Editing Indra (section)

===Vedic texts===
[[File:Guardians of the eight directions 02.JPG|thumb|upright|Indra is typically featured as a guardian deity on the east side of a [[Hindu temple]].]]
[[File:Indra.png|thumb|upright|Modern depiction of Indra, Old Kalyan Print.]]
Indra was a prominent deity in the [[Historical Vedic religion]].<ref name="Griswold1971p177"/> In Vedic times Indra was described in Rig Veda 6.30.4 as superior to any other god. Sayana in his commentary on Rig Veda 6.47.18 described Indra as assuming many forms, making [[Agni]], [[Vishnu]], and [[Rudra]] his illusory forms.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/rig-veda-english-translation/d/doc834193.html | title=Rig Veda 6.47.18 &#91;English translation&#93; | date=27 August 2021 }}</ref>

Over a quarter of the 1,028 hymns of the ''[[Rigveda]]'' mention Indra, making him the most referred to deity.<ref name="Griswold1971p177"/><ref name="Daniélou1991p106">{{cite book|author=Alain Daniélou|title=The Myths and Gods of India: The Classic Work on Hindu Polytheism from the Princeton Bollingen Series|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HMXN9h6WX0C&pg=PA106 |year=1991|publisher=Inner Traditions|isbn=978-0-89281-354-4|pages=106–107}}</ref> These hymns present a complex picture of Indra, but some aspects of Indra are often repeated. Of these, the most common theme is where he as the god with thunderbolt kills the evil serpent [[Vritra]] that held back rains, and thus released rains and land nourishing rivers.<ref name="Müller1903p395"/> For example, the [[Rigveda 1.32|Rigvedic hymn 1.32]] dedicated to Indra reads:
{{Verse translation|italicsoff=y|
{{lang|sa|इन्द्रस्य नु वीर्याणि प्र वोचं यानि चकार प्रथमानि वज्री <nowiki>।</nowiki>
अहन्नहिमन्वपस्ततर्द प्र वक्षणा अभिनत्पर्वतानाम् <nowiki>॥१।।</nowiki>
अहन्नहिं पर्वते शिश्रियाणं त्वष्टास्मै वज्रं स्वर्यं ततक्ष ।
वाश्रा इव धेनवः स्यन्दमाना अञ्जः समुद्रमव जग्मुरापः <nowiki>॥२।।</nowiki>}}
| attr1 = Rigveda, 1.32.1–2<ref>[https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_१.३२ ऋग्वेद: सूक्तं १.३२], Wikisource Rigveda Sanskrit text</ref>
|1. Now I shall proclaim the heroic deeds of Indra, those foremost deeds that the mace-wielder performed:
He smashed the serpent. He bored out the waters. He split the bellies of the mountains.
2. He smashed the serpent resting on the mountain—for him Tvaṣṭar had fashioned the resounding [sunlike] mace.
Like bellowing milk-cows, streaming out, the waters went straight down to the sea.<ref>{{cite book |author=Stephanie Jamison|title=The Rigveda –– Earliest Religious Poetry of India|year=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-063339-4|page=135 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LTRDwAAQBAJ}}</ref>}}

In the myth, [[Vritra|Vṛtra]] has coiled around a mountain and has trapped all the waters, namely the [[Sapta Sindhu|Seven Rivers]]. All the gods abandon Indra out of fear of Vṛtra. Indra uses his vajra, a mace, to kill Vritra and smash open the mountains to release the waters. In some versions, he is aided by the [[Maruts]] or other deities, and sometimes cattle and the sun is also released from the mountain.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Oldenberg|first=Hermann|title=Die Religion Des Veda|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=2004|page=77|language=de|translator-last=Shrotri|translator-first=Shridhar B.|trans-title=The Religion of the Veda|orig-date=1894 (First Edition), 1916 (Second Edition)}}</ref> In one interpretation by Oldenberg, the hymns are referring to the snaking thunderstorm clouds that gather with bellowing winds (Vritra), Indra is then seen as the storm god who intervenes in these clouds with his thunderbolts, which then release the rains nourishing the parched land, crops and thus humanity.<ref name="griswold180">{{cite book|author=Hervey De Witt Griswold|title=The Religion of the Ṛigveda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vhkt5K1fw2wC&pg=PA177 |year=1971|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0745-7|pages=180–183 with footnotes}}</ref> In another interpretation by Hillebrandt, Indra is a symbolic sun god ([[Surya]]) and Vritra is a symbolic winter-giant (historic mini cycles of ice age, cold) in the earliest, not the later, hymns of ''Rigveda''. The Vritra is an ice-demon of colder central Asia and northern latitudes, who holds back the water. Indra is the one who releases the water from the winter demon, an idea that later metamorphosed into his role as storm god.<ref name="griswold180" /> According to Griswold, this is not a completely convincing interpretation, because Indra is simultaneously a lightning god, a rain god and a river-helping god in the Vedas. Further, the Vritra demon that Indra slew is best understood as any obstruction, whether it be clouds that refuse to release rain or mountains or snow that hold back the water.<ref name="griswold180" /> Jamison and Brereton also state that Vritra is best understood as any obstacle. The Vritra myth is associated with the Midday Pressing of soma, which is dedicated to Indra or Indra and the Maruts.<ref name=":0" />

Even though Indra is declared as the king of gods in some verses, there is no consistent subordination of other gods to Indra. In Vedic thought, all gods and goddesses are equivalent and aspects of the same eternal abstract [[Brahman]], none consistently superior, none consistently inferior. All gods obey Indra, but all gods also obey Varuna, Vishnu, Rudra and others when the situation arises. Further, Indra also accepts and follows the instructions of [[Savitr]] (solar deity).<ref name="Keith1925p93">{{cite book|author=Arthur Berriedale Keith|title=The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PaH4uKI7MaEC |year=1925 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0645-0|pages=93–94}}</ref> Indra, like all Vedic deities, is a part of [[henotheism|henotheistic]] theology of ancient India.<ref>{{cite book|author=Friedrich Max Müller |title=Contributions to the Science of Mythology|url=https://archive.org/details/contributionsto01mlgoog |year=1897|publisher=Longmans Green |page=[https://archive.org/details/contributionsto01mlgoog/page/n348 758]}}</ref>

The second-most important myth about Indra is about the Vala cave. In this story, the [[List of ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes#Vedic tribes|Panis]] have stolen cattle and hidden them in the Vala cave. Here Indra utilizes the power of the songs he chants to split the cave open to release the cattle and dawn. He is accompanied in the cave by the Angirases (and sometimes Navagvas or the Daśagvas). Here Indra exemplifies his role as a priest-king, called ''bṛhaspati''. Eventually later in the Rigveda, [[Bṛhaspati]] and Indra become separate deities as both Indra and the Vedic king lose their priestly functions. The Vala myth was associated with the Morning Pressing of soma, in which cattle was donated to priests, called ''[[Dakshina|dakṣiṇā]].''<ref name=":0">{{cite book |author=Stephanie Jamison|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgzVAwAAQBAJ|title=The Rigveda –– Earliest Religious Poetry of India |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2015|isbn=978-0-19-063339-4|location=|pages=38–40}}</ref>

Indra is not a visible object of nature in the Vedic texts, nor is he a personification of any object, but that agent which causes the lightning, the rains and the rivers to flow.<ref>{{cite book|author=Friedrich Max Müller|title=Contributions to the Science of Mythology|url=https://archive.org/details/contributionsto01mlgoog |year=1897|publisher=Longmans Green |page=[https://archive.org/details/contributionsto01mlgoog/page/n347 757]}}</ref> His myths and adventures in the Vedic literature are numerous, ranging from harnessing the rains, cutting through mountains to help rivers flow, helping land becoming fertile, unleashing sun by defeating the clouds, warming the land by overcoming the winter forces, winning the light and dawn for mankind, putting milk in the cows, rejuvenating the immobile into something mobile and prosperous, and in general, he is depicted as removing any and all sorts of obstacles to human progress.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jan Gonda|author-link=Jan Gonda|title=The Indra Hymns of the Ṛgveda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KtcUAAAAIAAJ |year=1989|publisher=Brill Archive|isbn=90-04-09139-4|pages=4–5}}</ref> The Vedic prayers to Indra, states [[Jan Gonda]], generally ask "produce success of this rite, throw down those who hate the materialized [[Brahman]]".<ref>{{cite book|author=Jan Gonda|author-link=Jan Gonda|title=The Indra Hymns of the Ṛgveda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KtcUAAAAIAAJ |year=1989|publisher=Brill Archive|isbn=90-04-09139-4|page=12}}</ref> The hymns of ''Rigveda'' declare him to be the "king that moves and moves not", the friend of mankind who holds the different tribes on earth together.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hervey De Witt Griswold|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vhkt5K1fw2wC&pg=PA180|title=The Religion of the Ṛigveda|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1971|isbn=978-81-208-0745-7|page=180, verse 1.32.15}}</ref>

Indra is often presented as the twin brother of [[Agni]] (fire) – another major Vedic deity.<ref>{{cite book|author=Friedrich Max Müller|title=Contributions to the Science of Mythology|url=https://archive.org/details/contributionsto01mlgoog |year=1897|publisher=Longmans Green |page=[https://archive.org/details/contributionsto01mlgoog/page/n417 827]}}</ref> Yet, he is also presented to be the same, states Max Muller, as in Rigvedic hymn 2.1.3, which states, "Thou Agni, art Indra, a bull among all beings; thou art the wide-ruling Vishnu, worthy of adoration. Thou art the Brahman, (...)."<ref>{{cite book |author=Müller, Friedrich Max |year=1897 |title=Contributions to the Science of Mythology |publisher=Longmans Green |page=[https://archive.org/details/contributionsto01mlgoog/page/n418 828] |url=https://archive.org/details/contributionsto01mlgoog}}</ref> He is also part of one of many Vedic trinities as "Agni, Indra and Surya", representing the "creator-maintainer-destroyer" aspects of existence in Hindu thought.<ref name="Daniélou1991p106"/>{{efn|The Trimurti idea of Hinduism, states [[Jan Gonda]], "seems to have developed from ancient cosmological and ritualistic speculations about the triple character of an individual god, in the first place of ''Agni'', whose births are three or threefold, and who is threefold light, has three bodies and three stations".<ref name=Gonda-1969>{{cite journal |first=Jan |last=Gonda |year=1969 |title=The Hindu trinity |journal=Anthropos |volume=63–64 |issue=1–2 |pages=212–226 |jstor=40457085}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|pages=218–219}} Other trinities, beyond the more common "Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva", mentioned in ancient and medieval Hindu texts include: "'''Indra''', Vishnu, Brahmanaspati", "Agni, '''Indra''', Surya", "Agni, Vayu, Aditya", "Mahalakshmi, Mahasarasvati, and Mahakali", and others.<ref name=Gonda-1969/>{{rp|style=ama|pages=212–226}}<ref name=davidwhite29>{{cite book |first=David |last=White |year=2006 |title=Kiss of the Yogini |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-89484-3 |pages=4, 29}}</ref>}}

Rigveda 2.1.3 <small>Jamison 2014</small><ref name=Jamison-2014/>

# You, Agni, as bull of beings, are Indra; you, wide-going, worthy of homage, are Viṣṇu.  You, o lord of the sacred formulation, finder of wealth, are the Brahman [Formulator]; you, o Apportioner, are accompanied by Plenitude.
Parentage of Indra is inconsistent in Vedic texts, and in fact Rigveda 4.17.12 states that Indra himself may not even know that much about his mother and father. Some verses of Vedas suggest that his mother was a ''grishti'' (a cow), while other verses name her Nishtigri. The medieval commentator [[Sayana]] identified her with [[Aditi]], the goddess who is his mother in later Hinduism. The [[Atharvaveda]] states Indra's mother is Ekashtaka, daughter of [[Prajapati]]. Some verses of Vedic texts state that Indra's father is [[Tvashtr|Tvaṣṭar]] or sometimes the couple [[Dyaus]] and [[Prithvi]] are mentioned as his parents.<ref name=Jamison-2014>{{cite book |last=Jamison |first=Stephanie W. |year=2014 |title=The Rigveda: Earliest religious poetry of India |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-937018-4 |pages=39, 582}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|pages=39, 582}}<ref name=":1"/><ref name="DPr"/> According to a legend found in it{{Where|date=July 2024}}, before Indra is born, his mother attempts to persuade him to not take an unnatural exit from her womb. Immediately after birth, Indra steals soma from his father, and Indra's mother offers the drink to him. After Indra's birth, Indra's mother reassures Indra that he will prevail in his rivalry with his father, Tvaṣṭar. Both the unnatural exit from the womb and rivalry with the father are universal attributes of heroes.<ref name=":0"/> In the Rigveda, Indra's wife is Indrani, alias Shachi, and she is described to be extremely proud about her status.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kinsley, David |year=1988 |title=Hindu Goddesses: Visions of the divine feminine in the Hindu religious tradition |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-90883-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/hindugoddessesvi0000kins/page/17 17]–18 |url=https://archive.org/details/hindugoddessesvi0000kins |url-access=registration}}</ref> Rigveda 4.18.8 says after his birth Indra got swallowed by a demon Kushava.<ref name="The hymns of the Rigveda">{{cite book |editor=Griffith, R.T.H. |year=1920 |title=The Hymns of the Rigveda |place=Benares, IN |publisher=E.J. Lazarus and Co. |url=https://archive.org/details/hymnsrigveda00grifgoog/page/n133/mode/1up}}</ref>

Indra is also found in many other myths that are poorly understood. In one, Indra crushes the cart of [[Ushas]] (Dawn), and she runs away. In another Indra beats [[Surya]] in a chariot race by tearing off the wheel of his chariot. This is connected to a myth where Indra and his sidekick [[Kutsa]] ride the same chariot drawn by the horses of the wind to the house of Uśanā Kāvya to receive aid before killing [[Susna|Śuṣṇa]], the enemy of Kutsa. In one myth Indra (in some versions{{Which|date=July 2024}} helped by [[Vishnu#Vedas|Viṣṇu]]) shoots a boar named Emuṣa in order to obtain special rice porridge hidden inside or behind a mountain. Another myth has Indra kill Namuci by beheading him. In later versions of that myth Indra does this through trickery involving the foam of water. Other beings slain by Indra include Śambara, Pipru, Varcin, Dhuni and Cumuri, and others. Indra's chariot is pulled by fallow bay horses described as ''hárī''. They bring Indra to and from the sacrifice, and are even offered their own roasted grains.<ref name=":0"/>

====Upanishads====
The ancient ''[[Aitareya Upanishad]]'' equates Indra, along with other deities, with [[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman]] (soul, self) in the Vedanta's spirit of internalization of rituals and gods. It begins with its cosmological theory in verse 1.1.1 by stating that, "in the beginning, Atman, verily one only, was here - no other blinking thing whatever; he bethought himself: let me now create worlds".<ref name=Hume-1921>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Hume |year=1921 |section=verses&nbsp;1.1.1, and 1.3.13-.3.14 |title=The Thirteen Principal Upanishads |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=294–298 with footnotes |url=https://archive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa028442mbp#page/n315/mode/2up}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|page=294}}<ref name="Deussen1997p15"/> This soul, which the text refers to as Brahman as well, then proceeds to create the worlds and beings in those worlds wherein all Vedic gods and goddesses such as sun-god, moon-god, Agni, and other divinities become active cooperative organs of the body.<ref name="Deussen1997p15"/><ref name=Hume-1921/>{{rp|style=ama|page=295–297}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Bronkhorst, Johannes |year=2007 |title=Greater Magadha: Studies in the culture of early India |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-15719-4 |page=128 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4GNG5KuH73QC}}</ref> The Atman thereafter creates food, and thus emerges a sustainable non-sentient universe, according to the Upanishad. The eternal Atman then enters each living being making the universe full of sentient beings, but these living beings fail to perceive their Atman. The first one to see the Atman as Brahman, asserts the Upanishad, said, "''idam adarsha'' or "I have seen It".<ref name="Deussen1997p15">{{cite book |author=Deussen, Paul |year=1997 |title=A Sixty Upanishads Of the Veda |volume=1 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0430-2 |pages=15–18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cQFXNgAACAAJ}}</ref> Others then called this first seer as ''Idam-dra'' or "It-seeing", which over time came to be cryptically known as "Indra", because, claims ''Aitareya Upanishad'', everyone including the gods like short nicknames.<ref name=Hume-1921/>{{rp|style=ama|pages=297–298}} The passing mention of Indra in this Upanishad, states Alain Daniélou, is a symbolic folk etymology.<ref name="Daniélou1991p108"/>

The section&nbsp;3.9 of the ''[[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]]'' connects Indra to thunder, thunderbolt and release of waters.<ref>{{cite book |author=Olivelle, Patrick |year=1998 |title=The Early Upanishads: Annotated text and translation |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-535242-9 |page=20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lsp18ZvstrcC}}</ref> In section&nbsp;5.1 of the ''[[Avyakta Upanishad]]'', Indra is praised as he who embodies the qualities of all gods.<ref name="Daniélou1991p106"/>