+Monier Williams

N. of a class of celestial beings belonging to the गण-देवता, q. v., sometimes mentioned in the Veda, (see Ṛg-veda X. 90, 16).

In the Śatapatha- Brāhmaṇa their world is said to be situated above the sphere of the gods; according to Yāska [Nirukta XII. 41] they are the gods whose locality is the sky, i. e. the Bhuvar-loka or middle region between the earth and sun.

In Manu 1. 22. the Sādhyas are described as created after the gods with natures exquisitely refined, and in III. 195. they are said to be children of the Soma-sads, who are described as sons of Virāj.

In the Purāṇas they are regarded as sons of Sādhyā (daughter of Dakṣa and wife of Dharma), and their number is variously given as twelve or seventeen.

But in the later mythology the Sādhyas seem rather to be superseded by the Siddhas, see सिद्ध; their names are sometimes given as follows, Manas, Mantṛ, Prāṇa, Nara, Pāna, Vinirbhaya, Naya, Daṃsa, Nārāyaṇa, Vṛṣa, Prabhu.