In the पुराणस् there are references to 49 gods who are known as " मरुत्स् ". All of them are the sons of कश्यप . The story of how the child in दिति 's womb was cut into 49 pieces which became 49 मरुत्स् . is given in Chapter 71 of वामन पुराण as follows:

कश्यप 's first wife अदिति became the mother of देवस् and his second wife दिति became the mother of दैत्यस् . The chief of the देवस् was इन्द्र and the chiefs of दैत्यस् were हिरण्याक्ष and हिरण्यकशिपु . At the request of इन्द्र , हिरण्याक्ष and हिरण्यकशिपु were slain by महाविष्णु . दिति who was grieved at the death of her sons, approached कश्यप and requested him to give her a son who would be strong enough to kill इन्द्र . कश्यप told her that if she could perform तपस् for 10,000 दिव्यवर्षस् with due observances, she would get a son who would be able to kill इन्द्र and conquer the three worlds. He gave her a long list of conditions to be observed during the तपस् , some of which were as follows:--Do not injure any creature; do not curse; do not tell lies; do not cut nails or hair; do not touch any unclean object; do not get angry, do not speak to wicked people; do not wear soiled clothes; do not wear garlands used by others; do not eat what is left over by another; do not eat meat touched by a शूद्र woman. Putting on clean, white dress, carrying auspicious substances, everyday before breakfast, cows, ब्राह्मणस् , goddess लक्ष्मी and कश्यप himself should be worshipped." This observance is known as " पुंसवन ." He said that if she performed the तपस् with this austere observance, a son capable of killing इन्द्र would be born to her.

दिति started the observance as advised by her husband. कश्यप left for उदय mountain. After his departure, इन्द्र came to the आश्रम and pretending friendship offered to serve दिति as an attendant. दिति accepted his offer and allowed him to serve her. One day दिति who was utterly tired fell asleep and इन्द्र took advantage of this opportunity and gained entrance into her womb through her nostrils. He cut the child in दिति 's womb with his weapon वज्र into seven pieces. At that time the child cried aloud and इन्द्र said to it " मा रुद " which means "Do not cry". He cut each of the seven pieces again into seven pieces and thus 49 मरुत्स् were born out of the 49 pieces. Since इन्द्र said " मा रुद ", they came to be known as " मरुत्स् ". All these मरुत्स् subsequently became इन्द्र 's servants.

After this, Indra with his weapon came out of Diti's body. With joined palms he begged Diti's pardon and explained to her that he destroyed the child in her womb since he was destined to be his (Indra's) enemy.