The Buddha's Enlightenment & Mara's Defeat.
In his Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, Professor G.P. Malalasekera introduces Mara as "the personification of Death, the Evil One, the Tempter (the Buddhist counterpart of the Devil or Principle of Destruction)." He continues: "The legends concerning Mara are, in the books, very involved and defy any attempts at unraveling them."

Analyzing a series of allusions to Mara in the commentarial literature, he further elaborates on his definition with the following observations:

1. "In the latest accounts, mention is made of five Maras — Khandhamara, Kilesamara, Abhisankharamara, Maccumara, and Devaputtamara. Elsewhere Mara is spoken of as one, three, or four."

2. "The term Mara, in the older books, is applied to the whole of the worldly existence, the five khandhas, or the realm of rebirth, as opposed to Nibbana."

3. Commentaries speaking of three Maras specify them as Devaputtamara, Maccumara, and Kilesamara. When four Maras are referred to, they appear to be the five Maras mentioned above less Devaputta Mara.

Malalasekera proceeds to attempt "a theory of Mara in Buddhism," which he formulates in the following manner:

"The commonest use of the word was evidently in the sense of Death. From this, it was extended to mean 'the world under the sway of death' (also called Maradheyya, e.g. AN IV 228) and the beings therein. Thence, the kilesas (defilements) also came to be called Mara in that they were instruments of Death, the causes enabling Death to hold sway over the world. All temptations brought about by the kilesas were likewise regarded as the work of Death. There was also evidently a legend of a devaputta of the Vasavatti world called Mara, who considered himself the head of the Kamavacara-world (the sensual realm) and who recognized any attempt to curb the enjoyment of sensual pleasures as a direct challenge to himself and to his authority. As time went on these different conceptions of the word became confused one with the other, but this confusion is not always difficult to unravel."

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