Diti was the daughter of Daksha Prajapati and wife of Sage
Kashyapa. It is believed in Hinduism, that she is the mother of Daityas or
demons. Diti served Sage Kashyapa with devotion to attain a valiant son. She
was blessed with a child but Indra killed the embryo and cut into forty nine
pieces and they became Maruts (a group of Devas).
Indra was the son of Aditi, another wife of Sage Kashyapa,
and she did not like Diti’s son to be powerful and challenge Indra. So it was on her
advice that Indra killed the son of Diti.
This cruel fate did not deter Diti from giving up, she
continued serving Sage Kashyapa and she was blessed with two powerful sons,
Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu.
These two demons had defeated Indra numerous times.
Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu are believed to be the
ancestors of demons.