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devāsurasaṅgāmo

devāsurasaṅgāma

masc nom sg of devāsurasaṅgāma (noun)

1. battle between gods and demigods; clash of the devas and titans

Built from

• devā — stem · gods
  Nominative plural of deva (divine being); from the root √div 'to shine', related to Latin 'deus' and English 'divine'.
• asura — stem · demigods, titans
  A class of powerful but often hostile beings in Buddhist cosmology; possibly related to Vedic asura but the etymology is uncertain in Pali tradition.
• saṅ — prefix · together
  Reduced form of saṁ before the consonant cluster in gāma; conveys the concrete sense of gathering or collision.
• gāma — stem · going, coming
  From √gam (to go, to come); the stem expresses motion that, under the prefix saṁ-, becomes a meeting or clash.

Analysis. devā (gods, nominative plural) + asura (demigods, titans) + saṅgāma (battle, from saṁ + √gam 'coming together'). The compound denotes the cosmological warfare between divine and anti-divine forces, a theme running through the Suttas and Commentaries.

Etymology. saṅgāma derives from saṁ (together) + gacchati (goes, √gam), literally 'a going-together' or 'encounter'; cognate with English 'come' and Latin 'venio'. The prefix saṁ- brings the concrete image of convergence into the abstract sense of collision or battle.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

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