Bhagavad Gita · Mahabharata Codex

The Vasus

वसु · vasu

Eight gods of the elements: earth, water, fire, wind, sky and the lights of heaven

Bhishma is one of them, serving out a curse as a mortal.

The eight Vasus are the gods of the natural world. In the epic they once stole a sage's cow and were cursed to be born on earth. The river Ganga agreed to be their mother and to free seven of them at birth by drowning them. The eighth, who had led the theft, had to live a full human life. He was Bhishma.