Indra

For other uses, see Indra (disambiguation).

Indra
Devanagari	इन्द्र or इंद्र

Indra (Sanskrit: इन्द्र or इंद्र, indra) is the god of weather and war, and lord of Svargaloka in Hinduism. Mentioned first as the chief diety in the sacred text of Rig Veda, Indra is bestowed with a heroic and almost brash character.

Origins

Indra is attested as a god of the Mitanni. If Indra as a deity is cognate to other Indo-European gods, either thunder gods such as Thor or Perun, or heroic gods, or gods of intoxicating drinks, his name has either not been preserved in any other branch, or else it is itself an Indo-Iranian innovation. Janda (1998:221) suggests that the Proto-Indo-European (or Graeco-Aryan) predecessor of Indra had the epitheta *trigw-welumos "smasher of the enclosure" (of Vritra, Vala) and diye-snūtyos "impeller of streams" (the liberated rivers, corresponding to Vedic apam ajas "agitator of the waters"), which resulted in the Greek gods Triptolemos and Dionysos.

In the religious practices of the Vedic civilization, Indra has prominence over the continuation of chief god of the Indo-European pantheon Dyēus (Dyēus appears in the Vedas as Dyaus Pita, a relatively minor deity who, interestingly, is the father of Indra). Compare to this the comparatively low status of Tyr compared to Odin or Thor in Norse paganism. The battle between Indra and Vritra is reflected in the Avesta, but only among the Indo-Aryans does Indra appear to have risen to the head of the pantheon.

Indra in the Rig Veda

The Rig-Veda states,

He under whose supreme control are horses, all chariots, and the villages, and cattle;
He who gave being to the Sun and Morning, who leads the waters, He, O men, is Indra. (2.12.7, trans. Griffith)

It further states,

“Indra, you lifted up the outcast who was oppressed, you glorified the blind and the lame.” (Rg-Veda 2:13:12)

Indra is the chief god of the Rigveda (besides Agni). He delights in drinking Soma, and the central Vedic myth is his heroic defeat of Vritra, liberating the rivers, or alternatively, his smashing of the Vala, a stone enclosure where the Panis had imprisoned the cows, and Ushas (dawn). He is the god of war, smashing the stone fortresses of the Dasyu, and invoked by combatants on both sides in the Battle of the Ten Kings.

The Rig-Veda frequently refers to him as Śakra - the mighty-one. In the Vedic period, the number of gods was assumed to be thirty-three and Indra was their lord. (The slightly later Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad enumerates the gods as the eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras, the twelve Adityas, Indra and Prajapati). As lord of the Vasus, Indra was also referred to as Vāsava.

By the age of the Vedanta, Indra became the prototype for all lords and thus a king could be called Mānavendra (Indra or lord of men) and Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, was referred to as Rāghavendra (Indra of the clan of Raghu). Hence the original Indra was also referred to as Devendra (Indra of the Devas). However, Sakra and Vasava were used exclusively for the original Indra. Though, modern texts usually adhere to the name Indra, the traditional Hindu texts (the Vedas, epics and Puranas) use Indra, Sakra and Vasava interchangeably and with the same frequency.

"Of the Vedas I am the Sama Veda; of the demigods I am Indra, the king of heaven; of the senses I am the mind; and in living beings I am the living force [consciousness]." (Bhagavad Gita 10.22) [1]

Status and function

Indra is an important god in many tales and epics. He leads the Devas (the gods who form and maintain Heaven and the elements, such as Agni (Fire), Varuna (Water) and Surya (Sun), and constantly wages war against the demonic Asuras of the netherworlds, or Patala, who oppose morality and dharma. He thus fights in the timeless battle between good and evil. In addition, he is one of the Guardians of the directions, representing the east.

Presently, Hindus see Indra as minor deity and contemporary Hindus often worship a personal supreme God such as Shiva,Vishnu, Devi or Surya, seen by them as the great god. A puranic story illustrating the subjugation of Indra's pride is illustrated in the story of Govardhan hill where Krishna, avatar or incarnation of Vishnu carried the hill and protected his devotees when Indra, angered by non-worship of him, launched rains over the village.

Characteristics

In RigVeda, Indra is repeatedly described as a fair or light skinned person:

"Fair cheeks hath Indra, Maghavan, the Victor, Lord of a great host, Stormer, strong in action. What once thou didst in might when mortals vexed thee, where now, O Bull, are those thy hero exploits?" (RigVeda, Book 3, Hymn XXX: Griffith)

"May the strong Heaven make thee the Strong wax stronger: Strong, thou art borne by thy two strong Bay Horses. So, fair of cheek, with mighty chariot, mighty, uphold us, strong-willed, thunderarmed, in battle." (RigVeda, Book 5, Hymn XXXVI: Grffith)

Indra's weapon, which he used to kill Vritra, (with the help of other gods), is the thunderbolt (Vajra), though he also uses a bow, a net and a hook. He rides a large, four-tusked albino elephant called Airavata. When portrayed having four arms, he has lances in two of his hands which resemble elephant goads. When he is shown to have two, he holds the Vajra and a bow (Masson-Oursel and Morin, 326).

Indra lives in Svarga in the clouds around Mt. Meru. Deceased warriors go to his hall after death, where they live without sadness, pain or fear. They watch the Apsaras and the Gandharvas dance, and play games. The gods of the elements, celestial sages, great kings and warriors enrich his court.

Relations with other gods

He is married to Indrani (whose father, Puloman, Indra killed), and is the father of Arjuna (by Kunti), Jayanta, Midhusa, Nilambara, Khamla, Rbhus, Rsabha. Indra is also the father of Vali and Surya. He is attended to by the Maruts (and the Vasus), children of Diti and Rudra. Indra had murdered Diti's previous children, so she hoped her son would be more powerful than him and kept herself pregnant for a century, practicing magic to aid her fetal son. When Indra discovered this, he threw a thunderbolt at her and shattered the fetus into 7 or 49 parts; each part regenerated into a complete individual, and the parts grew into the Maruts, a group of storm gods, who are less powerful than Indra.

According to one belief, Indra pulled his father, Dyaus Pita, from the sky by the foot; he fell to his death; afterwards, Indra married his mother Prthivi, who supported the murder.

Some scholars have also argued that there is a continuity between Indra and Shiva (Rudra).

Stories about Indra

Indra is not a perfect being, and is ascribed with more human characteristics and vices than any other Vedic deity. Perhaps consequently, he also has the most hymns dedicated to him: 250 (Masson-Oursel and Morin, 326). A well-known story about Indra tells of a sin that he committed and how he was punished for it.

Ahalya's curse

Indra had an affair with Ahalya, wife of Gautama Maharishi. He was punished by Gautama with a curse that one thousand phalluses would cover his body in a grotesque and vulgar display, and that his reign as king of the gods would meet with disaster and catastrophe. Gautama later commuted the curse, upon the pleading of Brahma, to one thousand eyes, instead of phalluses.

[Note: Gautama's curse was for a thousand marks of the yoni i.e. female sexual organ (see Veronica Ions' "Indian Mythology", and also this entry in Encyclopedia Britannica http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9042343/Indra) to cover Indra's body, not phalluses. These were later transformed into a thousand eyes. I don't know why my correction was removed, but whoever edits this entry, please do your homework. It should indeed be vaginas and NOT phalluses.]

Due to this sin Indra's throne remains insecure forever. He is repeatedly humiliated by demonic kings like Ravana of Lanka, whose son Indrajit (whose name means victor over Indra) bound Indra in serpent nooses and dragged him across Lanka in a humiliating display. Ravana released Indra when Brahma convinced him to do so, but Indra, as the defeated, had to pay tribute and accept Ravana's supremacy. Indra realized the consequences of his sin, and was later avenged by the Avatara of Vishnu, Rama, who slew Ravana to deliver the three worlds from evil, as described in the epic Ramayana.

See also: Rukmangada, Tulsi

Indra and Vritra

Vritra (Verethra in Avesta), an asura, stole all the water in the world and Indra drank much Soma to prepare himself for the battle with the huge serpent. He passed through Vritra's ninety-nine fortresses, slew the monster and brought water back to Earth.

In a later version of the story, Vritra was created by Tvashtri to get revenge for Indra's murder of his son, Trisiras, a pious Brahmin whose increase of power worried Indra. Vritra won the battle and swallowed Indra, but the other gods forced him to vomit Indra out. The battle continued and Indra fled. Vishnu and the Rishis brokered a truce, and Indra swore he would not attack Vritra with anything made of metal, wood or stone, nor anything that was dry or wet, or during the day or the night. Indra used the foam from the waves of the ocean to kill him at twilight.

In yet another version, recounted in the Mahabharata, Vritra was a Brahmin who got hold of supernatural powers, went rogue and became a danger to the gods. Indra had to intervene, and slew him after a hard fight. A horrible goddess named Brāhmanahatya (the personified sin of Brahmin murder) came from the dead corpse of Vritra and pursued Indra, who hid inside a lotus flower. Indra went to Brahma and begged forgiveness for having killed a Brahmin. "Vajrayudha" which Indra possessed is believed to be prepared from backbone of a sage Dadhichi to kill Asuras.

In Zoroastrianism

Main article: Verethragna

In the Avesta, Indra is called Verethragna (cognate with Sanskrit Vritrahana, killer of Vritra).

Zoroastrianism retains Indra as the leader of "false gods" (all, or almost all other gods), beings who can be equated with devils. So also in the Vendidad, the youngest of the texts of the Avesta, where Indra is one of the six chief demons that are seen to stand opposite the six Amesha Spentas. In this sextet, Indra is the direct enemy of Asha Vahishta, and so the opponent of asha/rta, order, truth, and righteousness. (Vd. 10.9)

Similarly, in the Denkard, a 9th century Middle Persian text, Indra is the arch-demon that "is the spirit of apostasy and further deceives the worldly existence of mankind" (9.3). In the Bundahishn, a Zoroastrian account of creation, Indra "freezes the minds of the creatures from practicing righteousness just like much frozen snow. He instills this into the minds of men that they ought not to have the sacred shirt and thread girdle" (Gbd. 27.6). At the renovation of the universe Indra will be defeated by Asha Vahishta (Gbd. 34.27)

In Buddhism and Jainism

Main article: Sakra

In Buddhist and Jain texts, Indra is commonly called by his other name Śakra, ruler of the Trāyastriṃśa heaven. Śakra is, however, sometimes given the title Indra, or, more commonly, Devānām Indra, "Lord of the Devas". In Buddhist countries such as China, Korea and Japan, he is known as Taishakuten.

In Jainism, Indra awards a golden robe to Mahavira, and later welcomes him into heaven.

See also

• Rigvedic deities
• Hindu deities
• Zeus
• Le roi de Lahore, an opera by Jules Massenet in which the god Indra plays an important part

References

1. Masson-Oursel, P.; Morin, Louise (1976). "Indian Mythology." In New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology, pp. 325-359. New York: The Hamlyn Pulishing Group.

• Janda, M., Eleusis, das indogermanische Erbe der Mysterien (1998).

External links

• Collection of Stories showing greatness of Indra 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
• Indra, the Storm-God - by Benjamin Slade
• Indra and Shiva - By Koenraad Elst
• Weekly podcast on Vedic Chanting and Vedic Mythology with stories from the Puranas