Aaditya

The twelve sons born to Kashyapa and Aditi were called Dwadashadityas. They are Dhata, Mitra, Aaryama, Rudra, Varuna, Surya, Bhaga, Vivasvan, Poosha, Savita, Twashta, Vishnu. In addition, Aditi had 21 children. They are all known as Aadityas. From Aditi’s thirty three sons, the 33 crore gods emerged. The eldest among the sons was Indra and Vamana was the youngest, as per Mahabharata Adiparva Chapter 66 verse 36 and Ramayana Aranyakanda Sarga 14 verse 14.

Though we use Aaditya mainly for Surya, there are many aadityas as per Rigveda, chief among whom was Varuna. Though the names of the adityas now serve as alternate names for Surya, in the vedic period, they were separate gods. Also, many devas who are reduced to the role of digpalakas now – Indra, Agni etc were the main gods in the vedas. The adityas have been absorbed into Surya’s identity, Maruttas to Vayu, and Rudra to Shiva, as per Rigvedasamhita (Sardar K M Panicker’d foreword)

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Aadigadadhara

Vishnu made the first mace with the bones of an asura named Gada. He killed many asuras like Heti with this and was known hence as Aadigadadhara.

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Aadikurma

During the samudra manthan, the Mandara mountain started sinking. To raise it, Vishnu incarnated as a tortoise. This tortoise (kurma) is called Aadikurma (see Indradyumna, Avatar) as per Mahabharata Adiparva Chapter 18 verse 12.

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Aareyi (4)

The daughter of Atri, who was married to Angiras. Angiras always spoke harshly to Aatreyi, who complained about this to her father. Atri told her that her husband was a son of Agni and hence the anger. He advised that she should bathe him. She took the advise and transformed into a river to placate him. As per Brahmandapurana, this river is called Parushni.

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