secret communications and spying network. Asuran priests are knowledgeable in sorcery and more importantly in the best ways in which to fight and foil the activities of sorcerers – for example, they were one of the first major authorities to recommend that all the shorn hair, nail trimmings and other bodily wastes of the Vendhyan royal family be destroyed so as to ensure they could not be used against their former owners. In Vendhya, the priests of Asura ritually gash themselves with copper knives as a sign of grief when a member of the royal family dies.
In Vendhya the Hotar is the head priest who is in charge of the Hymns of Asura and presiding over sacrifices. The Udgatar priests are in charge of the Chants of Asura, which are only chanted at ceremonies using the lotus plant. The Adhvaryu priest carries out the actual sacrifice and is in charge of the Liturgy of Asura. The Atharvan priests perform lotus rituals, fire rituals and sorcery. They are often associated with demonology and technically rank above the Hotar priests but rarely participate in public rituals.

Asura

Depiction of Asura

ASURA

(Greater Deity)

Pantheon: Vendhyan
Gender: Masculine
Regions:

• Vendhya
• Iranistan
• Aquilonia
• Hyborian kingdoms (hidden cults)

Attributes:

• Time-Wheel
• Lotus

Representations:

• No true form
• Birth of an exceptional mortal

Sphere of Power:

• Illusion
• Knowledge
• Reincarnation
• Serpents
• Sky
• Water
• Healing

Can Be Worshipped with Other Gods:

• Only with the Vendhyan pantheon

Conan Lore Archives
Hyboria.xoth.net
The Road of Kings, Mongoose Publishing, 2001
Hyboria’s Finest - Nobles, Scholars,Soldiers, Mongoose Publishing, 2005
Faith and Fervour, Mongoose Publishing, 2006