Deva (deva)

The devas are the gods, powerful but not omnipotent beings who hold offices rather than absolute rank, so that Indra is a title as much as a name. In the Mahabharata they are anxious, jealous of human austerity, and constantly intervening: Indra begs armour off Karna, Yama tests Yudhishthira twice, Surya and Dharma and Vayu father the Pandavas. Their fallibility is part of the epic's theology, since the truly supreme is Krishna, who looks like an ordinary cousin until he does not.