nitya-suri
नित्यसूरि nitya-sūriAn 'eternal wise one', one of the permanent, never-fallen attendants of Vishnu in his heaven Vaikuntha, such as Ananta, Garuda and Vishvaksena; the settled, exalted counterpart of Shiva's wild host.
Where this term appears
- The Classes of the Gods Treatise
When the later tradition surrounds Shiva with his gaṇas and Vishnu with his nitya-sūris, it is continuing a habit as old as the Veda itself: to see the divine as plural, grouped, arrayed.
- The Court of Vishnu Treatise
… for them in the Śrī Vaiṣṇava tradition is precise and revealing: the nitya-sūris , the "eternal wise ones," or the nitya-vibhūti , the "eternal domain." These are not souls who wandered into heaven; they are t…