Deva

Deva (Skt., perhaps connected with dyaus, ‘bright sky’). ‘Shining One’. In Hinduism, a deva is a celestial power (cf. Chandogya Upaniad 6.3), and particularly a manifestation (not a personification) of a natural power, generally beneficent, especially if propitiated through offerings (see SACRIFICE, HINDU). In that way, it became a term for all the Vedic gods, generally reckoned as thirty-three (Rg Veda 1. 139. 11, 1. 45. 2). The introduction of goddesses, devs, appears to have been secondary.

In Buddhism, devas are manifest forms of reappearance ( punabbhva) in ‘heaven’, i.e. in one of the good domains of manifestation ( gati).

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Ed. John Bowker. Oxford University Press, 2000.