Is there 33 crores of Gods in Sanatana Dharma?

You might hear people saying that in Hinduism, or ‘Sanatan dharma’ there are 33 crore gods. Well, Sanatan Dharma is religiously polytheist, and many Gods are worshipped by people. Also, there are many new gods people start worshipping as ‘Sanatani culture’ doesn’t put any restriction as to whom one can worship. Many a time people start worshiping living human as a God, there is nothing wrong in it at least as per the Sanatani system. ‘Sai Baba’ is an example of being God for many of his followers.

However, I would discuss about the misleading term of ’33 crore Gods’.  This was translated from the concept of ‘thirty-three-koti-Devata’. Here ‘Koti’ is translated as crore. But ‘Koti’ also means class and type.  When we say ‘Uchcha koti’, it means ‘high class’.

So, in real meaning as per Sanatana Dharma Dharma scripture, there are 33 classes/types of God and 33 crores of Gods. These 33 Gods are 8 Basus, 12 Adityas, Eleven Rudras and Two Ashwinis.

Eight Basus are:

Dyaus (sky), Prithvi (earth), Bayu (wind), Agni (fire), Nakshatra (stars), Baruna (water), 

Surya (sun), and Chandra (moon).

Twelve Adityas are:

Indra (Shakra), Aryaman, Tvashtr, Baruna, Bhaga, Savitr, Vivasvat, Amsha, Mitra, Pushan, 

Daksha, and Vishnu 

Eleven Rudras are:

Aja, Ekapada, Ahirbudhanya, Tvasta, Rudra, Hara, Sambhu, Trayambaka, Aparajita, Ishana, and Tribhuvana

Two Ashwinis- are twin brothers

As Sanatana Dharma is diversified a lot, sometimes 33 Gods are named bit differently. For example in Aiteraya Bramhan the 33 Gods are named as ‘Indra (Shakra), Baruna, Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Amsha, Bidhata, Tvashtr, Pushan, Bivasvat (Surya), Savitr (Dhatr), Bishnu, Ananda (bliss, inner contentment), Bijnana (knowledge), Manas (mind, thought), Prana (life-force), Bak (speech), Atma (Self), Ishana, Tatpurusha, Aghora, Bamadeva, Sadyojata, Prithvi (earth), Agni (fire), Antariksha (atmosphere, space), Jala (water), Vayu (wind), Dyaus (sky), Surya (sun), Nakshatra (stars), Soma (moon), Vasatkara, and Prajapati.

There would some more difference in names as per regions and the Rishis who have named. The point is here that there’s no thirty three crores of Gods as per scriptures of Sanatana Dharma, rather there are thirty three types or classes or different Gods.