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ARTICLE V.
INDRA IN THE RIG-VEDA.
BY EDWARD DELAVAN
PERRY,
TUTOR IN GREEK AND SANSKRIT IN COLUMBIA
COLLEGE,
NEW YORK.
Presented to the
Society
October
28th,
1880.
THE
primary object
of this
essay
is to
give
as distinct an
account as
possible
of the
great god
Indra,
as he
appears
in the
light
shed
upon
him
by
the
Rig-Veda;
more
especially
to deter-
mine with
accuracy
his
position
in the Vedic
pantheon,
and his
original significance (his
Naturbedeutung):
i. e. the
powers
of
nature which lie behind and are
symbolized
by
this striking
per-
sonification. The
preliminary part
of all such work must of
course be a
searching
examination of the
hymns themselves,
and a conscientious
interpretation
of all
passages
in
any
way
bearing
upon
the
subject.
Great care has been taken to avoid
two
dangers:
on the one
hand,
that of
overhasty
combination
and
comparison
with
seeming parallels
in extra-Indian
mythol-
ogy;
and on the
other,
that of
following
too
closely
what
may
be called the ritualistic
tendency,
which
puts
these ancient
hymns
(which
in the main breathe out the freshness of
nature,
and
display
the Indian
people
in the
vigor
of
youth)
on the
same level with the
religious
monstrosities of a
cunning,
subtle,
ingenious
and
yet
frivolous
priesthood
of a later
age,
and
attempts
to
explain
obscure
points
in the text
by
not less im-
perfectly
understood details of the later ceremonial. To the
first of these
perils
L.
Myriantheus
seems to have fallen a
prey;
his
work,
Die
Agvins
oder Arischeen )Dioskuren, was
published
at Munich in 1876. The other has often
proved
disastrous to Alfred
Hillebrandt,
who is
represented
in this
field by two books, Ueber die Gottin Aditi
(Breslau,
1876),
and Varuna und Mitra
(1877).
VOL. Xi. 16
E. D.
Perry,
The
Rig-Veda
is the
only
source from which materials
have
been drawn. The Brahmanas show so decided an advance
beyond
Vedic ideas that
great
confusion would
inevitably
have
accompanied any attempt
to combine them. The same reason
prevailed
with
regard
to the
Yajus.
As for the Saman,
it
contains only sixty or
seventy
verses not found in the Rik,
and these offer
nothing
whatever of
value;
while a
preliminary
examination of the Atharvan showed that the results to be
obtained from it would not differ
materially
from those fur-
nished
by
the
Rik,
for which reason its discussion
may
well be
postponed.
The
essay
is divided into four
parts,
as follows: I. The
primitive conceptions
of the Indians
regarding Indra,
and the
powers
of nature which are
represented
under this
personifica-
tion;
II. The accounts of Indra's
parentage,
and the narratives
and
legends
of his birth; III. The functions of Indra in the
supernatural
and
natural,
the moral and the
physical world,
and his relations with other
gods;
IV. The
conception
of In-
dra as a definite
person,
and the
resulting description
of him.
I. Indra's
Significance
in Nature.
For
many years,
from the
pioneer
labors of Roth in the field
of Vedic exegesis to the latest researches of
Ludwig
and Ber-
gaigne,
most Sanskrit
specialists
and
comparative mythologers
have viewed Indra as a
god
of the
sky-whether,
on the one
hand,
of the radiant and
sunny, or,
on the
other,
of the
rainy
sky.
For the first at all
complete exposition
of the
subject
we
have to thank
Roth,
who in an
essay
in Zeller's
Theologisch/es
Jahrbuch for 1846
(p. 352)
styles
Indra "the first of the
gods,
born before the other
immortals,
whom he has adorned with
power;
the
god
of the
bright
clear vault of Heaven. His
cheerful
yet majestic appearance
makes him the
protector
of
human
beings
and the
dispenser
of riches." A note adds:
"Indra
signifies
'the radiant
one;'
from the root
idh,
indh,
'kindle;'
related to
al'tco,
a42op,
in which the root is
strength-
ened." The next year Roth modified his views as follows
(Zeitsch.
d. D.
Jlorg.
Ges., 1847, p. 72):
"Indra is the
supreme
god
of the Vedic
belief,
or at least the one whose rule
and
power
most
immediately
concerns the life of mankind.
He is the
god
of the cheerful
sky
of
day,
which after all
obscurations
again
shines
forth,
and
upon
which
depend
fruit-
fulness of the earth and the
quiet
enjoyment
of human
exist-
ence." Roth's later views,
as
expressed
in the
Petersburg
Dictionary,
we shall find
essentially
different. Lassen
(In-
dische Alterthums7kunde, "nd edit.,
i.
893)
takes in the main
118
Indra i the
Rig-
Veda.
this
view,
but
adopts
a different derivation of the name.
Wuttke (Geschichte des
Heidenthums, 1852,
ii.
241), deviating
widely
from all
previous opinions,
and
completely
failing to
grasp
the
conceptions
of Indra offered
by
the older literature,
saw him
only
in the
light
of the later Brahmanic
descriptions.
Benfey (Orient
und Occident, 1862,
p.
48
ff.) regarded
Indra
as
god
of the
rain-sky.
He
says:
"It can be
proved
conclu-
sively
that Indra
stepped
into the
place
of the
sky-god,
who in
the Vedas is addressed in the vocative as
dyaush
pitar."
But,
so far as I
know,
this has not
yet
been
proved. Benfey's
deri-
vation of the name indra is, as will be seen
below,
utterly
untenable. Max Miiller
says
in his Lectures on the Science of
Language (ii.
470):
" The real
representative
of
Jupiter
in the
Vedas is not
Dyu
but
Indra,
a name of Indian
growth,
and
unknown in
any
other
independent
branch of
Aryan language.
Indra was another
conception
of the
bright
blue sky."
And,
on
page 473,
note 35:
"Indra,
a name
peculiar
to India, admits
of but one
etymology:
i. e. it must be derived from the same
root,
whatever that
may be,
which in Sanskrit
yielded indu,
'
drop,
sap.' It meant
originally
the giver of
rain,
the
Jupiter
Pliuvius,
a
deity
more often
present
to the mind of the wor-
shipper
than
any
other. Cf.
Benfey,
Or. u.
Occ.,
i. 49." But
in his
Chips (ii.
91)
the same scholar calls him
"
the chief solar
deity
of India"! The
identity
of Indra with
Jupiter
Pluvius
is also maintained
by Muir,
Sanskrit
Texts,
v. 77. Grassmann
(W
beh. zum R. r., s. v.
indra)
calls him the
god
of the
bright
firmament.
M4yriantheus
(Die AQvins, p.
xvi.),
whose
account of Indra is
chiefly remarkable
for calm assurance of
statement, again identifies him with
Dyu;
while Ludwig
(Die
philosoRphischen
und
religiosen Anschauungen
des Veda,
p. 33)
characterizes him thus: "It is
very
difficult to deter-
mine Indra's
precise mythological nature,
since he unites in
himself the characteristics of several older divinities. It is
perhaps
most correct to
style
him the god of the
sky,
under
whose
protection
and
guidance
stand on the one hand the sun
and stars-hence his
friendship
.with Pfusan and Visnu-on the
other the
phenomena
of the thunderstorm."
Again, (R.
V.
Transl., iii.
313): "iDyaus
is described
similarly
with
Indra,
who is doubtless a mere resuscitation of the older god who had
been for a time thrust into the background
by
the rise of the
Varuna-cult,
and whose
identity
with Zeus was
long
ago
recog-
nized."
(See
also
p.
318 of the same
volume.)
Bergaigne,
in
his work entitled L;a
Religion
Vedique
d'apres les
hymnes
du
Rig-Veda (Paris, 1878, p.
xvi.), pays
no attention what-
ever to the nature-side of the
god's
personality,
but views
merely
his ethical side. He calls him the god of battle, and
says
of him:
"
He is more
profoundly distinguished
from the
119
E. D.
Perry,
elements than are the other
gods." Undoubtedly
this is
true,
that Indra is a
god
of battle; but it is
only
half the
truth;
nor
is he in fact more
sharply distinguished
from natural
phe-
nomena than several other divinities.
Differing
from all these
opinions,
I consider that Indra be-
longs
not
among
the deities of the
sky,
but
among,
or rather at
the head
of,
those of the air-a distinction which we shall find
a
very important
one when Indian
mythology
is in
question.
Without
doubt,
the
strongest
reason for the classification of
Indra among the
sky-gods
has been his
apparent identity
with
the Greek Zeus and the Italian
Juppiter.
And if the thunder-
storm-mythus
had in its
development
run like courses in India
and in Greece and
Italy,
we could not avoid
accepting
this
identification as correct. It is
perfectly
true that Indra has to
wage
the same contest as Zeus; and it is not less
probable
that
in the
yet
undivided
Indo-European mythology Dyu
was the
one to whose lot it fell to
conquer
the cloud-demons. Accord-
ingly
we must
say,
Indra had taken the
place
of
Dyu.
But
the conclusion is
unwarranted,
that Indra was
by
nature a
deity
of the
sky.
We
may merely say:
the
original
functions of
Dyu,
a
deity
of the
sky,
as
conqueror
of the
cloud-demons,
were transferred
by
the Indians to another god,
of different
origin
and different
nature,
who in the course of time had
advanced
into
prominence by
the side of
Dyu.
And this
transfer is moreover in
perfect
accord with Vedic doctrines
respecting
the structure of the world. Before
explaining
these
doctrines, however,
I will endeavor to show what natural
phe-
nomenon
Indra
originally represented.
That he is
really
in the Veda the
god-i.
e. the
personifica-
tion-of
the thunderstorm,
is shown
very plainly
by
several
passages
which are in fact detailed
descriptions
of that
mighty
convulsion
of
nature,
and
yet place
the
god,
conceived of as a
person,
most
prominently
in the foreground.
In the Veda we
have to deal with a
worship
of nature,
whose chief gods
were
long
ago
recognized
as
originally personifications
of different
powers
of nature. We are therefore
entitled,
in this as in
most other cases,
to seek the most
primitive conceptions
which
the Indians formed of their favorite
god
in those
passages
in
which the
descriptions
of some
phenomenon
of
nature,
and of
a
personal
being supposed
to underlie the manifestations
of
this
phenomenon,
are most
evidently
and most
intimately
united. A number of such
verses, relating especially
to
Indra,
are treated of in Part
II.;
but
I will introduce several of
the
most striking
here,
that we
may
in advance
gather
an idea of
the true nature of this
god.
Thus,
i. 55. 4 :' "He manifests
1
sa id vine
namasyuibhir vacasyate
cAru
janequ prabruvana indriyam.
120
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
himself in the forest
by
the
bending trees, announcing
his
power
(which is)
held dear
among
men
;"
v. 32. 10 :'
"
Before
him bends the
godlike
tree
;"
i. 55. 1: "
Dreadful, mighty,
the
cause of woe unto
men,
he whets his thunderbolt
;"
i. 54. 1 :2
"
Thou,
0Q
Indra, smiting
the woods
asunder,
didst make the
streams to
gush out;
did not then mortals huddle
together
in
terror ?" Is this the
god
of the blue
sky
? Zeus is the
sky-
god
and the
sky;
Indra is not the
sky-he
wins it for his
worshippers.
ii. 12. 13: " Before him Heaven and Earth
bow,
at his breath the mountains
quake ;"
vi. 31. 2 :'
"Through
dread of
thee, Indra, everything
upon
the earth
trembles,
yea
even the immovable
regions
of the
air;
Heaven and
Earth,
the
mountains,
the
forests-everything
that is firm trembles at
thy
progress ;"
vi. 18. 2 :4
"Raising
the dust on
high,
he alone was
the
mighty
shaker of the nations of men
;"
x. 92. 8 :5 "Even
the sun reins in his
tawny mares;
every
one dreads
Indra,
for
he is the
mightier,
and
(fears)
the blast from the
body
of the
terrible
giant;
day
after
day
he
thunders, victorious,
unrestrain-
able." In i. 52.
8,
Indra is
styled
candrd-budhna: i. e. 'hav-
ing
a
white,
or
bright, ground.'
This could be taken as
descriptive
of the
sky,
but suits better the
thunder-cloud,
as it
advances across the
bright heavens;
we have
only
to translate
'with
bright background.'
But even when we have
proved
that Indra was the thunder-
storm,
we are not
yet
justified
in
denying
him a
place among
the
sky-gods;
in
fact,
with our minds full of Greek
mythology,
we should consider such a denial absurd. But let us see what
views the Vedic
poets
held
concerning
the scene of action of
the
thunder-storm,
and
consequently
of the
thunder-god.
From the earliest Vedic
times,
the Indians marked off the
universe in their
imaginations
in a manner
peculiar
to them-
selves.
They
assumed three
separate regions:
viz. of the
earth,
the
air,
and the
sky;
a
conception
which to
my
knowl-
edge
is not found elsewhere
among Indo-European mytholo-
gies.6 Moreover, many
natural
phenomena
which in still
1
ny
asmai devi svadhitir
jihita.
2
akrandayo nadyo
r6ruvad vana katha na ksonir
bhiyasa
sam arata.
3
tvad
bhiy6ndra
parthivani viqvacyuta
cic
cyavayante
rajajnsi:
dya-
vaksama
parvataso vanani
vigvam
drlham
bhayate
/jmann
a te.
4
brhadrenu9
cyavano
manusinam 6kah krstinam abhavat sahava.
5
sura9 cid a harito
asya
rlramad indrad a kaq cid
bhayate taviyasah;
bhimasya
vrsno
jatharad
abhiqvaso dive-dive sfah,ri stann abadhitah.
6
The Greek
a&trap
and
afip
seem not to
correspond accurately to the Indian
dyaus
and antariksam. Nor did the Greeks distribute their divinities so
formally
among
the different
regions.
Their scheme was: divinities of
sky, earth
(and sea),
and lower world.
121
E. D.
Perry,
earlier,
ante-Vedic times
they
themselves
imagined,
and other
Indo-Eiropeans
continued to imagine in later
times,
as occur-
ring in the
sky, were
by
them transferred to the middle
region,
the district of the air, a region which in the Veda we find
always sharply distingutished
from the
sky.
This
change
from
primitive conceptions
must have been consummated at a
very
early
date in the interval between the
separation
of the Indian
tribes from the others of Arvan stock and the
compositioj
of
the Vedic
hymns,
since we find in all
parts
of the
Rig-Veda
the three
regions accurately
and
consistently kept apart,
and
yet they
are mentioned in such a manner as to make it almost
certain that the idea of the antarilkscm, the
Air-region,
was of
later
development
than those of Heaven and Earth. For
instance,
in numerous
passages
Heaven and Earth are
styled
the universal
parents,
a name never
applied
to Heaven and
Air,
or Earth and Air. In i. 56. 5 we read :' "When
thou,
0
Indra,
didst fasten
firmly
the region of air in the frame of
Heaven and Earth
;"
ii. 15. 2:2
e
"he filled out the two worlds
(i. e. Heaven and Earth, rodas;
having
always this
meaning)
and the air." Most
plainly speaks
iv. 42. 4 :8 "The
triple
universe."
Parallel with this
development
of a
specifically
Indian
triple
division of the
universe,
of a third and new realm of
nature, runs the
development
of a
specifically
Indian
divinity,
the field of whose
activity
is this new
realm,
and whose func-
tion it is to fight in mid-air the battles which the
Aryan
imagined
as
taking place
in the
sky.
From what germ was
developed
the
conception
of this mighty
deity
Indra we shall
never learn from the Veda, for therein he
appears
always as
either the
greatest,
or
among
the
greatest,
of the
gods.
The
occurrence of the word indra or aidra in
Zend,
as name of an
evil
spirit,
and the Slav.
jfdr'(,
'swift'
(see
below),
perhaps
point
to his
existence,
in a
very rudimentary form,
in the
mythology
of the
period preceding
the
separation.
Other than
these there seem to be no indications of him whatever, outside
of the Indian
peninsula.
For the Indian of the Vedic
period,
the
sky
was raised far
above all
strife;
there was eternal
light,
eternal
peace,
the
eternal
waters,
and there dwelt the
bright Adityas,
in inviola-
ble
sanctity
and
majesty;
but the
air,
the middle
region,
was
alive with malicious
spirits,
whose
power
had to be broken
by
a
god
of
greater power
than
they, by
Indra. Yet to overcome
the demons,
Indra does not descend from Heaven into
Air,
for
1
vi
yit
tir6 dhariinam
icyutaih r6j6 'ti~hipo
diva
Sttsu barh4.a.
2
A r6dasl
apprad
antirikfam.
8
tridhatu bhlima.
122
Indra in the
Rig-
Feda.
he is
supposed
to be there
already.
He advances
along
the
horizon,
between Heaven and
Earth,
as the
poets
never
weary
of
singing;
he is born
there,
as child of Heaven and
Earth,
which he forces asunder
by
his
huge
size and
power
(see
x.
89).
He is the
god
of
battle,
of the battle
fought
in the thunder-
storm between
good
and bad
spirits;
and the
battle-ground
is
the
air,
the home and
gathering place
of all demons.
Another
proof
that Indra was not
thought
a
god
of the
sky
is found in the references made to him in Yaska's
Nirukta,
where Yaska
quotes
the
opinion
of his
predecessors
that in
reality
there were but three
gods:
Sfirya (the
sun)
in the
sky,
Indra or
Vayu
in the
air,
and
Agni
upon
earth. Yaska how-
ever maintains the
plurality
of divinities in each
region,
and
places
Indra
(or Vayu)
at the head of those of the air.
Sig-
nificant is likewise the close connection of Indra with
Vayu
and the
Maruts,
the wind- and
storm-gods,
whom it is im-
possible
to view as celestial divinities.
For all these
reasons,
and for others which will be advanced
in their
proper place,
I conclude that Roth's views as laid
down in the Pet.
Diet.,
s. v. indra, are correct. There we
read: "Indra. Name of the well-known
god,
who in the
Vedic creed stands at the head of the
gods
of the middle
region,
the
atmosphere.
The most
prominent
manifestation
of his
power
is the battle which he has to
fight
with the thun-
der-bolt
(vajra),
in the
thunder-storm, against
the demoniac
powers.
In his
origin
he is not the
supreme,
but the national
and favorite
god
of the
Indo-Aryan
tribes,
a
type
of heroic
power
used for noble
ends;
and with the
gradual fading away
of Varuna he advances more and more into
prominence."
My
own
investigations,
so far as
they
reach,
have all tended to
confirm these views of
my
revered master.
In the
present
state of our
knowledge
of the
Veda, perhaps
as much is lost as is
gained
by
the zeal for
comparison
between
things
Indian and
things
extra-Indian. The Sanskrit texts
must be
conscientiously
worked
through many
times
yet
before
we can
speak
with confidence
upon
all the
religious conceptions
and beliefs of those ancient 8rsMs: and the
light
which so
many
have
attempted
to throw
upon
them from without often
distorts instead of
revealing
the real truth.
The
etymology
of the word indra has been
very variously
explained.
Yaska
gives
no less than thirteen different deriva-
tions,
and the number of modern
attempted
ones must be
nearly as
great.
The Indian derivations are as usual absurd,
yet hardly
more so than the
following
by Benfey:
syand-ant,
pres.
pple.
of a
supposed
base
syand;
with loss of
-t,
syand-an;
with change of -n to -r,
syand-ar;
with addition of -a,
syand-ar-
-a;
then sind-ar-a,
sind-r-a,
ind-r-a. Middletown out of Moses,
128
E. D.
Perry,
or
mango
out of Jeremiah
King,
are nothing
to this. The
most reasonable derivation is still that
proposed
by
Roth, Pet.
Dict., s. v.: viz. from the root in or
inv,
'press,
urge, have
power
over,'
etc.,
with the suffix -ra
(used
to form nomina
agentis),
a
euphonic
d
being inserted,
as in the Greek
dv-8-p6<,
]asvyi/--pla,
etc. The
signification
of 'the
stormer,
the
oppressor'
suits the character of the
god
to a remarkable de-
gree;
and
Ludwig
mentions as the
only
instance of the word
in extra-Indian
language (except perhaps
Zend indra or
aindra)
the Slav.
jedru,
'swift, impetuous.'
So too the
Acvins,
the
mighty horsemen,
are called
indratamd,
heretofore
commonly
rendered 'most like
Indra,'
for which
'
most
impetuous'
would
surely
be
better;
and in vii. 99. 3
Ushas,
the
Dawn,
is likewise
styled
indratama, where ' most like Indra' is
eminently
unsatis-
factory.
Better would be
perhaps
in this
passage
also the
rendering
'
very
swift.'
II. Indra's
Origin.
The Vedic
poets
did not content themselves with a mere
personification
of the thunder-storm and its at once
salutary
and destructive
effects. On the
contrary, they
on the one
hand
gradually
extended and
multiplied
the fields of Indra's
activity
in
nature,
and
developed
his
original character,
until
they
came to
imagine
him as
interfering
in all human
affairs,
and even as
guiding
the courses of the stars and
bringing
order and
stability
into the movements of the
universe;
while
on the other hand
they
humanized his divine
person,
to a
greater
extent
perhaps
than
any
other of the Vedic
pantheon,
attrib-
uted to it a human
form,
and furnished it with a
variety
of
human attributes,
all of which however harmonized
perfectly
with the original
conception
which
underlay
this divine nature.
Finally, they represented
Indra as
begotten by
other
gods,
and
as
entering
at his birth into an
already existing
world of divin-
ities.
The numerous
passages
of the
Rig-Veda
which make men-
tion of indra's descent and birth will be best divided into four
groups.
In the first I shall include verses
containing
such con-
ceptions
as are still
purely physical:
that
is, conceptions
in
which the
original
content of the
mythus,
the immediate
im-
pression
received
in the observation of
nature,
is most
promi-
nent,
even
in the
details;
in the second
group,
the anthro-
pomorphic
statements-those
in which Indra's
-Naturbedeutung
sinks into
comparative insignificance
beside his humanized
per-
son,
and in which his birth is described as
happening
in accord-
ance with human
experience
and
circumstances;
in the
third,
passages
which, although containing
references to Indra's
par-
124
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
ents, yet
do not name or characterize them more
definitely;
and in the fourth
group,
such
conceptions
of his
origin
as
pro-
ceed from later
speculation,
and are in fact
nothing
but mental
abstractions from the chief manifestations of his
activity.
It was not in accordance with the character of the Vedic
people,
which in fact was somewhat
lacking
in
mythological
versatility, fully
to
develop
the
genealogical
side of the Indra-
mythus.
This lack of
nmythological
versatility,
as for want of
a better term I have chosen to
designate it,
contrasts most
sharply
with the mental cast of othler
Indo-European peoples,
especially
the Greeks. Parents of Indra are indeed alluded to
often
enough,
but rather en
passant,
and
generally
without
mention of
specific
names. I have not found
any
passage
in
the
Rig-Veda according
to whicll
any
other
divinity
than
Dyu
is
by
name styled Indra's
father,
while on the other
hand the allusions to his mother are
widely
various. At one
time it seems to be Prthivi, the Earth, at another the Rain-
cloud,
finally
purely
abstract
personifications
are called his
progenitors.
Of the
view,
advanced from different sources,
that Indra is to be considered as son of
Aditi,
I shall have
occasion to treat further on.
I now
proceed
to the discussion of the
pertinent passages.
1.
Physical conceptions.-In
the
following verses,
the birth
of Indra is
plainly
observed to be
merely
a
mythical figure
for
the sudden
breaking
out of the
thunder-storin,
which advances
along
the
horizon,
on the
edge
of Heaven and
Earth,
"
in the
lap
of the
parents;"
and in which the God's nature manifests
itself.
Hardly
is the deity born before the
mighty
battle of
the
thunderstorm, involving
IHeaven and Earth in
confusion,
begins
to
rage.
First of all
belong
here three verses of the 17th
hymn
of
Book iv.
Thus,
v. 4 :1
"Thy
father is considered to be the
mighty Heaven;
the
progenitor
of Indra was an excellent
workman, in that he
begat
the
noisy
wielder of the stout thun-
derbolt,
who is immovable as is the earth from its seat;" v. 2 :2
"
In terror at
thy
vehemence the heaven
trembled,
in terror at
thy
fury the earth
trembled,
at
thy
birth;
the firm mountains
tottered,
the
plains crumbled,
the waters
dispersed ;"
v. 12 :3
"Little cares Indra for his
mother,
little for his
father,
for the
suvfras te
janita
manyata dyaur indrasya
karta
svapastamo bhut:
ya
fih
jajana svaryam
suvajram
anapacyutamh
sadaso na bhuma.
2
tava tviso6
janiman rejata
dyau r6jad
bhufmir
bhiyasa
svasya many6h:
rghayanta
subhv.ah
parvatasa
ardan dhfnvani
sarayanta apah.
3
kiyat
svid indro
adhy
eti matiuh
kiyat
pitfir
janituir y6 jajana: y6
asya
i.usmam
muhukair
fyarti
vato na
jiutah stanayadbhir
abhrai4.
VOL. XI. 17
125
E. D.
Perry,
begetter
that
begat
him:
(Indra)
who in a moment
gives
free
rein to his
violence,
as it were a storm-wind amid
thundering
clouds." In other words,
the verse
says:
Indra
pitilessly drags
Heaven and
Earth,
in whose embrace he was born, into
the
whirlpool
of the
raging
thunder-storm. A similar
thought
seems to have hovered in the mind of the author of the not
very intelligible passage
iv. 22. 4.1 I understand the verse thus:
"Every
hillside and the
many heights,
the heaven and the
earth,
trembled before the
gigantic
one at his
birth;
when the
courageous
one
brings
his
parents
to the cow
(i.
e. to the thun-
der-cloud),
then do the winds bellow
mightily
round about."
The second half of the stanza seems to mean: when Indra
hurries Heaven and Earth into the thickest turmoil of the
thunder-storm,
then etc. Here
also, then,
I can
perceive only
a
description
of the
advancing
storm,
spreading swiftly
over
earth and
sky;
and so in i. 63. 1; but
particularly
viii. 59. 4:'
"(No
one
equals
Indra,)
the
unconquered,
the
mighty one,
victorious in
battle,
at whose birth the great cows
(i.
e. the
clouds),
wandering
in the wide domain
(the sky),
all bellowed
together-yea,
even heaven and earth bellowed together."
In each of these
passages
the reference to the
approach
of
the storm is unmistakable. In others the
description
is more
detailed.
Here is one of a thunder-storm in the mountains at
daybreak:
viii. 6. 28-30:' "On the
slope
of the
mountains,
and at the
junction
of the
streams,
the wise one was born
through
devotion
(i.
e. the storm was sent in answer to the
prayers
of the
rain-seeking
worshippers);
viewing
the sea of
air, he looks down from this height,
from
whence, quivering,
he
rages;
then first does one see the
light
of
morning, sprung
from the ancient
seed,
as it flashes out
along
the
sky."
Simi-
larly
i. 6. 3:
"
Giving light
unto
darkness,
and
shape
unto the
shapeless (i.
e.
illumining
the darkness of the
night
or the gray
of the
morning
with
lightning-flashes)
thou wast born
together
with the dawns."
A
good parallel
to this
conception
of a storm at
daybreak
is
found in several
passages
which relate the violent treatment of
Usas,
the
Dawn,
by
Indra,
who shatters her car and drives
her in terror from
it;
but the treatment of them here would
1viqva
r6dhanfsi
pravata9
ca
pftrvir
dyaur rsvaj janiman
rejata
ksah:
a matara
bhirati
9U*my
a
g6r
nrvat
piarjman
nonuvanta vatah.
2
asalham ugrfm prtanasu
sasahiih
yasmin
mahtr
urujrfyah:
safih dhe-
navo
jayamane
anonavur
dylvah
ksamo anonavuh.
3
upahvar6
girinaih samgathe
ca nadinam: dhiya vipro ajayata.
atah
samudram
udvitaq
cikitvfii aiva
pagyati: yaito vipana e6jati.
ad it
prat-
nasya
r6taso jy6tis pa9yanti vasarfm: par6 yfd idhyfite
diva.
126
Ind7ra in the ?Ria- Vedca.
disturb the
continuity
of the discussion of Indra's birth aind
origin.
I reserve them therefore until
later,
and
proceed
at
once to the second
group
of
passages,
to the
2.
Anthropomorphic
Conceptions.-Scenes
and events of
human
life,
often
boldly
hyperbolical-often,
too,
humorously
conceived-mingle
themselves with the
myth
of Indra's birth.
The first
place
here
belongs
by
right
to the remarkable and
certainly very
ancient
hymn,
no. 18 in the 4th
Book,
with the
discussion of which that of the other
passages
will
easily
and
naturally
connect itself.
Roth,
in the
Siebenizig
Lieder des
Rig-
Veda of Geldner and
Kaegi,
has
attempted
to divide this
hymn
into its
component parts.
From his treatment there
result the
following fragments:
I.
Indra, refusing
to enter the
world in the usual
way,
declares his intention of
bursting
through
his mother's side: iv. 18. 1: "This is the old and
well-known
path
by
which all the
gods
were
born;
by
it shalt
thou likewise be born when
mature;
thou mayest
not,
by
other
means, bring
thy
mother unto death."
(Indra
speaks.)
v. 2:
"I will not
go
out
thence,
that is a
dangerous way; right
through
the side will I
burst; many things yet
undone have I
to
do,
to
fight
with this
one,
to be at
friendship
with that one."
v. 3
(Roth,
13):
"
lTe beholds his mother
dying:
'
I will not
yield, no,
I will
go
tlhrough
there
;'
Indra drank in Tvastar's
house the
Soma,
of hundred-fold
value,
from the vessel of
juice."
v. 4
(Roth, 3):
"How should that
one,
whom his
mother carried for a thousand months and for
many years,
undertake evil ? Nowhere exists his
equal,
among
the
living
or those that shall be born." II.
Indra,
as a
weakling,
is ex-
posed by
his
mother, according
to v. 8 even thrown into the
river Kusava, but is saved and attains
power
and
victory.
Thus,
v. 5
(Roth, 4):
"
Thinking
Indra of no
account,
his
mother hlid hin
(Indra),
who teemed with heroic
strength;
thereat he stood
forth,
wrapping
about him his own
garment,
and
though new-born,
filled both worlds." And v. 8
(Roth,
7):
"Now the
young
motlier throws thee
aside,
and now
Kusava swallows
thee;
and now the waters take
pity upon
the
child,
and now Indra stands forth in his
might."
III. The new-
born Indra
displays
forthwith his
courage
and
strength:
v.
10
(Roth, 9):
"
The
young
heifer
brought
forth a stout
calf,
an
unconquerable,
a
brawny bull-Indra;
she licks her calf,1
that it
may
walk,
but it seeks of itself its own
way."
v. 11
(Roth, 10):
"
The mother is concerned about the
young
hero:
'My son,
the
gods
abandon thee!' And
Indra,
about to kill
Vrtra,
spake:
'
Friend
Visnu,
stand further
away.'"
IV. In-
dra kills his own father.
Thus,
v. 12
(Roth,
11):
"Who is it
I
Roth reads dret tirn for (irlha'm.
127
E. D.
Perry,
that has widowed
thy
mother? Who
sought
to smite thee
when
lying down,
when
running?
What
god
was there that
pitied
thee ? Since thou didst seize
thy
father
by
the foot and
dash him in
pieces."
Verses 6,
7, 9,
and 13 have
nothing
to do
with Indra's birth.
It is not
possible
to discover
any
intimate connection be-
tween all the verses of this
hymn.
The
Anukramani,
or list of
hymns
with
authors, subjects,
and
metre, styles
it a
dialogue
between
Indra,
the
sage Vamadeva,
and Aditi. From this
source doubtless
Sayani.a
derived his
explanation
(which
Hille-
brandt, Aditi,
p.
43,
has
adopted
from
him),
that the first two
verses refer to the birth of
Vamadeva,
who in order to excuse
his
extraordinary
whim recalls Indra's deeds of violence.
Roth's translation and
arrangemient
remove
every
doubt of the
fragmentary
and
heterogeneous
character of the
hymn.
According
to iii. 48.
2, 3,
and vii. 98.
3,
Indra at the moment
of his birth
invigorates
himself with a
draught
of Soma. A
curious feature of the
Indra-mythus
is found twice in Book
viii.
Thus,
in viii. 45. 4, 5 :1 "The
slayer
of
Vrtra,
as soon as
he was
born,
seized his
arrow;
he asked of his
mother,
'
Who
are the
mighty
ones? What are
they
called?' Then (?avasi
answered thee: 'He shall as it were
fight
with his forehead
against
a
mountain,
whoever desires to do battle with thee.'"
And viii. 66. 1, 2 :2 "As soon as he was
born,
the
possessor
of
hundred-fold might asked of his
mother,
etc. Then
Qavasi
named to him Aur.iiavabha anid
Ahiguva:
'
My
child,
these will
be for thee
unconquerable.'"
While in the first
passage
Indra's
mother
puts implicit
faitli in her son's
prowess,
in the second
she does not credit him with such
courage
and
power
as he
afterward
displays; but,
as the
following
verse
shows,
her
fears for him are
ungrounded
:3 "All these
together
the
slayer
of Vrtra
smote,
as one beats
spokes
into the hub with a ham-
mer;
when
full-grown,
he became the
slayer
of the
Dasyus.
Thus must we
explain
the
episode,
if we follow the
authority
of the
pada-text
for nisturah: i. e.
=
nis+turas.
But Auf-
recht, differing
from the
pada
and the Pet.
Diet., explains
nisturah as from ni+ stccr, i. e. 'those that are to be cast
down;'
and he translates:
"My
child,
do thou cast these to
earth"
(Z.
D. M.
G.,
xxiv.
205).
Grassmann follows
Aufrecht;
1
a bundami vrtraha dade
jatah prchad
vi mataram: ka
ugr.ah
k6 ha
qrnvire. prati
tva
gavasl
vadad
girav ipso
na
yodhisat:
yas
te qatrutvam
Acake.
2
jajfian6
nfiu atakratur vi
prchad
iti mataram: ka
ugr.ah
k6 ha
q9rnvire.
ad imh qavasy
abravid aurnavabham
ahi9fivam:
te
putra
santu nistuirah.
3
sam it tan vrtrahakhidat kh6 arani iva
kh6daya: pravrddho dasyu-
habhavat.
128
Indra in the Rig- Veda.
Ludwig
translates " ()
clild, they
1~must
!be
mighlty ones,"
by
which the line becomes
extremely
weak and
insignificant.
If
Aufrecht's view be correct
(and
the
iamper.
8antu
certainly
makes for
him),
there is no
contradiction,
but a close corre-
spondence,
between the two
hymns. Compare again
iv. 18.
11,
where Indra does not
fear,
though
the other
gods
have aban-
doned him, but entreats Vis.iu to leave him free
scope.
A
very
human addition to the fable is the
following,
where
the
poet imagines
the infant
god
surrounded
by
attendant
women: x. 153. 1:'
"Busy
women sat about the new-born
Indra,
rocking
him,
and
instilling
into him excellent
strength."
In another
passage, incorrectly incorporated
in the
Urvagi-
hymn,
Indra's nurses are the celestial
waters,
in whose
midst,
in
fact, according
to the observation of
nature,
the
god
is born:
x. 95. 7 :2 "The divine women sat about the new-born
one,
and
the
exulting
streams nursed
him; when,
0 Loud-shouter
(In-
dra),
the
gods
nourished thee for
mighty battle,
and for the
destruction of the demons." The sudden
change
from the
third
person
to the
second,
the
person
described
being
addressed,
is not uncommon in the Veda.
3.
Vague
Statements
concerning
Indra's
Parents.-The
third
group comprises passages
in which Indra's
parents
are
indeed alluded
to,
but not
by
name,
and without
any special
characterization.
Thus,
x. 28. 6 :'
"Many
thousands do I cast
to earth at
once,
for
my
father created me as an irresistible
one"
(cf.
i. 129.
11);4
vii. 20. 5: "A
giant begat
the
giant
for
battle,
a heroine bore the hero ;' x. 134. 1 :' "When
thou,
O
Indra,
like the
dawn,
didst fill both worlds, a divine mother
had borne
thee,
the
great
ruler of
great nations,
a noble mother
had borne thee."
A curious reference to Indra's
childhood,
for which I have
not been able to find
any satisfactory
explanatioin
(if
indeed
any deeper meaning
underlies the
text),
is the
following:
viii.
58. 15: "
lWhile
yet
an iimmature
boy,
he mounted the new
wagon,
and roasted for father and mother a fierce bull."
Probably
we have here only a fanciful
description
of the head-
strong
and
mighty
infant.
Fnrther indistinct references to Indra's mother are the
ifikhayantir apasyfiva
indrarh
jatam fipasate:
bhejanasah suviryam.
2
sam asmin
jayamana asata
gna
ut6m avardhan
nadyah svagurtah:
mahe
yat
tva
purfiravo ranayavardhayan
dasyuhatyaya
devah.
3
puru
sahasra ni
9i9ami
sakam aqatrfiru hi ma
janita jajana.
4
Perhaps
also ii. 17.
6; but in this
passage
pita
is doubtless
Tvastar, the
father, i. e. the
creator,
of the thunderbolt.
'
ubh6
yfd
indra r6dasi
apaprathosa iva:
mahantamh tva mahniamh sam-
rajah carsaninamh devL
janitry ajijanad
bhadra
janitry ajijanad.
129
E. 9.
Perry,
following:
x. 73. 1 : "Thou wast born a
rmighty
one unto
destructive
power, lovely,
most
powerful, threatening many;
the Maruts cheered on Indra when his
very
swift mother
taught him,
the
hero,
to run
;"
and ii. 30. 2:'2
"
The mother an-
nounced unto the
sage
who it was that shonld rob Vrtra of his
possessions."'
More
significant
for the
poet's
caution than for
Indra's
parentage
is x. 120. 1:
"Among
all creatures that was
the noblest,
from which the
mighty one,
he of
impetuous
strength,
was born."
Finally
we come to two
very puzzling
verses: vi. 59. 1:4
"Now at the Soima-feast I will
proclaim your
heroic deeds;
your parents
are
slain, overpowered
by
the
gods;
but
ye,
Indra
and
Agni,
remain alive."
Ludwig
translates "the
pitar,
hostile
to the gods, were slain
by you,'
which is an
ungrammatical
rendering
of the
Sanskrit;
while Grassmann
proposes
piyavah,
'slanderers,' for
pitarah.
Again,
v. 2 :5 "Ye had the same
father,
and
ye
are
twins; your
mothers were in different
places."
The
mythical
relations are here
extremely obscure;
it is even doubtful whether there be
any
real connection be-
tween the two verses. I will return later to v.
2,
and
proceed
at once to the fourth and last
group.
4.
Conceptions
of
Indra's
Origin
which rest upon
Specula-
tion.-It is but
rarely
that the
poets personified any
ethical
qual-
ities,
as for instance in viii. 58.
4,
Indra is called sitnu.h
satyasya,
'son of truth.' In
nearly
every
instance he is still the
god
of
thunder and
war,
who does not belie his
original
character even
in this abstract theogony. For
instance,
we read in x. 73. 10 :6
"If any
say
'he is
sprung
from a
horse,'
I believe him born
also of might;
lie came forth from
rage,
and stands now in the
houses; Indra knows from whence he is born." It must how-
ever be remarked that the verse is
susceptible
of another ex-
planation, by
which
Agni
instead of Indra becomes its
subject:
"From a horse (the
sun)
did he
(Agni)
proceed,
from
power,
from
fury;
now hlie stands in
(human)
houses
(i.
e. as the fire
on the hearth or the domestic
altar);
only
Indra knows whence
he
(Agni)
was born."
Compare
with this
interpretation
the
1
janistha
ugr.ah sahase
turaya
mandra
6jistho
bahulabhimanah: avar-
dhann indram maruitag
cid atra mata
yad
viram dadhfnad
dhani.tha.
2
y6 vrtraya
sinam
atrabharisyat pra
tain
janitri
vidfua
uvaca.
3
i. 155. 3, said in Anukr. to be directed to Indra and
Visnu, really
has refer-
ence to Visnu only.
4
pra
nu voca sutesu vaih
virya yani
cakrathuh: hataso vam
pitaro
de-
vagatrava
indragni jlvatho yuvam.
5
saman6
vaih
janita
bhratara
yuvam yamav
ih6hamatara.
6
agvad
iyayeti yad vadanty 6jaso jatam
uta
manya
enam: manyor
iyaya harmy6eu
tasthau
yatah prajajfi
indro
asya
veda.
130
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
verses
(v.
2.
8;
x. 32.
6)
in which is related how Indra revealed
the
hiding-place
of
Agni,
who had
disappeared.
Who in fact
should understand the nature of the
mysterious lightning bet-
ter than the
tliunder-god
?
With the last line of x. 73. 10 is to be
compared
what is said
of the
Maruts,
the
storm-winds;
vii. 56. 2: "No one knows
their
birth, yet they among
themselves well know their de-
scent." I
regard
thlis as
pointing
toward Indra's
original
sig-
nificance as
god
of the thunderstorm. As are the
swiftly-
passing storms,
so is their
supreme
head-whence
they come,
or whither
they go,
who can
say?
" Tlie wind bloweth
where
it listeth," etc.
Further,
we have to consider the
following passages.
In
viii. 81.
14, Indra is called
putrah Qavasa.h;
and in iv. 24.
1,
qavasah
stnmuh
-
both
signifying
' son of
might
:' cf. x.
153. 2:1 "Thou wast born of
strength, Indra,
of
might,
of
power; thou,
0
Giant,
art
truly
a
giant."
The
epithet
gosa.no
napdt, 'son of a cow-winner
(i.
e. of a
cloud-winner),'
in iv.
32.
22, proceeds
no less than the
foregoing
from conscious
speculation,
as will be seen hereafter. In x. 90. 13
(the
Purusa-
hymn)
we read that Indra and
Agni sprang
from Purusa's
mouth. Likewise the
already quoted
verses viii. 45. 4 and
5,
and 66. 1 and 2
belong
in this
connection;
for
avaasL8, 'Might,'
used
unmistakably
in this
place
as a
proper
name
(cf.
dev
tavis,,
i. 56.
4),
is a mere
personification
of Indra's most
prom-
inent characteristic. When once the idea that Indra was the
'son of might'
({avasah,
gen. sing.
neut.)
had been thrown
out,
the transition to
Qavasi (fern.),
'
Might' personified,
was
natural and
easy.
Finally,
in x. 101. 12 we find Indra called Son of
Nistigri.
The word
nistigri,
which occurs in this
passage only, still
remains an
etymological
riddle.
Sayana's explanation
is
wholly unsatisfactory-he
identifies
Nistigri
with
Aditi,
and
explains
the word
by
nistiTh
girati,
i. e. 'Aditi swallows her
rival Nisti,' whom he makes identical with Diti
-
and it
remains an
open question
whether
Nistigri
be
not, like the
previously
mentioned
qavasi,
a
purely
abstract character.
The more
closely
one examines these
passages
in detail and
in their
connection,
the more
hopeless
seems the task of find-
ing
therein a fixed
tradition,
current in Vedic
times,
of Indra's
descent. It is fair to
suppose
that the earliest
conceptions
made in Indra's case no
exception
to the rule which
regarded
Heaven and Earth as universal
parents.
That
Dyu
was
viewed as his father is evident from iv. 17. 4 and iv. 18. 12,
1
tvam indra bdlad adhi sahaso
jata 6jasah:
tvamh vrsan vrse6d asi.
131
E. D.
Perry,
quoted
above.
Further,
x. 54. 3 reads:' "When thou didst
produce
from thine own body father and mother
together,"
upon
which Muir
(Sanskrit
Texts, v.
30)
remarks
"by which
Heaven and Earth are
clearly
intended." Either such
passages
are mere outbreaks of boldest
fancy,
or else we must
explain
the word
jan
as in viii. 36. 4
(janita
divo
janitd p'thivyah)
where the
'
creation'
(jan)
of Heaven and Earth means noth-
ing
more than the
'
holding'
or
'supporting'
(dhr), or the
'
fix-
ing, fastening' (skablh, stambh), of other verses. Reference is
therein made to Indra's restorative
activity,
which
gives
back
to earth and
sky,
when shattered and in confusion
through
the
strife of the
elements,
their former
quiet
and order. The
pas-
sage
iv. 18.
10--grstih
sas&tva etc. (with which cf. x. 111.
2,
gd.rsteyo
vrs.aahah),
could
perhaps
relate to the
earth;
but I
prefer,
in view of viii. 6. 19, 20 and ii. 11. 8, to refer
grs.ih
to
the rain-cloud.
Still,
the
poets
need not on all occasions have
intended to
express particular cosmogonic
ideas
by
such words.
The well-known
penchant
of Vedic
sages
for the
cow-yard
in
their
hymns may surely
have led one
poet-
to think of Indra
and his mother as calf and
cow,
without
conveying
under the
image
of the
'
cow'
any deep mythical meaning.
The words avdad
iydyeti
yad
vadanti, in x. 73.
10,
I can
hardly explain
otherwise
(supposing
them to refer to Indra at
all)
than that
agva
refers to the
sun,
as in i. 163. 9! the horse
undoubtedly typifies
the sun.
Ludwig (R.
V.
Uebersetzung,
iii.
318)
regards
the horse as
symbol
of the
sky,
and
quotes
to
sustain his
position
x. 68. 11: which verse however contains
merely
a very natural
simile,
in which a dark horse bedecked
with
jewels
is
compared
to the nocturnal
sky
with its
glittering
stars,
and which
proves nothing.
But the
adoption
of the sun
as Indra's father would involve us in
insuperable
difficulties.
It is
quite possible
that the statement
afv&d
etc. is no less
referable to conscious
speculation
than those contained in the
following
lines of the same stanza. The
horse,
as well as the
bull,
is often the symbol of
strength
and
courage,
and
why
should not a
poet
of bold
fancy imagine
Indra descended from
such an animal ? The word
vrsan,
used innumerable
times of
Indra,
might
in fact be translated 'stallion'
as well as
'bull,'
provided
one
tastelessly
insist
upon rendering
the word on all
occasions
by
the name of some
particular
animal.
There is some
temptation
to draw from vi. 59.
2
("
Ye are
twins,
Indra and
Agni,
ye
had the same
father, your
mother in
different
regions")
a conclusion
as to Indra's
parentage.
In the
verse x. 45. 8
Agni
is son of
Dyu;
in iii. 3. 11 and 25.
1,
and x. 1.
2,
the son of Heaven and Earth.
If now we are to
yan
matiraih ca
pitfrarh
ca sakam
ajanayathas
tanvah. svayah.
132
Indrsra iv the
Rig-
Veda.1
hold fast to vi. 59. 2, then
Prthivi,
thle
Earth,
cannot be Indra's
mother.
However,
the accounts of
Agni's parentage
are even
more confused and
contradictory
than those of
Indra's,
and
bear no credible witness.
No wonder then that the Indians soon liad recourse to
specu-
lation to fill out the remarkable
gap apparent
in the
myths
of
their favorite
god.
Thus
only
can I account for such
theogonic
ideas as those contained in
group 4,
above. From Indra's chief
attributes of
might
anld
impetuosity
arose the
personification
(
avasi,
' the
mighty
one' or
'
might.' Compare
with this dhan-
isthd mndtd, 'the
very
swift mother,' a title which suits neither
Aditi nor the Earth.
Similarly,
fromn the
conception
of his
battles with tlhe
rain-stealing
demons was derived the
epithet
gosa.no napdt.
In
mythological systems
the son is accustomed
to
display
his
activity
in the same field witli his father. It was
Indra,
more than
any
other,
wlho
captured
the
cows,
i. e. the
rain-clouds;
he
may
therefore well liave been the son of a cow-
capturer;
and there is no
necessity
for a strained
explanation
of
gosan
as
equivalent
to the
sky,
or to
anything
else in
partic-
ular. I
prefer
therefore to view these words also as
merely
the
expression
of a conscious
deliberation,
and
adaptation
of
the
legends concerning
Indra.
III. Fields
of
Indra's
Activity,
and his Relations to other
Divinities, and to his
Worshippers.
Among
all Indra's deeds celebrated in the
Veda,
most im-
portant
are his coercion of the evil
spirits
of the
air,
who in
Indian belief arrested the
rain,
so full of blessings for earth
and
mankind,
and
gathered
them into
compact clouds;
and his
deliverance of the
heavenly
streams from their
power.
No
department
of his activity is made so
prominent,
no act of his
power
related so
often,
in so
many
various forms, or with so
many poetic embellishments;
and the
god
is
besought
for no
other manifestation of
mercy
with such fervor as for this: all
of which is a further indication of his natural
position
and
duties
among
Vedic divinities. He is above all the
god
of
battle-of battle in the first instance
against
the demoniac rain-
stealers,
then further
against
all other demons and
witches;
and he finally becomes the ideal of a
pugnacious unconquerable
hlero and
warrior,
whlo defends his
Aryan
worshippers
in their
battles not
only
witlh
non-Aryans,
but likewise witll those of
kindred race.
To a correct
understanding
of the
passages
which treat of
this manifestation of Indra's
might,
two
things
are
necessary.
We must in the first
place
consider how
immensely
greater is
the effect of tlle tlhunderstorm in
India, particularly among
the
133
VOL. XI. 18
E. D.
Perry,
gigantic
mountains of Northern
India,
than with us-how
sudden and overwhelming its
approach,
and
yet
how
eagerly
it
is
prayed
for, and
by
what beneficial effects it is followed.'
In the second
place,
we must bear well in mind the
peculiar
Vedic conception of the
rain, especially
of the thunder-storm.
This is as follows: The
original
source and home of the waters2
was
thought
to be the
highest heaven, paramah vyoman,
the
region peculiarly
sacred to
Varunila;
and it is this
deity
who
sends forth the rain that it
may
descend
upon
the earth. So
e.
g.
ii. 28. 4: " The creator let the streams
flow, they
run as
Varuna directed; they
fail
not,
nor become
weary;
they spread
over the land like birds."
(Compare
Roth's Erlatt. zum
Nirukta,
x.
4.)
But the air-demons arrest and
carry
off the
rain-streams,
which the
poets symbolize
by
the
figure
of
cows,
and
imprison
them in their caves in the cloud-mountains.
Now Indra
appears upon
the
scene,
commissioned
by
the
gods
to set the waters free; he
conquers
the demons and liberates
the
streams,
which
thereupon
continue undisturbed their
jour-
ney
to
earth,
led
by
Indra's attendants
(cf.
x. 99.
4); sun,
dawn, and
sky
emerge
from the
temporary
obscurity
of the
battle,
and the
gods, who,
terrified
by
the dreadful contest,
had
retreated to a
place
of
safety,
recover once more free
scope
and
peaceful
exercise of their influence
through
Indra's
victory.
The evil
spirits
which disturbed the whole course of nature are
pursued
to the uttermost
regions
of
darkness;
quiet
and order
are
completely
restored.
About this
conception
of a natural
phenomenon,
as about a
core,
were
gradually crystallized
various fantastic creations of
the Vedic
bards;
and their
descriptions
of this
mighty
event
were interwoven with
many single features,
some of which had
likewise reference to occurrences
actually
observed in
nature,
while others
admitting
of no such
explanation
must be con-
sidered rather as transferrals of
purely
human
experiences
into
superhuman spheres
of action. In
fact,
we find Indra
(and
his
opponents)
conceived of and described much more like human
beings
than are
any
other
divinities;
for which doubtless the
reason
lay partly
in the less
morally
sublime than fierce and
overbearing
nature of the
thunder-god,
partly
in the
particu-
larly
close relations
subsisting
between Indra as
war-god
and
his
worshippers,
who were still
engaged
in bitter contests for
empire
with the
aboriginal
inhabitants of India whom they
displaced.
1
Compare Zimmer,
Altindisches
Leben, p. 42,
and his citations.
2
In the Veda "water" and all
corresponding
terms, such as
stream, river,
torrent, ocean, etc.,
are used
indiscriminately
of the water
upon
the
earth,
and
of the
aqueous vapor
in the
sky
or the raini in the air.
134
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
In the enumieration of
passages belonging
in this connection
I will first
give
those which refer
plainly
to events in
nature,
then such as contain
purely poetical
embellishments. The
very great
number of such verses
precludes
the mention of
any
but the most
important.
The arch-demon
among
the rain-stealers is
Vrtra,
whose
name is a
plain enough
indication of his nature. I
prefer,
not-
withstanding
Lindner's mention (Altindische
JNominalbildung,
p.
82)
of the difficulties offered
by
the
unstrengthened
root-
vowel,
the conmmnon derivation from 1 vr
'cover, wrap,
hem
in, hinder,
restrain
;'
for between the root
proposed by
Lind-
ner, viz. vrt, and the word vrtra, the connection of
meaning
is
difficult to trace. The various
meanings
of the Sanskrit vrtra,
as of the Zend verethra, are to be classified as follows: vrtra,
first
'hindrance,
defence'
(Zd. verethra);
then '
that which is
to be
hindered,
warded off,' concrete
'enemy,'
as in Zend
verethra-jan,
'
slayer
of enemies'
(Yacna
xliv.
16);
finally,
'
the
enemy
xar'
iozv,
the Indian demon Vrtra.' The
etymon
was
still
plainly
felt
by
the
poets. Passages
like iii. 32. 6 :1 '
the
impious
one who
enveloped
the divine
(waters)' (lit.:
'the
goddesses')-cf.
vii. 21. 3 :2 the
dragon
who surrounded the
waters'-rest
upon
a not
very
accurate
play upon words,
since,
according
to the
development
of
meanings given
above, vrtra
did not
quite
signify
' the
enveloper.'
In most verses Vrtra is identical with
ahi, 'the
dragon:'
i. e. he is thought of under the form of a
dragon;
and the de-
scriptions
of him
correspond:
so
particularly
in the fine
hymn
i.
32,
and in the
following
verses: iv. 17. 7 :
"
Straightway
after
thy birth,
0
Indra,
thou didst
put
all nations to
fright;
thou, 0
generous
one,
didst hew in
pieces
with
thy
thunder-
bolt the
dragon
which
lay
upon the
mountain-slope"
(i.
e. either
upon
the clouds or
upon
the actual
mountains).
With this
verse
compare
the others of the same
hymn,
wherein the
nionster is called
Vrtra,
and also x. 113. 3 :4 "When thou, bear-
ing thy
weapons,
didst come
together
with the dragon Vrtra
for
battle,
to win for
thyself
glory." Also cf. vi. 72.
3,
and
20. 2. In the
following
he is called a wild boar: i. 121. 11:'
"
Thou
mighty
one with the thunderbolt didst sink
Vrtra,
the
boar that
lay
across the
river-beds,
in
sleep"-i.
e. the
sleep
of
1
vavrivanisam
pari
devir adevam.
2
apah paristhita
ahina.
3
tvam adha
prathamfirh
jayaman6
'me viqva adhitha indra krstih:
tvam
prati pravata
aq9yanam
ahiui
vajrena maghavan
vi vrqcah.
4
vrtrena
yad
ahina bibhrad
ayudha samasthitha
yudhbye
qfisam
avide.
5
tvamh vrtram
aa9yanam
sirasu maho
vajrena sisvapo varahum.
135
E D.
Perry,
death. But le is sometimes
styled simply
a wild
beast,
as in
v. 32. 3:1' "Indra hurled with force his
weapon against
that
great beast."
These different names for Vrtra, like the
large majority
of
the
many
and various
appellations given
to the, lesser demons,
are but different names for one and the same
thing: namely,
the
cloud,
which in its manifold'forms
presented
itself most
forcibly
to the
eye
of the
poet
in the likeness now of
this,
now
of that creature. And it was not alone as hostile and mis-
chievous demons in human or animal form that the clouds were
symbolized-we
find them described as
mountains,
as in ii.
11. 7 :2
" Still stood the
mountain,
which was about to move
;"
and 8:3 "the restless mountain sat there motionless"-or as
forts
belonging
to the demons
(ii.
20.
8),
or their
skilfully
forti-
fied
dwellings,
which Indra has to
carry by
assault
(i.
55.
6);
and in the caves where the evil
spirits
hide the stolen
rain-cows,
as well as in the cows
themselves,
which emit from their swell-
ing
udders the
milk,
i. e. the
rain,
we can discover
only
clouds.
In
short,
in the
ever-changing
panorama
of the thunderstorm
the Indians saw
represented
their own encounters with wild
beasts,
assaults
upon
forts and
ambuscades, recovery
of stolen
cattle,
and
many
others of their
earthly experiences.
Details
of the battle which Indra fights with Vrtra, as
they
were struck out from the
fancy
of different
poets,
may prove
not
uninteresting.
The
dragon envelops
himself in mist: ii. 30. 3 :
"
He
(Indra)
stood on
high
in the
air,
and directed his missile
against Vrtra;
when that
one, wrapping
himself in
mist,
rushed
headlong
upon
him,
Indra with
sharp weapon conquered
the
enemy."
That the
subject
of
pada
c is
Vrtra,
and not
Indra,
is shown
by
i. 52. 6 :5 " When
thou,
0
Indra,
didst launch
thy
thunderbolt
into the
depths upon
the cheeks of
Vrtra,
who was hard to
grasp,
then
fury
fell
upon him,
his
strength
was
aroused;
wrapping
the waters about him lie
lay
at the bottom of the
atmosphere."
The
epithet
ni,ho
napdt,
' son of
vapor,'
v. 32. 4, seems likewise to refer to Vrtra
(or (5u.sna).
Cf. Ger-
man
Nibel-ung.
According
to x. 73.
5,
lie throws out mist to
confuse
his
conqueror.
He even seeks to defend himself with
thunder, lightning,
and hail
(i.
32.
13),
and
by
his
rapid
and
1
tyasya
cin mahat6 nir
mrgasya
vadhar
jaghana
tavii.bhir
indrah.
2
aransta
parvata9
cit
sarisyan.
3
ni
parvatah sady aprayuchan.
4
urdhv6 hy
asthad
adhy
antarikse
'dha
vrtraya pra
vadhriih
jabhara:
mihamn visana fipa
him adudrot
tigmayudho ajayac
chatrum
indrah.
5
pfarlm ghrna
carati titvise6
9vo 'p6
vrtvt
rajaso
budhnim
agayat:
vrtrasya
yat pravan6
durgrbhi9vano nijaghantha
hanvor indra
tanyatuim.
136
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
violent movements to
terrify
his
opponent:
i. 80. 12 :' "INei-
ther
by
his
flapping (with
his
tail),
nor with his
thundering
did
Vrtra
terrify Indra;
the brazen
thousand-pointed
thunderbolt
flew at him."
Indra takes the field
against
this monster at the command of
the
gods,
who are themselves unable to withstand it: iv. 19.
1,
2;
vi. 20. 2 (see under "Indra and
Visinm");
ii. 20. 8:2
"Unto Indra the
gods gave
without reserve the chief command
in the battle for the
water-floods;
when
they
had
put
the
thunderbolt into his
hands, having
slain his
enemies,
he
pos-
sessed himself of the brazen castles." Cf. iv. 17.
1;
x. 28. 7 :3
indra
(voc.)
in
pada
b is
certainly
a mistake, since Indra
speaks
the verse. Grassmann tries to elude the
difficulty by assuming
instead of indra a vocative addressed to the
poet-a
procedure
both violent and
unnecessary.
There is no
objection
to read-
ing
indramn
(acc.)-that
the nasal sometimes fails to make
posi-
tion is shown
by
iv. 41. 4: vadhistham
vajramr;
thus it was
easily
lost.
By reading
indram we reduce the verse to
perfect
order: "Thus have the
gods
made
me, Indra,
in
every
work a
strong,
a
mighty giant;
I smote Vrtra
lustily
with the thunder-
bolt;
I
opened by
my
might
the cowstall for the
worshipper."
When Indra
begins
the
battle,
the other
gods
abandon him
for
fright:
iv. 18.
11;
viii. 82.
14, 15;
and
especially
viii.
8.. 7 :4
"Shrinking
from the
snorting
of
Vrtra,
all the
gods,
thy companions,
left thee in the lurch." But as soon as
they
see that Indra nevertheless ventures the attack and remains
victor their
courage returns,
and
they sing
to him
songs
of
joy
(x.
113.
8).
So dreadful is the
fight
that heaven and earth and
all creatures tremble
(vii.
21.
3);
the heavens shrink from
Indra's
lightnings (vi.
17.
9);
and
Tvastar, though
he had him-
self
forged
the
thunderbolt,
falls
prostrate
in terror at its
dreadful effects
(i.
80.
14). Perhaps
even Indra would not
have been able to overcome his
enemy,
had he not before-
hand imbibed with a
copious drauglit
of Soma the
requisite
courage
and
strength;
this however
gives
him
power
invinci-
ble
(v.
29.
3, 7;
iii. 43.
7;
vi. 44.
14;
ii. 19.
2).
The other
gods,
so imagined one
poet.
found the same means efficacious
for
providing
them with
courage,
or at least with
forgetfulness
1
na
vepasa
na
tanyat6ndrarm
vrtr6 vi
bibhayat: abhy enami vajra
ayasiah
sahasrabhrstir
ayata.
2
tasmai
tavasyam
anu
dayi satr6ndraya devebhir arnasatau: prati
yad asya vijram
bahv6r dhfir hatvf
dasyun
pfira
ayasir
ni tarit.
3
eva hi mami tavasarh
jajfifr ugrami
karman-karman vrsanam indra
devah: vaidhim vrtramih
vajrena
mandasan6
'pa
vrajam
mahina daqfise
vam.
4
vrtrasya
tva
9vasathad
i.samana
vigve
deva
ajahur y6 sakhayah.
137
E D.
Perry,
of their
danger:
x. 113. 8:' "All the
gods
then cheered on
thy
heroic
strength
with soima-excited
eloquence."
Cf. vi.
18. 14. Likewise the
goddesses,
the now liberated
waters, sing
praises
unto him: iv. 22. 7:
"Then,
0 thou with sorrel
steeds,
did these divine sisters
greet
thee with
joyful
shouts,
when thou didst free
(them)
the
oppressed ones,
that
they
might flow for
long
time." Cf. i. 61. 8.
Indra's
weapon
is either
vajra,
the
thunderbolt,
which Tvas-
tar fashioned for him
(v.
31. 4 et
saepp.),
or
adri, aQman, par-
vata, a mere
piece
of rock or stone for
hurling. Myriantheus
(Die
AVvins,
p.
145
ff.)
refers the
following passage
likewise
to the
lightning:
i. 84. 13: "With the bones of
Dadhyanc
the
irresistible Indra smote the
ninety-nine
enemies dead"-an
explanation
doubtless
quite
satisfactory
to the
large
class of
mythologists
who
explain everything
which cannot refer to the
sun or the dawn
by
the
lightning. (Comp.
Pet. Diet. s. v.
dadhyanc;
and
Zimmer,
Altind. Leben,
p.
20.)
Indra carries
also bow and arrows
(viii.
45.
4;
66.
6, 11;
x. 103.
2, 3),
and a
spear,
rsti
(i.
169.
3):
but I have not noticed
any
instance of
his
using
these
weapons
in battle
against
Vrtra. But he hurls
foam at the demon
Namuci, perhaps
to blind him
(see
the
curious
explanation
for this devised
by
the author of
Qatapatha-
brahmana, xii. 7. 3.1 ff.; Muir's Sanskrit
Texts,
v.
94),
and ice
(snow
or hail
?)
at Arbuda
(viii.
32.
26);
he also dashes clouds
upon
them.
At his
approach
he finds the
dragon lying
there careless
(v.
32.
2),
and even
asleep
(iv.
19.
3),
for he
(Vrtra)
considers
himself invulnerable and immortal
(v.
32.
3);
but awakes him
with the thunderbolt
(i.
103.
7).
The
dragon
seeks to defend
himself with
stratagems,
but Indra is more
cunning
than he:
v. 30. 6:
"
Indra overcame with craft the
crafty, lurking dragon
which
lay
upon
the waters
;"
or his
cunning
is of no avail
against
the
god's overwhelming power,
as in x. 111.6: "
Thou,
0
Vrtra-slayer,
didst cast down Vrtra with the
thunderbolt,
thou didst scatter the wiles of the
mighty enemy
of the
gods;
thou didst strike home with
courage,
0
courageous one,
thou
wast then
strong
in
thy
arm,
0
generous giver."
Indra strikes
off Vrtra's head with the
hundred-jointed
thunderbolt
(viii.
6.
6),
tears Vrtra himself in
pieces (v. 13),
and casts him under
his horses' feet
(v. 16).
Now he turns to the treasure of
heaven,
the waters
imprisoned
in the
cloud-rock,
aQman (i.
130.
13);
he hews asunder the clouds as a
carpenter
hews a
tree
(v.
4);
he lets out the streams and
they
flow to earth.
Hence it is said
(viii.
12.
6):
"
Indra
spreads
abroad the rains
'
viqve devaso adha
vr.snyani
te
'vardhayant s6mavatya vacasyiya.
138
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
of heaven." The
fight concluded,
Indra liastens
away
with
such
speed
that one would think an
avenger
of Vrtra to be at
his heels
(i.
32.
14):
i. e. the storm
pursues
its
rapid journey,
and the
sky again
becomes clear. As reward for this deed of
valor,
Indra receives the
early
oblation.
A list of the demons mentioned
by
name as
opponents
of
Indra,
with brief discussions of the
principal ones,
will be
found in an
appendix.
After the above
description
of the battle
against
the rain-
stealing demons,
any
exhaustive treatment of the
passages
relating
to the
subjection
of other demoniac creatures would
be
unnecessary.
We should
only
have to
emphasize
the fact
that
Indra,
just
as he
conquers
the
rain-hindering
demons,
likewise,
and in most intimate connection with this
victory,
defeats the
spirits
who arrest the
light, through
his
power
as
manifested in the battle of the storm. For the black storm-
clouds
envelop
and conceal the
light
of
heaven,
and it is
only
after the
god
has driven them
away, or,
in Vedic
parlance,
has
put
to
flight
the
spirits
of
darkness,
that the
heavenly
radiance
again
streams
upon
the earth.
By
a
very
natural extension of
thought,
Indra was then
imagined
as
taking
the field
against
spirits
of darkness in
general,
and
especially
the nocturnal
spirits
who
pursue
their mischief in the
gloom.
Hence no
further
commentary
is
necessary upon
verses like the follow-
ing,
according
to which Indra
appears
as hostile to 1. enemies
of the
light
of
heaven;
and 2. evil
spirits
in
general, hobgob-
lins, spectres,
etc.
1. i. 121. 10 :1 " Before the sun is
caught by
the
darkness,
0
slinger,
hurl
thy
missile
against
the cloud
;"
viii. 65. 4:2' "It
was
Indra,
the friend of the
Maruts, by
whom this
light
was
won for the
Somna-drinking"
(cf.
v. 40.
6);
iii. 34. 4:' "Indra
the
light-winner,
the creator of
days,
the
patron,
won with his
friends the
battle;
he kindled for mankind the
lamp
of the
day
(i.
e. the
sun);
he found the
light,
for a
great
joy."
Cf. i. 171.
5;
ii. 12. 7; x. 27. 24.
2. Numerous
passages,
a selection from which I
append,
describe Indra as
conqueror
of other evil
spirits.
In vi. 22.
4,
e.
g.,
he is called asura-han,
'
demon-slayer ;'
in x. 99. 3 he de-
stroys
the
Vignadevdn
(Cf.
Pet.
Diet.,
s.
v.;
ace. to
Grassmnann,
'demons with
tails'),
and in v. 10 ararumh
yaq catwspat,
'
the
four-footed monster.' THe kills the
Dasyus (viii.
65.
11),
the
1
pura yat
suiras tamaso
apites
tam adrivah
phaligiamh
hetim
asya.
2
ayami
ha
y6na
va idamh svar maritvata
jitam:
indrena
s6mapltaye.
3
indrah
svar~a janayann
ahani
jigayogigbhih pr.tana
abhistih:
prAro-
cayan
manave ketum ahnam
avindaj jy6tir
brhat6
ranaya.
139
E. D.
Perry,
Dasas
(vi.
47.
21),
and the Rakshases (vi. 18. 10).'
The bold-
ness of these demons is described for us
in
viii. 14.14 :2
"
Thou,
O
Indra,
didst shake off the demons which sought
to creep up,
to scale the heaven
by
stealth."
According
to
x. 23. 5,
he kills
them
merely by
the sound of his
frightful
voice: cf. x.
48. 6;
viii. 85.
9;
i. 33.
7;
viii. 12. 9.
The verse vii. 104. 22 shows what manifold
shapes
the Vedic
poets imagined
the demons to assume :
"Destroy
the fiend as
great
owl,
as little
owl,
as
dog,
as cuckoo,
as vulture; grind up,
Indra, the Raksas, as
though
with a millstone"
(i.
e. as thor-
oughly
as with a
millstone).
i. 29. 5 mentions ass and vulture
as
among
the animals to be destroyed,
doubtless because
they
were viewed as
incorporations
of evil
spirits;
or
perhaps
the
ass's
braying
disturbed the honest
poet
while he was
"
behold-
ing"
a beautiful
hymn.
For the sake of
completeness,
I will introduce here a trio of
verses
relating
to certain female demons: i. 133. 1-3:4 1. "I
purify
both worlds as is
right;
I burn the
great
evil
spirits
(fem.)
who do not
acknowledge Indra,5 strangling
them in the
place
where the enemies are
lying,
defeated and shattered,
about the
skulking-place.
2.
Strangling
them,
0
slinger,
crush with
thy
armored foot,
with
thy mighty
armored
foot,
the heads of the witches. 3.
Dash,
0
generous giver,
the
whole crew of these witches
upon
the
dust-heap
in the
great
skulking-place."
A witch Dhvaras
(provided
the word can be
taken as nom.
pr.)
is mentioned in iv. 23.
7;
and we read in
ii. 20. 7 of ddash
krsnayon.h,
'black-lapped
witches'-with
which
compare
thie
expression
in x. 155. 4,
mandiradhdnik.h
(Pet.
Diet. cunni
robigine
[i.
e.
squalorel
obsiti).
The
mythus
of the
robbery
of the rain-cows
by
the Panis
(lit.
'niggards ;'
here an
appellation
of certain
water-stealing
demons),
and their
recovery by Indra,
received
exceptional
development.
Indra,
either
accompanied by
the
Angiras,
a
1
Dasyu
and Dasa
may
be names
applied
to the
non-Aryan
inhabitants of
In-
dia: compare Zimmer,
Altindisches Leben.
1
mayaibhir utsisrpsata
indra
dyam
aruruksatah: ava dasyufir
adhunu-
thah.
3
ilukayatuhn ququlukayaturm jahi qvayatum
uta k6kayatum:
supar-
nayatum
uta
grdhrayaturh
dradeva pra
mrna raksa
indra.
4
ubh6
punami
r6dasi rt6na druho dahami sam mahir
anindr.ah:
abhi-
vlagya
yatra
hata amitra vailasthanam pari trlh'a
aieran. abhivlagya
cid
adrivah. qIrsa yatumatinam:
chindhi
vattirina pada mahavat.urina
pada.
avasam
maghavafi
jahi
qardho yatumatinam:
vailasthanak6
armake
mahavailasthe
armake.
5
anindrah may
mean
simply 'godless, impious:'
cf. Muir,
Sanskrit Texts,
v. 123.
140
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
mythical
race of ancient
singers,
or for their
benefit,
sends his
female
messenger
Sarama
(who
in the Veda does not
appear
as
a bitch or otherwise in lower animal
form)
on
ahead,
to dis-
cover the cows hidden
by
the Panis. Sarama finds their
tracks,
whereupon
Indra
appears,
forces the
passage
into the cave of
the
Panis,
and liberates the
imprisoned
cattle.
Thus,
i. 83. 4 :1
"Then the
Angiras
received the
greatest power,
because
they
diligently
and
faithfully
kindled fires of
sacrifice;
the heroes
captured
the whole
possession
of the
Panis,
the herds rich in
horses and in cows." Cf. viii. 14.
8;
52. 3.
Again,
i. 62. 3 :2
"By
command of Indra and the
Angiras,
Saramag found susten-
ance for
(our)
posterity; Brhaspati3 split
the
rock,
and found
the
cattle;
the heroes bellowed in
company
with the cows."14
And iv. 16. 8: "When thou didst break
open
the rocks of the
waters,
then
appeared thy
Sarama first
(i.
e. she led the
way);
as our
leader, open up
unto us
great booty, breaking open
the
cattle-pen, urged
on
by
the
Angiras."
The richest and most dramatic
development
of this
episode
is found in x. 108. The
hymn
is
explained
in the
Siebenzig
Liedern of Geldner and
Kaegi.
The contents are
briefly
as
follows: indra's
messenger
Sarama finds the
way
to the
Panis,
who have hidden the stolen cattle at the ends of the
earth,
and
demands them back.
Boasting
of their
courage,
the Panis will
not hear of a restitution.
Upon
Sarama's
representing
their
destruction as
inevitable,
they
declare to her that the flocks
and treasures are not at
hand,
but hidden in the
mountains;
and
they attempt
to induce the
messenger
to remain with
them. She
rejects
the offer and advises them to flee. The
last verse relates the
accomplishment
of what Sarama had
foretold.
This battle of Indra's
against
the demons
is, directly
or indi-
rectly,
the cause of his
being
associated with
many
other
gods,
some
belonging
to his
own,
some to other
spheres
of nature.
I now
proceed
to discuss these
associations,
and will first treat
ad
anfigirah.
prathamfiam
dadhire
vaya iddhagnayah
9amya
y6 sukrt-
yiya:
sarvam
paneh
sam avindanta
bh6janam
agvavantam g6mantam a
pagfiih
narah.
2
indrasyfangirasamh
cestafi vidat sarafma
tanayaya
dhasim:
brhaspatir
bhinafd adrimi vidad
glah
sam
usriyabhir
vava9anta nfrah.
3
The
presence
of
Brhaspati
in these battles will be
explained below, under
"Indra and
Brhaspati."
In x. 67.
7,
Brhaspati appears
alone as recoverer of the
stolen
herds, although in the
preceding
verses Indra fills this
part;
in ii. 24. 6 he
is
accompanied by allies,
whose names however are not mentioned.
4
VTp, properly
'
bellow, low;'
an
expression
less
offensive,
when
expressing the
heroes'
joyful sliouts,
to the Vedic
poets
than to us. I know of no suitable
Eng-
lish word for this
passage.
VOL. XI. 19
141
E. D.
Perry,
of those
depending immediately upon
the
conception
of Indra
as a warrior against the demons who steal rain and
light.
Indra and
Trita;
Viqvarfpa.-A
comparative
view of all
the
passages
of the
Rig-Veda
referring
to Trita
yields
several
results
important
for the relation in which he stands to Indra.
We first discover that all the deeds
accomplished
by
Trita are
the same which otherwise Indra has to
perform;
and also that
the two divinities do not
appear
as actual associates in their
various acts and battles, and are not invoked, as are so
many
other
gods,
together. This
might
lead us to
suppose
Trita to
be in fact
nothing
but a different name for
Indra;
for which
would also
speak
the fact that Trita's name does not occur even
once in Books
iii., iv.,
or vii.
Possibly
"
Trita"
might
be an
epithet applied
to Indra
by
poets
of certain clans. But I will
first illustrate these remarks
by
several
quotations:
i. 187. 1 :1
"I will now
praise heartily
the
draught,
the
preserver
of
strength (i.
e. the
Soma),
through
whose
power
Trita clove
asunder
Vrtra,
who showed no weak
spots ;"
viii. 7. 24:2
"
The
Maruts cheered on the
courage
a ind zeal of the battling
Trita,
they encouraged
Indra during the overcoming of Vrtra." In
Book ix.
(the Soma-book), many
verses
bring
the Soma into
very
close connection with
Trita;
and the
fingers
of the Soma-
pressers,
the mill-stones for
grinding
the stalks of the
plant,
and the three localities of the
Soma-offering,
are called his.8
In x. 46.
3,
Trita discovers the hidden
Agni-"
Trita Vaibhu-
vasa,
oft
seeking,
found him
(at last)
by
the cow's head"
(i.
e.
at the extremity
of the cloud:
Agni=the
lightning);
whereas
in x. 32. 6 the same
thing
is related of Indra. In x. 120. 6
Indra receives the title
dptya,
often
applied
to Trita.
From these
passages
alone,
and from the circumstance that
Indra and Trita are never invoked
together,
we should be
almost
justified
in
identifying
Trita with
Indra,
in the latter's
especial
function as
conqueror
of the rain-stealers. Yet such
an
assumption
would ill accord with other verses which allude
to both
gods
as distinct. From the latter we should rather
have to conclude that Trita and Indra are different
persons;
only they
come into the closest
possible
contact in their
promi-
nent characteristics.
Moreover,
whenever Trita
appears
with Indra he
occupies
a
subordinate position:
e.
g.
he offers Indra
Soma,
to infuse into
1pitiuih
nu stosam
mah6 dharminaiii
tavi$lm: yisya
trit6
vy 6jasa
vrtrafih viparvam ardayat.
2
anu tritasya yfdhyatah
qushmam
avann uta kratum:
anv indraxh
vrtratftrye.
s
The
fingers
are
tritasya yosanah,
' Trita's
wives,'
ix. 32.
2;
38.
2;
the
stones,
tritasya pasya
or
yojand,
102.
2,
3. Cf. also 34.
4;
37.
4;
86. 20.
142
Indra in the
Rig- Veda.
him
strength
for the battle. So ii. 11. 20: "
Indra,
after he had
refreshed himself with Trita's
intoxicating draught,
cast Ar-
buda to
earth;
the sun turned his wheel no
longer [i.
e. seemed
to stand still-the same idea recurs on several
occasions];
In-
dra with the
Angiras
broke
open
the cave
;"
viii. 12. 16:
"When thou, 0 Indra, refreshest
thyself
with Soma in
Visnu's,
or in
Trita's,
or in the Maruts'
presence." Again,
Indra sends
Trita into
battle,
and
imparts
to him
courage
and
strength,
as
in the verses
referring
to the destruction of Vi
varupa
Tvastra:
viz. ii. 11. 19; x. 8.
7, 8;
99. 6.
Or, finally,
Indra
captures
the cattle for Trita, who then seems to have sunk to the level
of a
demigod
or
hero,
and is in fact named
together
with such
beings,
as in x. 48. 2 :1 ' I Indra am defense and
might
of
Atharvan;
I
got
the cattle
away
from the
dragon
for Trita; I
robbed the demons of their
strength,
and bestowed the herds
upon
Dadhyainc
and
Matarigvan."
Such
legends
as these fur-
nished the later collectors of the
hymns
occasion to assume a
Rishi named
Trita,
who was then adduced as author of several
hymns.
In some
passages,
Trita seems to hold the
position
of a semi-
divine ancestor of the
powerful
Grtsamada clan.
Thus,
ii. 11.
19 :2
"
Thou didst once
(tat)
deliver
Vigvarupa
the son of Tvas-
tar into our hands, into the hands of Trita
(who
was)
of our
race
;"
ii. 34. 14 : "IHe
(i.
e. the
yajamana,
'the
sacrificer')
beseeches them
(the Maruts)
for a
strong defense,
for his salva-
tion,
and we too
join
in with this
devotion;
(the Maruts)
whom
with their
wagon4
he would
bring near,
unto his
assistance,
as
Trita
(brought)
the five
priests." According
to x. 8.
7, 8,
to
be translated
below,
one
might
almost
suppose
Trita to have
been Indra's son. In x. 46.
3,
Trita is
styled Vaibhfivasa,
i. e.
doubtless, 'son of
Vibhfvasu;'
vibhAvasu does not occur as
nomn.
pr.,
but
only
as
adjective, signifying 'possessing
extensive
wealth,' and is used of the thunderbolt
(which
is the instrument
employed
by
Indra in
winning
the
rain-cows,
cattle
being
the
chief wealth of the Indians at this
period)
in ix. 72.
7,
and of
Soma in ix. 86. 1. The
epithet
would suit Indra
very well,
and would
speak
for the
explanation
of x. 46. 3
just
men-
tioned.
Unfortunately,
all the 41 verses of the
Rig-Veda
which refer
1ahfm indro r6dho
vakqo
atharvanas
tritaya
ga ajanayam
aiher adhi:
ah/imh
dasyubhyah
pari
nrmnanm a dade
gotra gik*an
dadhice matarig-
vane.
2
asmabhyarh
tat
tvafraih viqviruipam irandhayah
sakhyfsya
tritaya.
3
tfan
iyan6
mahi varutham
utaya fpa
gh6d ena namasa
grnimasi:
trit6
na
yan panca h6t.n
abhi*taya
avavartad avarafi
cakriyAvase.
4
cakriyavase
=
cakriyd (Instr.)
+ avase.
143
E. D.
Perry,
to Trita afford no satisfactory picture of his nature,
except
in
the
points
of contact with Indra. We know from the Avesta,
however,
that he is older than the
specifically
Indian
mytho-
logical system. Compare
on this
point
the
essay
by
Roth, Die
Sage
von Feridun
(Z.
D. M. G.
ii.),
on
p.
221 of which occur
the
following
remarks: "The
hymns
do not
present
him in
clear and lifelike
form,
as
they
do
Indra,
for
instance,
or the
Agvins.
He is mentioned
merely
in
cursory
allusions......
Trita
Aptya
seems to
be,
in the
stage
of
mythological develop-
ment exhibited
by
the
majority
of the
hymns,
a
divinity
who
has half sunk into oblivion." To this
points
in
particular
the
idea that he dwells in the furthest
distance,
for which reason
all evil is banished to his
neighborhood (cf.
viii. 47.
13-17),
upon
which Roth
finely
remarks: "the
distant, perhaps
for
this reason
only,
that he had
gradually
become more and more
obliterated from
memory;"
likewise the fact alluded to
above,
that he does not
appear
either in Books
iii., iv.,
and vii.
That he is unknown
to,
or at least unmentioned
by,
the authors
of Book vii., is the more
remarkable,
as this book is not
only
one of the
longest,
but also one of the richest in
mythical
ma-
terial,
of the whole ten. In the somewhat
mystical
and obscure
hymn
i.
105,
verse 9 reads:1 "Where those seven
(i.
e.
many,
countless)
rays
of
light are,
thither
my
origin goes back;
Trita
Aptya
knows
it,
he talks with
my
kindred." Likewise he
ap-
pears
as concerned in the
mystical
creation of the
sun,
in i. 163.
2,
3;
and he is invoked
together
with other
beings
of obscure
nature,
e.
g.
with Ahi
Budhnya, Aja
Ekapad,
in ii. 31.
6;
he is
called "the Trita of the
sky"
in v. 41.
4;
in the three verses
v.
41, 10;
x. 46.
6;
115.
4,
he seems identical with
Agni;
in
viii. 41. 6, with
Varuna;
in v. 9. 5; 54.
2;
ix. 86. 20; x. 64.
3, with Vata.
For all these
reasons,
I consider Trita a
god
of the
storm,
older indeed than
Indra,
but driven into the
background
by
the rapid growth
of the Indra-cultus. If this be the correct
view of his
nature,
then we must
expect
to find him
standing
in a relation to other
gods
similar to that in which Indra stands
to them
(cf. Hillebrandt,
Varuna und
Jitra, p. 94); yet
these relations will be less clearly developed and treated with
less
completeness,
because the
figurative
idea of
every divinity
is
subject
to
gradual change,
and because e.
g.
we cannot
assume for a
period
when
Trita,
and not
yet Indra,
has to
engage
the
demons, any
so
lofty
or
comprehensive conception
of Varuna as we
actually
find at a time when Indra and Var-
una stand side
by
side as
fully developed gods.
And so Trita
1
amf
ye sapta ragmayas
tatra me nabhir atata: tritas tad
vedaptyiah
sa
jamitvaya
rebhati.
144
Indira in the
Rig-
Veda.
displays great similarity
to
Vayu (cf. Roth,
loc. cit.), while in
aftertimes, although
later than the
Mantra-period--to
use
Miller's
expression-Indra
and
Vayu
are
identified;
so also he
stands in
particular
relations to
Soma,
as was shown
above,
of
course for the same reason which later made Soma Indra's
inseparable companion:
I mean the
intoxicating, invigorating
property
of the
beverage,
which as we saw was Trita's Soma.
The
Maruts,
who
encourage
Indra and
greet
him with
joyful
acclamations after the
happy
termination of the
battle,
act sim-
ilarly
with
regard
to Trita: cf. the
already
quoted
verse viii.
7.
24,
which now
acquires
a much
deeper significance.
For
the relations between Trita and Varuna I can adduce but two
passages, in one of which, viii. 41.
6,
he seems
actually
identi-
fied with
Varuna,
and in the
other,
ix. 95.
4, perhaps
with
Soma.' I would
explain
this
paucity
of reference to Trita and
Varulta
together by
the
supposition
that Trita had lost much
of his
importance
before the
types
of Varuna and Indra had
gained
marked
fixity
of outline.
A dim reminiscence of Trita's vanished
glory,
and an allu-
sion to his final subordination to
Indra,
seem to lurk in the
following
difficult
verse,
which I am at a loss to
explain
other-
wise: ii. 34. 10 :2
"
One sees
plainly,
0
Maruts, your
brilliant
flight
(path),
when the sons milk the udder of
Prcni ('
a
speckled
cow;'
here =the
rain-cloud),
or
when,
0
undeceptive compan-
ions of Rudra, (ye
give over)
Trita to the derision of the wor-
shipper
and the ruin of the feeble"
(i.
e. the ruin which befalls
the
feeble).
In Book
ii., Trita, although
mentioned often
enough, occupies
quite
an inferior
position.
In ii. 11.
19,
he
is called an ancestor of the
Grtsamada-clan,
for whom Indra is
said to have overcome
Vrtra;
in the next
following
verse he
hands Indra the
Soma;
in 31. 6 his name is
merely mentioned;
34. 14 contains an allusion to the summoning of the five
priests,
an event not mentioned elsewhere. So much the more
constant,
on the other
hand,
is Indra's
praise,
and more than
one
quarter
of all the verses in this Book refer to him. Now
it seems to me not
irnpossible
that the
poet,
to whom the ear-
lier
importance
of Trita could not have been
unknown,
wished
to allude to his
displacement by
Indra
by making
the
Maruts,
-Trita's former
companions,
but in aftertinies
joined
with
1
The identification with Varuina is
explained by
Roth from the circumstance that
both are conceived as
dwelling
in the furthest
heaven; by
Hillebrandt,
from the
fact that both control the firmamental waters. The
possible identification with
Soma is of little or no
significance.
2
citriim tad vo maruto
yama
cekite
pfgnya
yad
fidhar
apy
apAyo
duhuh.: yad va nid6
navamanasya rudriyas tritam
jaraya juratam
ada-
bhya.h.
145
E. D.
Perry,
Indra-abandon their ancient leader. At the same
time, I
acknowledge
the strained nature of such an
interpretation
as
this.
It remains for us in this connection to notice the
mythus
relating
to the
killing
of
Vicvarfupa. Vigvarfpa,
called Tvastar's
son,
is a demon who steals the rain-clouds. He is killed
by Trita,
who is backed
by
Indra;
in x. 8.
9,
after in verses 7 and 8
Trita has been called his
conqueror,
Indra is said to have van-
quished
him.
While, however,
Indra
slays many
other
demons,
when no mention whatever is made of
Trita,
it is
only
in com-
panionship
with the latter that he is declared to have overcome
Vigvarupa-a
circumstance which shows
clearly enough
that
in the
original
form of the
mythus
Trita alone endured this
battle
(which
is shown also
by
the Persian Thraetona-Feridun
mythus);
and that the addition of Indra to the
original story
is to be
regarded
as a
consequence
of the
exchange
in rank and
importance
which occurred between these two divinities.
From this
point
of
view,
the
apparent
contradiction in the
Vedic
description
of the relations
subsisting
between Indra and
Tvastar is not hard of
explanation:
a contradiction which the
later authors of Brahmanas
sought
to
explain by attributing
to Indra
downright
misdeeds. Tvastar is on the one hand a
divine
being friendly
to
gods
and
men,
who fabricates for
Indra the thunderbolt, the
weapon employed against Vrtra,
and is
consequently
the friend of
Indra;
on the other hand he
is father of the wicked demon
Vigvarfpa,
whom indra kills.
Hence all the ancient Indian and most modern
European
ex-
egetes
have
thought
it
necessary
to conclude that
enmity
existed between Indra and
Tvastar,
by no means to the for-
mer's credit, for which as further
proof
is adduced the circum-
stance that Indra drank
up
Tvastar's Soma. This latter
episode
can be
readily explained
in
quite
another
way,
as will
be shown in the section
treating
of Indra and
Soma;
and
surely
no further
proof
is
necessary
for the assertion that
Indra kills Tvastar's son
merely because,
in the Indian
system,
he is the successor of a more ancient
divinity
whose
duty
this
was, so that no reasons for
supposing any
actual
enmity
be-
tween Indra and his armorer exist. The real
difficulty
is this:
how did
Tvastar,
the
trusty
artificer of the
gods,
come to be
called father of a demon hostile to
gods
and men alike ?
Which
particular
side of his character formed the
starting-
point
for such a
mythus
?
Vievartpa
signifies 'possessed
of all forms.' Let us com-
pare
the Vedic
descriptions
of him with the account of the de-
mon said in
Yagna
ix. 8 to have been
vanquished
by
Thraetona.'
1
i. e. son of
Thrita;
in the Avesta called
Athwya,
=Vedic
dptya.
146
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
We shall find the
correspondences remarkably
close.
Vig-
varapa
is called
trirs.qan,
'three-headed,' and
saptara;mi,
'seven-tonigued' (x.
8.
8);
tri9rsan
again,
and
salaksa,
'six-
eyed' (x.
99.
6).
In the
Yagna
passage
the
opponent
of Thrae-
tona is called
thrizafana,
'
three-jawed,'
thrikameredha, ' three-
headed,' kchsvasashi,
'six-eyed.'
The
particulars
are identical
-with the
exception
of
saptaraqmi,
which is
perhaps
better
rendered as
'many-tongued'-and
the
very
name
vicvariupah,
'who can assume
any form,' corresponds
in
conception
to the
hazanrayaokchsti,
'thonsand-fold
flexible, changeable,'
of the
Avesta. It now becomes evident that not
merely
the
general
idea of the conflict with a
monster,
but even the details of this
monster's
appearance,
as found in Veda and
Avesta,
rest
upon
a common basis. If this be
so,
we can discover in the
proper
name
Vi~varupa
merely
the
petrifaction
of an earlier
epithet
vi~varitpa.
The
figure
of the demon is
Aryan (i.
e. Indo-
Persian); only
his current
appellation
Vi~varufpa
is
specifically
Indian;
and also the
god
Tvastar, as his father, is a
specifically
Indian addition. This circumstance excludes the
possibility
that the
parental
relation between Tvastar and
Vi~varfpa,
which we find
existing according
to the
Veda,
rests
upon
a
purely mythical conception,
and we must look about us for
other reasons.
Tvastar is often said in the Veda to have created
rtpd
(rapdni),
i. e. forms and
figures.
The
Taittiriya-Brahmana,
at i. 4. 7, reads :1
'
Tvastar rules over the forms.' R. V. i. 188. 9 :2
"Tvastar,
since he is the lord of
forms, created all animals
;"
viii. 91. 8 :3" In order that this one
(Agni)
be influential among
us,
as Tvastar
among
the forms which he has to fashion." But
most
plainly speaks
iii. 55. 19 :4 "The
god Tvastar,
the life-
giver
who rules over all
forms,
caused
posterity
to
grow up;
he created them in
sundry ways,
and all these creatures
belong
to him." The
epithet
viqvartpa
is also
applied
to him in
i. 13.
10;
x. 10. 15.
When, accordingly,
such a Proteus-like creature as
Vigva-
rupa,
and such an all-skilful creator as Tvastar, existed in
Indian
mythology,
what was more natural than the
conception
which attributed to Tvastar the
parentage
of the
monster,
as
though
he had concentrated in it all his store of forms and
figures
? The
mythological principle
that the son's nature cor-
responds closely
to that of his
parent
is here as well
exempli-
1
tvasta vai
rupanam ige.
2
tviata
rupani
hi
prabhiuh pa9fin vfivant
samanaje.
3
ayaii yatha
na abhuvat tvaita
rupeva taksya.
4
devas tvasta savita
viqvarapah.
pup6qa
prajIah purudhl
jajana:
ima ca
vigva bhfivanany
asya.
147
E. D.
Perry,
fied as in the
application
to Indra of the
epithet
gosano
napat,
which was
explained
above.
Only
thus can I account for the fact that a
later,
specifically
Indian
divinity, friendly
alike to
gods
and
men, came to be
regarded
as father of the
older, Aryan demon,
hostile to both
gods and men. But when the connection had once been estab-
lished in the mind of an Indian
bard,
and recorded in
song,
his
successors
forgot
at once the reasons and the
justification
of it;
and
unconcernedly sang
of
enmity
between Indra and
Tvastar,
on account of the death of
Vicvarfpa,
which however was not
found in the older
mythic
nexus.1
Indra's relations with the
Adityas,
and the development
of
the
Indra-mythus.--The
relation in which Indra stands to the
goddess Aditi,
and to her sons the
Adityas,
has been discussed
at considerable
length by
Alfred Hillebrandt, in his two works:
Ueber die Gottin Aditi
(p.
42
ff.),
and Varuna und fitra
(p.
97
ff.).
It will be seen that
my investigations
have led me
to conclusions
quite
different from those which he has reached.
In the first
quoted passage,
Hillebrandt assumes Aditi to
have been
regarded
as the mother of Indra. The
supposition
is not
new;
it is found in the
Brahmanas,
and
Sayana
advances
it with all
confidence;
but it has not
yet
been
conclusively
proved
correct. Hillebrandt's arguments are as follows:
1. He refers above all to the
hymn
iv.
18,
which I have
quoted
in
part
II. It was there shown that no
unity
of
subject
extended
throughout
the whole
hymn.
In the Anukramani it
is
styled
a
dialogue
between
Indra, Aditi,
and Vamadeva-the
only support
for Hillebrandt's
theory,
since we are not in-
formed how the verses are to be divided
up
among
the
speakers.
Sayana,
in his off-hand
way,
explains
the
poem very
skilfully
as a little
episode
of the
family
life of the Gautama-
clan. The
sage
Vamadeva,
still in the womb but about to be-
gin his
earthly career,
and
experiencing
a
powerful
aversion to
the conventional nianner of birth, determines to open for him-
self a Northwest
Passage,
as it were-he resolves to break
through
his mother's side.
Thereupon, according
to
Sayana
(v. 1),
Indra reminds him that not
only
men but likewise
gods
have
always
found the old-fashioned
way good
enough for
them,
and seeks to dissuade him from the venturesome
attempt.
Vamadeva's conscience,
developed
even at this tender age,
reproaching
him with the
temerity
of his
plan,
he looks about
him for
examples
of a similar violence with which to excuse
himself. And
suddenly
it occurs to him that the
mighty
In-
dra himself has not always proved
a model of virtue-that he
1
For instances of such
perpetuation
of
thoughts
once struck
out,
see Aufrecht's
Introduction to his 2nd edition of the
Rig-Veda, p.
xii.
148
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
for instance
regaled
himself
upon
Soma in Tvastar's
house,
without so mucli as
saying
"
by
your
leave"
(vv. 2-4b).
But
Aditi,
by
no means
pleased by
these reflections
upon
her son
(Indra),
attempts
by
counter-assertions to vindicate his honor
(4c-7).
Thereupon
Vamadeva
again
claims the
floor, speaking,
however,
no
longer
of his own
birth,
but of various events in
the life of Indra.
This
ingenious
and
diverting exegesis -which,
if it be
Sayana's own,
and not
perchance
derived from more ancient
commentators,
certainly
does him
great
credit-finds unfor-
tunately
neither in the
hymn
itself nor in the Anukramani
any
confirmation whatever.
Sayana
was able the more consist-
ently
to advance
it,
inasmuch as on several other occasions he
regards
Indra as an
Aditya;
so,
e.
g.,
in x. 101. 12
(quoted
in
Part
II.),
where Indra is called " Son of
Nistigri,"
he identifies
the latter with Aditi, for the word
signifies
'
she who swallows
up
Nisti
;'
and Nisti he identifies with Diti, the rival of Aditi.
We who are less orthodox than
Sayana
in our views as to the
meaning
of Vedic
passages
find this
explanation unsatisfactory
when we discover the
complete
lack of
unity existing
in the
hymn.
The facts of the
heterogeneous
nature of the
hymn
in
ques-
tion and of the almost total want of connection between the
fragments
which are its
component
parts
being ascertained,
any argument
based
upon
it as a whole falls to the
ground
at
once.
Still,
if there were elsewhere indications that Aditi was
regarded
as Indra's
mother,
of course Aditi
might
be meant
by
the unnamed mother of Indra in this
passage.
We shall search
the Veda for such indications in vain.
2. Hillebrandt
refers, furthermore,
to the circumstance men-
tioned in iv.
18,
that Indra kills his father and is abandoned
by
his
mother;
and he
says:
"
The mention of his father or his
mother refers in like manner to the
heaven,
which Indra after
his birth
envelops
in clouds." And further on: "Indra kills
his father in
concealing
the
sun,
which
by
its
rays
has
gathered
the clouds
[!];
he is abandoned
by
his mother when the clear
sky,
from which he was
born, disappears
behind the veil of
clouds." Here is admirable
reasoning!
At one moment In-
dra's father is the
sky,
at the next the
sun;
his mother is the
sky,
and
again
the
imperishability
of the daylight
(for this,
according
to Hillebrandt's
very improbable theory,
is the con-
ception underlying
the
personification Aditi);
and the cover-
ing
of the
sky
with clouds is ascribed as
parricide
to
Indra,
and
as infanticide to his mother. To
bring
order into the
tangled
relations of this
sanguinary family
would be a task of consider-
able
hopelessness,
and I
pass
on
accordingly
to Hillebrandt's
other proofs.
VOL. XI. 20
149
E. D.
Perry,
3. In verse 4 of the
hymn
vii.
85,
addressed to Indra and
Varuna,
the Samhita-text exhibits the vocative
sing.
dditya,
for which the ada-text
gives
ddityd,
dual. Besides this
pas-
sage,
I know of but one other in the
Rig-Veda
where the word
aditya
could
possibly
refer to Indra: viz. Val. 4. 7. There we
read:
t?riydditya
hdvanamh ta
indriydm.
The padra-text
separates
thus:
tutrlya
ad-,
while Roth
(Pet.
Dict.,
s. v.
turiya)
proposes
t?urTyam
dd-. The
hymn
bears
plain
indications of a
very
late
origin: among others,
the evident
modeling
after the
preceding hymn-a
fact which
greatly
lessens its value as a
parallel
to vii. 85. 4.
Returning
to the latter
passage,
we see
from 84. 4 that when Indra and Varuna are invoked
together,
aditya
refers to
Varuna,
just
as in iv. 42. 4 Varuna
boastfully
styles
himself
Aditya
in distinction from Indra. Now it is
much more natural to
suppose
that the author of the
pada-text
put
an incorrect
interpretation upon
the verse-and he is
proved
by
many
an instance to be
anything
but an infallible
authority-than
to
suppose
that a
divinity
of Indra's
promi-
nence should receive
only
in this and the doubtful
passage
Val. 4. 7 an
epithet
so
very significant
for his whole nature as
aditya,
if the Vedic
poets really regarded
him as Aditi's son.
Possibly
the vocative
singular, occurring
in a verse addressed
to two
gods, may
have
appeared
harsh to the author of the
pada-text,
whence he
gave
the form in the resolved text as
dual. Another
consideration, by
no means
unimportant,
is
this: it is
quite
indifferent for the metre whether
adityd
or
aditya
be read.
Why
then should the
poet
have said
aditya
(sing.),
when he meant
aditya (dual)?
Even if we retain the
dual,
the
expression
is still no confirmation of Hillebrandt's
theory,
since the transferral of an
epithet properly applying
only
to one
person
of a
pair
mentioned or invoked
together
to
the other of the
pair belongs
to the best-known
peculiarities
of Vedic diction.
4.
Finally,
Hillebrandt combines viii. 12. 14:' " Aditi com-
posed
a
song
of
praise
for
Indra,"
and vii. 98. 3 :
"thy
mother
announced
thy
greatness,"
with iv. 18. 4-7. But until we
have
proved
Indra to be Aditi's son
according
to iv.
18,
this
combination is
worthless,
since Indra is
glorified by
various
gods
and
goddesses,
not
every
one of whom is on that account
necessarily
his
mother;
and
why
not also
by
Aditi? Further-
more,
the same idea of his
glorification by
his mother occurs
in
passages
where
any
reference to Aditi is out of the
question,
as
viii. 45. 4,
5,
which were discussed in Part II. To combine
the
passages
viii. 12. 14 and vii. 98.
3,
and conclude from them
I
aditih st6mam
indraya jijanat.
2
pra
te mata mahimanam uvaca.
150
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
that Indra was son of
Aditi,
would be to imitate the character
in "Pickwick
Papers,"
who
composed
an
essay
on Chinese
Metaphysics by reading
up
China in the
Encyclopaedia
under
the letter
C,
and
Metaphysics
under
M,
and
combining
his
information.
So much for Hillebrandt's
arguments.
What I have to
object directly
to the
reception
of Indra
among
the
Adityas
(i. e. for Vedic times-in later
ages
he was often called an
Aditya)
is as follows.
In the first
place,
I
agree
with Muir when he
says
(Sanskrit
Texts,
v.
12):
"Indra could not have been in the
opinion
of
the author of the Brahmana, at least as
expressed
in this
passage
(Qat.
Brahm. xi. 6. 3.
5),
one of the twelve
Adityas (as
he was
regarded
at a later
period),
since he is
separately specified
as
making
up
the number of the
thirty-three gods."
In i. 107.
2,
Indra is mentioned
by
himself,
then the
Adityas
and Aditi
together;
so also in iv. 54. 6. In v. 51. 10 is said:
"united with the
Adityas
and
Vasu,
united with Indra and
Vayu,
come hither"
(addressed
to
Agni):
cf. vii. 10. 4. And
so in
many
other
passages,
with clearest distinction between
Indra and
beings
of similar nature on the one
hand,
and the
Adityas,
the real
gods
of
light,
on the other.
Finally,
how could the circumstance that in the Veda such
uncertainty prevails,
and such
speculation
is
indulged in,
con-
cerning Indra's
descent,
be reconciled with his
adoption
as an
Aditya
? There is no such meditation
concerning Varuna,
or
Mitra,
or the other
Adityas;
why
then
upon Indra,
if he was
in Indian belief
really
an
Aditya?
In
fact,
his whole char-
acter,
bold, impetuous, rough,
ill consorts with the
peculiarly
ethical natures of the
Adityas,
with their calm
majesty
and
gracious
benevolence. On the
contrary,
he stands to
them,
especially
to
Varunia,
in a relation which Hillebrandt has well
characterized as-that between
general
and
sovereign.
Cf. viii.
82. 6 and 83.
9,
and in
particular
the following: vi. 68. 3 :1 "The
one
(Indra)
smites the enemies with his
thunderbolt,
the other
(Varuna),
the
sage,
remains at home"
(lit. 'among
the com-
munities').
The Adityas, as
supreme
light- and
sky-gods,
are
law-givers
for
gods
and
men,
and all
things
stand under their dominion.
Yet there are evil
powers
and wicked men that refuse submis-
sion to their
just
ordinances-demons of the
air,
who restrain
the rains
flowing
from the
highest
heaven down to
earth,
who
cover the
bright
firmament with dark
clouds,
and so threaten
to
precipitate
the whole course of nature into confusion; and
impious men,
as well of
Aryan
as of
non-Aryan
race,
who
1
vijrenanyah cqvasa hanti vrtrirh
sisakty any6
vrjinesu
viprah.
151
E. D.
Perry,
oppose
the faithful and ridicule their
religion,
and in
many
ways
sin
against
the divine commands. In the natural as in
the moral
sphere, therefore,
a defender of the laws is
needed,
for the
Adityas
themselves are not of warlike
nature-they
dwell on
high
in the
region
of
light, loftily
distant from the
strife and turmoil of the two worlds beneath them-and who
should be chosen to this
duty
but the
god
of the
raging
thun-
derstorm,
Indra the
thunderer,
irresistible
by
nature ?
Day by
day
with his faithful comrades he enters the battle
against
the
goblins, they
succumb to his
lightnings,
he
regains
water and
light;
and in like manner he assists his
worshippers
of
Aryan
blood, both when
they
strive with
non-Aryan
enemies,
and when
they punish
the unbelievers of their own race. The
following
passages
will
plainly
illustrate Indra's office as executor of
pun-
ishment
upon
the
outragers
of moral law: x. 89. 8 :'
"Thou,
0
Indra,
a
patient follower-up
of
evil,
hewest falsehood in
pieces
as a knife
(an axe)
hews
limbs;
whenever men sin
against
the laws of Mitra and of Varuna, as against an allied
friend." So too verse 9: cf. viii. 56. 8. Indra is also called
vratapa
devanam,
'
the
law-protector
of the
gods'-v.
2.
8;
x.
32. 6. The
particular
reason for this belief is found in the
conception
of his victories over the demons of the air. There
is a verse which
represents
the
conquest
of these
beings
and
the restoration of order to the universe as
taking place espe-
cially
for Varuna's and Mitra's benefit: x. 113. 5 : "There-
upon
Indra mustered all his
courage;
he drove Heaven and
Earth further
apart;
he hurled
boldly
the brazen
thunderbolt,
which was
acceptable
to
Mitra,
to
Varuna,
to his
worshipper."
From the
protection
of
physical
laws his functions were
then,
as is so often the case in
mythological systems,
transferred to
the moral
sphere.
As
by
the side of the
almighty
Varuna the other
Adityas
everywhere
retire into the
background,
so is this
especially
the
case in their relations to
Indra,
whom we never find named
with
Bhaga, Aryaman, Anna,
or
Daksa,
unless Varuna be of the
company.
But there is at least one
passage
which
brings
him
into connection with
Mitra,
and one which mentions him
together
with Mitra and Visnu u: viii. 85. 6 :' "Let us
praise
him who created all these creatures on
earth,
which stand
1
tvaiih ha
tyad rnaya
indra dhfro 'sir na
parva v.rjina
qr.nasi:
pra ye
mitrasya varunasya
dhama
yujamh
na
jana
minanti mitram.
2
ad indrah. satra tavi.ir apatyata variyo dyavaprthivf
abadhata: ava-
bharad dhrsit6
vajram
ayasamh
qvam mitraya varunaya daqui.e.
3
tam u
stavama y&
ima
jajana vi9va jatany avarany
asmat: indrena
mitram didhisema
girbhir fipo
namobhir vrsabhamrh
viema.
152
Indra in the
Ri;g-
Veda.
under his dominion
(Indra');
let us
present Mitra,
along with
Indra,
with
songs
of
praise;
let us
approach
the hero with
reverence." And Yal. 4. 3:2
"
(Indra,)
who receives the
praises
for himself
alone,
who
boldly
drank the
Soma,
for
whom Visnu took his three
steps, according
to the decrees of
Mitra." The addition of Visliu in this
passage
makes it
highly
probable that the connection of Mitra and Indra arose from the
fact that
Visnu,
as
sun-god,
becomes a
dispenser
of rain. For
we find Visnu mentioned as Indra's associate in the battle with
Vrtra, where he
represents
the
ever-advancing
sun. There is
a doubtful
passage,
x. 22.
1,'
which
Ludwig
translates:
"'
Where does one hear of the celebrated
Indra;
among what
people
to-day
as of Mitra ?"
Similarly
Hillebrandt.
Better,
I
think,
is the
following:
"
Where does one hear
to-day
of the
famous Indra?
among
what nation is he said to
be,
as a
friend ?"
Let us now examine those
passages
in which Indra and
Varuna
appear
associated. The relation of defender of the
laws, in which our
divinity
was discovered to stand to the
Adityas,
is here
equally prominent;
but
greater importance
is
attached to the ethical character of Indra's
services,
in accord-
ance with the
peculiar
nature of Varuna. The verses vii.
28. 4 and 84.
2,
both
incorrectly explained
by
Hillebrandt,
are
especially significant
for this relation. Thus, vii. 84. 24 :
"The
heaven assists
your mighty government,
0
ye
who bind with
bonds which are not chains
(i.
e.
who,
without
making
use of
actual
chains,
yet
hold the world in actual
bondage,
in moral
subjection);
may
Varuna's
anger
not descend
upon us,
may
Indra
procure
for us free
scope."
Here u lokam is not
'
wide-spread
dominion'
(weite
Herrschaft),
as Hillebrandt ex-
plains it,
but ' free
scope'
(freier
Raum),
i. e. liberation from
the restraint
imposed
by
demons and enemies. Padas c and d
are
contrasted,
and the further
explanation
of Hillebrandt is
wrong:
" The wish
underlying
the words
pari
to
vrSjya
can be
only
this: to
pardon
faults
committed,
and not to
punish
sin
by
suffering
the enemies
against
whom Indra
fights
to
gain
entrance. That we
may
understand the verse thus is shown
very plainly by
vii. 28. 46"-which he thus
explains:
"
Protect
1
The connection of the
hymn forbids our
referring padas a and b to Mitra.
2
ya uktha k6vala dadh6
yah
s6marh
dhrsitipibat: y/ismai visnus trini
pada
vicakrama uipa
mitrasya dharmabhih.
3
kfha
9ruta
indrah. kasminn
adya jane
mitr6 na
9ruyate.
4
yuv6
raftram
brhad invati
dyaudr
yau
setrbhir
arajjiibhih
sinithah:
pari
no helo
varunasya
vrjya
uriium na indrah krnavad u lokam.
5
ebhir na indrAhabhir
dagasya durmitraso hi
ksitayah pavante: prati
yac caste anrtam anena ava dvita varuno
may/ nah sat.
153
E. D.
Perry,
us in these
days,
0
Indra;
the hostile tribes stream hither with
(weapon)
flashing: may
the wise Varuna
doubly
loosen us from
the fault which the sinless one beholds." Now, this
rendering
of
pavante by
mit
(Waffen)glanz
herbeistromen is
utterly
inde-
fensible and
ridiculous;
and the
'doubly
loosen' for dvita
equally
so
(cf.
Pet.
Dict.,
s.
v.).
I much
prefer
the translation
of Geldner and
Kaegi:
"The wicked men shall
certainly
do
penance;
be
gracious
unto us in those
days,
0
Indra;
may
the
faultless one henceforth
pardon
us for the sin which Varu.ia
has
keenly perceived.'1
This translation reveals Indra in a
much clearer and more definite relation to Varuna.
One of the most
important
moments in the association of
Indra and Varuna is however their common character as water
divinities,
from which are derived the
majority
of
conceptions
of their
generosity,
and their readiness to assist their
worship-
pers
and to bestow children. Yet we must never forget
that,
while
they
are both
water-deities, they
are such for
quite
dif-
ferent reasons: Varuna's abode is in the
sky,
he
disposes
of
the
heavenly
streams and dismisses them to
earth;
Indra's
realm,
on the
contrary,
is the broad
air,
and he
disposes
of the
waters
simply
because he has rescued them from the demons'
power.
But both are
givers
of
rain,
and hence of fruitfulness
and
prosperity
in
general.
Several
passages illustrating
their character as
givers
of
water follow: vii. 82. 3:2 "Ye
opened freely
the wells of
water
by your power,
ye
led the brilliant sun
up
into the firma-
ment;
in the
frenzy
of the
magic draught
ye
made the dried-
up springs
to
gush anew;
make our devotions to
gush
out."
Again, vii. 85. 3:3 The waters also, these
goddesses
brilliant
in their
abodes, placed
Indra and Varuna
among
the gods"-
i. e. the bestowal of rain was a
truly
divine
deed(?). They
also
give the
cow,
the
symbol
of the cloud and of
prosperity,
and
bestow wealth: i. 17. 3:4
,,
Satisfy
us with
riches,
0 Indra and
Varuna, according
to our
wish;
we invoke
you
first of all."
And v. 6:'
"By
the
help
of these two
may
we
acquire
and
hoard
up;
yea, may
there even be a
surplus:"
cf. iii. 62. 1-3.
"Es sollen
ja
die bosen Menschen
biissen;
In diesen
Tagen
sei uns
gnadig, Indra;
Die Siinde,
die Varuna
fein erspiihte, Mag fortan
uns der
fehlerlose
schenken."
For
pavante, perhaps
a still better translation would be 'are sifted
out;'
in
these
days
the wicked are sifted
out,
i. e. are
separated
from the
good. (Geldner.)
2
anv
apaih khany
atrnttam
6jasa suiryam airayatarh
divi
prabhum:
indravaruna mide
asya mayin6 'pinvatam apitah pinvatalh dhiyah.
8
apaq
cid dhi
svayaqasah
sadahsu devlr indraim virunarih devata dhuih.
4
anukamaih tarpayethAm
indravaruna
raya
a: ta vaih
n6distham
imahe.
6
tayor
id avas/
vayaih
sanema ni ca dhimahi:
syad
utA
prarecanam.
154
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
Further,
vi. 68. 2:
"By your
zeal
ye
are the most excellent
among
the
gods,
the bravest of the
brave,
the most
generous
among
the
generous,
of mighty
courage,
0
ye
who with
your
whole
troop
overcome the
enemy
as is
right:"
cf. also v.
5,
and iv. 41. 3.
They
are also often
generous
in the bestowal of
offspring
upon
their
worshippers,
as e.
g.
in iv. 42.
8, 9,
where Puruku-
tsani receives for her
prayers
a son
Trasadasyu,
and in vii. 84. 5.
They
are
petitioned
with
especial frequency
for
help
in battle.
Thus,
iv. 41. 2 :'1 "The mortal who
by
his libations
gains
the
two
gods
Indra and Varuna for his
allies,
to a
league
with him,
that one
slays
enemies and
opponents
in
battle;
that one be-
comes celebrated
through
their
mighty help
:" cf. also v.
4,
and vii. 82. 2, 9.
Hymn
83 of Book vii. is a
thank-offering
for the
help
extended to the
hard-pressed
Sudas in the battle
against
the ten
kings:
vii. 85. 2 :' "Men
display rivalry
in in-
voking
the
gods,
when
among
the banners the bolts are
flying;
with the
arrow,
0 Indra and
Varuna,
drive the enemies
away,
(drive
them)
asunder in all directions."
Of much greater
interest,
and also of much
greater import-
ance for a correct
understanding
of the two
deities,
than their
common
traits,
are the differences
pervading
their natures-a
point upon
which Hillebrandt has bestowed much careful
attention. The
pertinent passages
follow: vii. 82. 2: "All-
ruler the one is
called,
autocrat
(Selbstherr)
the
other;
ye
are
both great and
rich,
Indra and
Varuina;"
5. "
Since,
0 Indra
and
Varuna,
ye
fashioned all the creatures in the whole
world,
Mitra in
peace worships Varuna;
the
other,
the
mighty
one
(Indra),
goes
into battle
along
with the Maruts
;"
6. "All the
power
of Varuna is
displayed
for
great praise,
this one's
(In-
dra's)
for his own
glory;
the one smites the
weapon-brandish-
ing enemy,
the other with few
(helpers)
keeps
the
enemy
in
check."
Further,
vii. 83. 9 :' "The one smites
many
more in
battle,
the other watches
continually
over the ordinances
;"
85. 3 :4 "The one
keeps
the
unruly
nations in
order,
the other
smites the irresistible enemies." Similar to the idea in vii.
82. 6 is the
conception displayed
by
x. 66.
2,
where the Maruts
are said to be
indraprasritds, varunapraistas
:
perhaps
'led
by
Indra into
battle,
sent into the field
by
Varuna.'
These verses leave
nothing
to be desired in
point
of clear-
'
indra ha
y6
varuna cakra apt devau martah
sakhyaya prayasvan:
sa hanti vrtrA samith6su gatrfin avobhir va mahadbhih sa
pria
rnve.
2spirdhante
va u
devahfiye
atra
yesu
dhvaje6u
didyavah patanti:
yuvam
tan indravarunav amitran hatam
piracah
qarva vi.t1cah.
3
vrtriany anyah
samith6su
jighnate vratany
any6 abhi
raksate
sada.
4
k?irr anyo
dharayati
privikta vrtrany
any6 apratini
hanti.
155
E. D.
Perry,
ness.
Upon
the one side are
majesty, dignity, repose,
ethical
sublimity,
universal
sway;
on the other
force,
impetuosity,
courage, delight
in
war,
glory
and command in battle. Hence
it excites some
surprise
to find Hillebrandt's sharp
characteriza-
tion of the differences in their natures followed
by
statements
which seem almost to
imply
that their characters
might
have
been identified
(p.
102):
" But in
spite
of the intimate connec-
tion of the two
gods,
their natures are not
completely merged:
both
display activity
in the same
direction, yet
their
original
characters are not
quite
obliterated,
and here and there in the
Indra-Varuna
hymns
we find indications that the
poets
were
well
acquainted
with a difference
resting upon
the
original
characters of both
gods."
Their natures could not be
merged
in one another: because, waiving
the difference in their char-
acters as ethical and non-ethical
personifications,
they
belonged
in the Veda to
quite
different realms of nature. What
they
have in common is
by
no means to be
explained
from
any
original similarity
of
character,
but
simply
from the fact that
their
powers
are directed to the same
end,
the
preservation
of
order in the universe. VaruIna is a
god
of
light
and of the
sky;
Indra is no
sky-god
(as
Hillebrandt seems to
suppose,
to
judge
from the note on
p.
68 of his
work),
but
god
of the
thunderstorm and
consequently
of the
air,
in
which, according
to Vedic
belief,
the battle
against
the rain-stealers is
fought
out. How a
god
of the air could in ancient Indian
(Vedic)
belief be
actually
identified with a
sky-god,
be their connection
ever so
intimate,
is to me
inconceivable;
but
that, owing
to
external circumstances,
such an
atmospheric divinity
could
step
into the
place
and
usurp
the functions of the other as
supreme
deity
is not
only inherently probable,
but I think I can
prove
that this
actually
occurred.
It is now time to introduce the
important hymn
iv.
42,
which I have reserved until the
present
moment because
it
offers a convenient transition to the
question
of the
change
in
sovereignty.
In the division of the
hymn
I follow Geldner
and
Kaegi.
Verses 1-4 are
spoken by Varunma,
5 and 6
by
Indra,
7
by
the
poet;
8, 9,
and 10 are later additions.
Ludwig
assigns
v. 4 to
Indra,
by
which Varuna and
Indra,
it is
true,
have each three verses to
recite;
but
against
this
argues
the
fact that vv. 1 and 2 have the same
refrain,
which
justifies
the
assumption
of
strophes
of two verses
each;
besides,
the second
pada
of v. 4 is then no
longer appropriate,
since
putro
aditel
('Son of
Aditi')
can
only
refer to the
speaker,
and
Indra,
as we
saw above,
has no
right
to this title. I
adopt
in verse 3 the
reading
indra
(voc.)
for indrah. Hillebrandt retains indrah,
but his reasons are
altogether inadequate.
Varuna
speaks:
1.
'
The
kingdom
is
mine,
the
warrior's;
all i-mnortals are
mine,
156
Indra in the
JRig-
Veda.
the
all-enliveners;
the
gods
follow Varuna's
will;
I rule over
the nations with their
very
bodies
(upamasya
vavreh, gen.,
'the
nearest,
innermost
covering,'
the skin: G.
K.)."
2. "I
am the
king, Varuna;
mine are these
heavenly powers
even
from the
beginning;
the
gods"
etc.
(as
in v.
1).
3. "I am
Varuna, 0
Indra;
mine are the
wide, deep,
firm-grounded
twin
empires;
a skilful creator,
I formed all creatures and the
two
worlds,
and I
preserve
them." 4. " I made the
spouting
waters to stream
forth,
I fastened the heaven in the seat of
holiness;
Aditi's
son,
the
holy one, spread
out as was
right
the
threefold world." Indra
speaks.
5. "The
heroes,
skilled
horsemen, the
hurrying champions
invoke me in the
battle; I,
the
generous Indra,
incite the battle and I stir
up
the
dust,
I
who am invincible in
power."
6. "All this I
did;
not the
power
of the
gods
even restrains me the matchless
one;
when
draughts
of Soma and
hymns
have intoxicated
me,
then do the
two boundless worlds tremble." The
poet speaks.
7. "All
creatures know
thy
deeds,
as thou announcest them to
Varuna,
O wise
one;
thou art celebrated as the
slayer
of
enemies,
0
Indra;
thou didst set free the
imprisoned
waters."
This
hymn
contrasts the characters of the two divinities most
sharply.
And the manner in which the
arguments
are
advanced is no less
significant
than the
dispute
itself. Yaruna
asserts in two verses his
right
to the
supremacy,
and adduces
valid reasons. Indra on the
contrary
seems to
say:
"
That
concerns me
not;
I will be
supreme,
for I am the
strongest."
In verse 7 the
poet
seeks to
appease
the
jealous
and insolent
Indra
by
unreserved
recognition
of his
power.
It is
certainly
true
that,
as IHillebrandt has
remarked,
the
hymn
contains
only
a
sharp
definition of the
provinces
of the
two
divinities;
and no actual allusion to a transferral of sover-
eignty
from one to the other is discoverable. But let us ask
ourselves: What induced the
poet
to make Varuna so strenu-
ously
assert and defend his
supremacy
?
What,
if not the
observation of that which was
going
on about him ? The sim-
ple
fact that far more
hymns
and verses of the
Rig-Veda
have
reference to Indra than to
any
other
god
shows
sufficiently
well that he had
already,
at the time when the collection was
formed,
become the national and favorite
deity
of the
Indians;
but there existed still the older tradition that Varuna was head
of the divine
company.
Here were two
views, which,
if not
flatly conitradictory
of each
other,
were
yet
hard to
reconcile;
and I
perceive
in the
hymn
quoted
an
attempt
by
a
thoughtful
mind to
bring harmony
out of the
apparent
discrepancy by
the
sharpest possible
definition of the
contrasting
natures of the
two divinities. Yet this difference of nature must have been
so well known to
every intelligent
Indian that I see no neces-
VOL. XI. 21
157
E. D.
Perry,
sity
for
drawing
so fine a
distinction, except
for
the reason that
a
falling away
from the unconditional
acknowledgment
of
Varuna as
supreme ruler,
and a leaning to the recognition
of
the
younger
and
rising deity
Indra as chief had
already
made
considerable
progress.
The
original signification
in nature of Indra and of Varuna
in the Vedic
theogony,
and the final ascendancy
of
the former
over the
latter,
cannot be too
carefully separated.
For
the
transition does not occur in this
way,
that the one
god,
Indra,
steps
into the
place
of
another,
earlier
divinity,
Varuna,
who
originally belonged
to the same realm of nature but was
gradu-
ally forgotten;
but the
change
was made for reasons
purely
external. A
warring
nation will
naturally
invoke the
war-gods
before all
others;
and the more numerous and obstinate the
battles which
they
have to
endure,
the
greater
will be the
honor
paid
to the
deity
who stands
by
the heroes in the
fight.
Moreover,
the more
constantly
and
urgently
men need the
assistance of
any deity,
and the more complete
their
depend-
ence
upom
him for
happiness,
so much the
deeper
will natu-
rally
be their reverence for him. Now let us
picture
to our-
selves those
tropical
regions,
where for davs and weeks
together
under
burning,
rainless sunshine all nature
gasps
for refresh-
ment,
for the rain which after
long beseeching
Indra
finally
releases from the demons'
bondage;
and let us further
picture
to ourselves the situation of the Vedic
people-those
times of
ceaseless battle for existence with the
aborigines
whom
they
were
slowly displacing; when, too,
clans and families stood
in
life-long feud with one another for house and
home,
for land
and
people,
and when the warlike Indra became the chief
pro-
tector of the
ever-warring
Indians,
their ideal of a
mighty
fighter-and
we shall understand how he
grew
to be the favorite
of all the nation; how his
helping
nature was able to throw
Varuna's lofty person
into the shade, and his cultus, originally
perhaps
confined to a few
clans,
to thrust the old
Aryan
wor-
ship
of Varuna into the
background.
These are all
points
to
which Hillebrandt has
given
too little attention. The
facts
that entirely different
provinces
and
spheres
of action
are
attributed to Indra and
Varuna,
and that the Vedic
poets
distinguished
most
accurately
between their characters,
can
never
prove
that Indra had not
already,
at some time
during
the
period
of
composition
of the Vedic
hymns (the
" Mantra-
period"),
stepped
into Varuila's
place
as
supreme god.
And
this
only
do I maintain-for Indra never became a
sky-god,
nor
god
of
light,
nor a moral-ethical character;
he was and
he
remained the warrior,
the
god
of the thunderstorm
in the
air,
the lord of the
mighty
battle on
earth,
the winner and
be-
stower of
booty,
the
peculiar
champion
of the
Aryan
Indians.
158
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
He never abandons his own
province
in nature for that of
Varuna;
but the
changing
fortunes of the Indian
people
brought
it about that the
war-god actually surpassed
the
sky-
god
and
king
of the
world, Varuna,
in
importance.'
On the
other
hand,
we must not
attempt
to
prove
too much from the
Veda. Varuna is therein
by
no means sunk to the level of a
mere water- and
sea-god,
to the
shadowy
divinity
of later
times;
nor has Indra
yet
reached the
position
of
undisputed
sovereignty
in which the
great epics present
him
(see
for in-
stance Holtzmann's able
essay
entitled Indra nach den Vor-
stellungen
des Jfahabhdrata,
in Z. D. M. G.,
xxxii.).
But the
Veda
offers,
as I have
attempted
to
show,
the most conclusive
proof
that this
change began
in the
period
while the
hymns
were
yet
being composed,
and was even far advanced at the
time of their collection into one whole.
I now
pass
to the
interesting hymn
x.
124,
which exhibits
the transferral of
supremacy
from Varuna to Indra in a
very
peculiar light,
and has been
interpreted
in various
ways.
Verse 1. " Come
hither, Agni,
to this our sacrifice, which is
performed
in five
courses,
to the threefold
(sacrifice)
with its
seven
threads;
be the bearer of our
offering,
and our
leader;
long
hast thou lain in the distant darkness."
Agni
speaks.
2.
" I the
god, secretly stealing away
from him that is no
god,
seek for
myself
a
way
to
immortality; leaving,
as an
unfriendly
one
myself,
my
friend,
I
depart
from
my
acquaintance
to a
strange
clan." 3. "
Seeing
him
(Indra)
as
guest among
another
tribe,
I establish
(there) many
sorts of
worship; saying
fare-
well to
my father,
the Asura
(i.
e.
Varuna),
I go over from a
sacrificeless lot
(sc.
bhdgat)
to a share in the sacrifice." 4.
"Many years
have I served that
one,
now I choose Indra for
myself,
and desert
my
father; Agni, Soma, Varuna-these are
now
sinking;
the
empire
has
changed
its
course,
I
help
it
along
by
coming
hither." Indra
speaks.
5. "
These Asuras
(i.
e. demons2) are now become
powerless;
and do
thou, 0
Varuna, if thou lovest me,3 enter
(again) upon
the
supremacy
over
my kingdom, distinguishing
right from
wrong,
0
king."
6.
"
Here now is
light,
and here fair
weather;
here the
sky,
and
the broad
air;
in future let us two kill
Vrtra; depart,
0
Soma,
we will honor thee the libation with libations."
(?)
The con-
nection of the
hymn
seems to be at an end
here;
I add the
' Cf.
Roth,
Z. D. M. G., vi.
73; Muir, Skt.
Texts,
v. 121 ff.
2
Cf. Pet.
Dict.,
s. v. asura, for the different translations of this same word in
this and in the third verse.
3
tvami ca ma varuna
kamayase.
The accent of the verb speaks against
Grassmann's translation: "And
thou, 0 Varuna, must love me." See
Whitney,
Grammar,
?
595 b.
159
F1. D.
Perry,
other verses for the sake of
completeness.
7.
"
The wise one
in his wisdom
gave
to the
sky
its
color;
without trouble
Varuna
caused the streams to
flow;
the clear
waters, delighting
them-
selves there like
women, impart
to it
(the sky)
its
aspect"-
i. e. the clouds
give
the
sky
its
ever-varying
color and
appear-
ance." 8. "
They obey
the
supreme power
of
Indra;
he tarries
among
them which
joyfully spout
forth;
choosing
him for
their
sovereign,
like communities of
men, they
turned
away
with horror from Vrtra." 9. " Men
say
the
companion
of the
heavenly
waters is a
crane,
which roams in their
company;
but the wise men
by
their
penetration
discover in him the
jubilant, hurrying
Indra."
This curious
hymn, although evidently composed
of
frag-
ments,
and in
part very obscure,
yet
affords an excellent idea
of the manner in which a
boldly
imaginative
bard,
from whose
memory
the ancient
importance
of Varuna had not
yet
been
obliterated, sought
to reconcile the dualism and
dispute
for
supremacy
which he found
actually
existent in the
religious
consciousness of his
people,
and to account for and illustrate
most
graphically
the
gradual
subsidence of Varuna and rise of
Indra's
power.
The
argument
is
nearly
as follows.
Agni
is
no
longer willing
to serve Father
Varuna,
who has abdicated
his ancient
throne,
because the honors
formerly paid
him are
now rendered to
Indra;
and
he, bitterly
as he feels the
change,
must likewise
go
over to Indra's
following.
But Indra is not
minded to take
permanently
upon
himself the command be-
stowed
upon
him in the battle
against
the demons. After
overcoming
them in his
capacity
as
general,
after
purifying
the
air and
restoring peace
to the
world,
he
voluntarily
invites
Varuna to resume his
supremacy
in the now re-established
empire.
It is
very unlikely
that the first six
verses,
as
given
in the
text,
were all of the
original hymn;
and it is
quite
certain
that vv. 7-9
have
nothing
to do with the
preceding ones,
and
perhaps
little
enough
connection with each other. An article
by
Roth in the
Zeitschrift
fir vergleichende Sprachforschung,
xxvi. 45
if.,
contains some valuable
suggestions
on the
subject
of these
composite hymns.
Indra and the Maruts.-Indra's most constant
companions
in his
expeditions against
the demons are the
Maruts,
the
Storm-Gods.
He is called in several verses
mnarutvant,
'
acconm-
panied by
the
Maruts,'
marutsakhi,
'
having
the Maruts for his
companions,'
'mmarudgana, 'having
the
troop
of the Maruts
about him;'
and
they
are
styled
indravantah
(x.
128. 2 et
saepp.), indrajyesthah,
'having
Indra as leader'
(vi.
51.
15).
In ii. 29. 3 is found the
compound
indrdmarutah
(vocative).
Sometimes
they merely encourage
him in the
battle,
for the
160
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
mighty god
needs no
assistance;
so in iii. 47. 4: " Drink the
Soma,
0
generous giver,
with the
Marut-troop,
who
encouraged
thee in the
fight
with
Ahi,
in the bitter contest with
Qambara,
and who now with
spirited
acclamations
greet thee,
0 thou
with sorrel steeds." Cf. x. 113. 8
(quoted
on
p.
137);
v. 29.
2;
i. 52. 4, 9,
10;
iii. 32. 3. Also v. 30. 6: " These
friendly
Ma-
ruts
sing praises
unto
thee; they press
Soma for thee." In v.
29. 3
they
are even called his
priests,
of course with reference
to these services which
they
are
supposed
to render him. Ac-
cording
to i. 101. 7
they
instruct him in battle :1 "The
sharp-
witted one
proceeds according
to the instructions of the Ru-
dras"
(i.
e.
Maruts).
Their
number,
if
given
at
all,
is
variously
stated: viii. 85. 3:
"Thrice
sixty Maruts, worthy
of
sacrifice,
followed thee
joy-
fully ;"
i. 133. 6 mentions but
twenty-seven.
Their connec-
tion with Indra is of the closest: i. 100. 5:
"
With the
Rudras,
as with his sons, the bold one
conquers
his enemies in the bat-
tle of the heroes;
may
Indra the
Marut-leader, undertaking
expeditions
with his firm
allies,
be
helpful
to us." In i. 170. 2
they
are called his brothers.
As stated above
(p. 137),
the other
gods, frightened by
the
violence of Vrtra's
resistance, withdraw;
but the Maruts are
thought
bolder,
for Indra is advised to
rely upon
their friend-
ship,
that he
may
win all battles.
Yet indications are not lacking that sometimes the harmoni-
ous relations between them and Indra were disturbed.
Thus,
i. 170. 2 :2 The Maruts
speak: "Why,
0
Indra,
wouldst thou
kill us ? The Maruts are
thy brothers;
remain on
good
terms
with
them;
kill us not in strife ;" i. 171. 6 :3 "Let
thy
rancor
against
the Maruts be stilled." There is a
verse,
viii. 7. 31,
which
perhaps
contains the reason of Indra's
anger against
them :4 "What now? With whom were
ye
on
good terms,
that
ye
had abandoned Indra? Who can count
upon
your
friendship
?" It was either cowardice or
treachery
on the
part
of the
Maruts, then,
which broke the
friendship
between Indra
and his
companions;
even his trustiest followers abandon him
at
times,
when the
fight gets thickest-conduct which Indra
repays
with scorn and derision in the fine
hymn
i.
165,
trans-
lated in the
Siebenzig
Liedern. From Roth's annotations to it
I derive the
following summary. Indra,
who
commonly
sets
1
rudranam eti
pradiga
vicakana.h.
2
kimr na indra
jighanfsasi
bhrataro marfitas tava: t6bhih
kalpasva sa-
dhuya
ma nah samarane vadhih.
3
bhfva marfidbhir
fvayatahel.h.
4
kad dha nunarih
kadhapriyo
yad indram
ajahatana:
k6 vah sakhitva
ohate.
161
E. D.
Perry,
out with the Maruts as his
companions,
starts this time alone.
The Maruts
inquire
' whither ?' Indra answers
evasively,
'
to a
sacrifice.' Thereupon
they
are
quite
ready
to
accompany
him,
but Indra answers
derisively
that
they
were not so
eager
to fol-
low him when he took the field
against
Vrtra-an
accusation
which the Maruts are
powerless
to
repel.
But
proving
their
bravery
and
fidelity
on
many
occasions,
and
making
the fullest
acknowledgments
of Indra's
courage
and
prowess, they finally
reconcile him to themselves.
Wilson's
supposition,1
that these verses contain an allusion to
a
dispute
between
worshippers
of Indra and those of the Ma-
ruts,
rests
upon
too
slight
a basis to be of
importance.
Proba-
bly
the
legend
had its
origin
in the humorous
fancy
of the
poet.
Indra and
Vayu.-Muir,
Sanskrit Texts v.
145,
says: "It
is remarkable that
Vayu
is rarely connected with the Maruts
or deities of the storm." Our
surprise
will also be excited
when we learn that
Vayu, though
invoked in
many passages
together
with
Indra,
is
hardly
ever mentioned as his
companion
in the
fight
with the demons. In
fact,
I have found
only
one
passage
-
and that couched in
very,
general
terms
-
which
points
to such an association of the two: iv. 21. 4 :2
"
(Indra)
who
conquers together
with
Vayu
in the battle for the herds :"
after all, a
very vague
allusion. Yet the connection between
Vayu
and Indra was
very
intimate, as we may gather from the
numerous
hymns
dedicated to their joint
praise,
and from the
fact that
subsequently
the two were
identified,
so that either of
them without distinction is taken to
represent
the middle re-
gion
of air with its divinities.
Perhaps
this
striking pecu-
liarity
would be best
explained by supposing
the Indians to
have made different
personifications
of the
phenomena
of the
winds-incorporating
on the one hand the storm-winds and
gusts
which
accompany
the thunder-storm
in Rudra and the
Maruts,
and on the other
imagining Vayu
either as the wind
in
general
or else as the storm which is
unaccompanied by
thunder and
lightning.
With the latter
conception
the fine
description
of Vata
(who
is
surely
one with
Vayu)
in x. 168
would harmonize
perfectly.
The
subsequent
identification
of
Indra and
Vayu
doubtless
sprang
from a confusion of their
original significance
in
Nature,
when
only
the consciousness
re-
mained that both exercised their influence
chiefly
in the inter-
mediate
region
of air.
The
majority
of
hymns
in their honor consist of
simple
invi-
I
Translation of
Rig-Veda,
vol.
ii., Introd., p. vii.;
and notes on
pp.
145 and
160.
2
y6 vayfina jayati g6matl4u.
162
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
tations to the Soma-feast. The first
draughts
are theirs
by
right
(i.
135.
4);
and
Vayu
even has
precedence
of Indra
(iv.
46.
1).
Both ride
upon
the same chariot
(iv.
47.
3),
and after
swift horses
(vajinivasRi
i. 2.
5):
vii. 90. 5 :1 "The steeds which
think
through
their own
intelligence,
which are
yoked
at
your
very wish,
draw
you;
libations
accompany
your,
the
rulers',
car,
which carries heroes." Both are called
divisprQ,
"skirt-
ing
the
heavens,"
an
adjective applied
also to their car
(i.
23.
2;
iv. 46.
4);
and the latter is called
hiranyavandAtura,
' with
golden
box' (iv. 46.
4),
and
niyutvat,
'
yoked
with many horses'
(i.
135. 4, 7; vii. 91.
6).
The
epithets manojuvd,
'swift as
thought,'
and sahasraksa, '
thousand-eyed,'
are likewise
applied
to them
(i.
23.
3).
As benefactors of mankind
they
are
besought
for
wealth,
children,
and
victory. Thus,
i. 135. 8 :' "Ye drive hither to
the
offering
of the sweet
draught,
to the
Agvattha-tub
in which
lie the
victory-giving (libations); may
they
be for us
victory-
giving;
forthwith the cows
bring
forth and the
grain ripens;
thy
milch
cows,
0
Vayu,
never go
dry; thy
milch cows never
dry
up."
In v. 5 of the same
hymn
we find the two called
vdjadd,
'
givers
of
strength
or
vigor.'
Cf. vii. 90.
6;
91. 2.
Indra and Soma.-The relations between Indra and Soma
are
easy
of
explanation.
The verses in which the
intoxicating
beverage appears personified
utter in
poetical
form the same
thought
as those which mention the
yet
unpersonified
Soma.
Although
all the
gods
have a
right
to the
draught
of the
noble
juice,
the most
precious production
of human
hands,
yet
none
possess
this in such a
degree
as Indra. It is Soma where-
with his mother nourishes him on his natal
day,
and with
which he
strengthens
his
vigor
and
courage
before the
battle;
Soma is
indrasya
ctmd,
'the soul of
Indra,'
and his hrdarh-
sanih, 'giver of
courage'
(ix.
58.
3;
61.
14).
Both Iranians and Indians were
acquainted
with the Soma-
plant,
and the
peculiarly invigorating
and
intoxicating
effects
of its
juice
after
fermentation,
even
previous
to the
separation
of their
languages
(Skt.
soma,
Zd.
haoma);
and they
perceived
in it
something
of
divinity.
As
they
were
engaged
in almost
continual battles with
neighbors
and
strangers,
it is
readily
seen
how natural it was for them not
only
to
put
their
knowledge
of the
plant
to
practical use,
by
having
recourse to a
draught
of Soma before
entering battle,
in order to banish all fear and
'
t6
saty6na
manasa
dtdhyanah
sv6na
yuktasah
kratuna vahanti: in-
dravayi
vIravShah ratharh vam
iganayor
abhi
prksah
sacante.
2
atraha tad vahethe madhva ahutimh
yam
agvattham
upatisthanta
jay-
ivo 'sme te santu
jayavah:
sakami
g&vah
suvate
pacyate yavo
na te
vaya
upa
dasyanti
dhenavo
napa
dasyanti
dhenavah.
163
E. D.
Perry,
instil
courage
into their
hearts,
but also to
ascribe
to the
war-
rior
par
excellence, the
war-god
Indra, the use of the
same
expedient.
The
development
of the
conception
of Soma as a personal
being brought
with it a more
precise
definition of his relations
to
Indra,
and likewise an extension of his
helping activity
into
other fields of Indra's
power
than the war
against
the
demons.
So we find Soma exalted to a
heroic,
nay,
divine
personage;
we find him associated with Indra in his battles
against
all sorts
of
adversaries;
and he even shares in Indra's
cosmogonic
labors. In
brief,
whatever Indra
accomplishes,
Soma
accom-
plishes with him. In
many
passages, notably
in the ninth
Book,
this
glorification
of Soma is carried to the extremest
excess.
I
append
a selection of
passages
to illustrate the different
stages
of
progress
in the
conceptions
of Soma.
Thus,
ii. 11. 10:
"After he had drunk of the
pressed-out
juice,
he
brought
to
naught
the wiles of the
wily
demons." So too x. 112.
5,
and
countless other
passages
where Soma is
simply
the
intoxicating
drink. But in the
following
it is
personified:
iv. 28. 1:
" With
thee,
0
Soma,
for his
ally,
in union with
thee,
did In-
dra then make the streams to flow for mankind"
(cf.
the other
verses of the
hymn,
and i. 176.
5);
vi. 72. 1: "Indra and
Soma,
this
power
of
yours
is
great;
ye
have
performed
the first
of
great
deeds; ye
found the
sun,
ye
found
light,
ye
defeated
all darknesses and enemies." 2.
"
Indra and
Soma,
ye
made the
dawn blaze
up, ye
led out the sun with his
light; ye
have
fastened the
sky
with a
support,
and have
spread
out the
mother earth."
3. "Indra and
Soma,
ye
slay
the
dragon
Vrtra,
who
envelops
the
waters,
the heavens
greet you
with
shouts; ye
let out the floods of the
streams,
the water-floods
spread
themselves
abroad." 4.
"
Indra and
Soma,
ye
did
place
in the raw bodies of the cows the
ripe milk, ye
held fast in
these colored bodies the sweet milk unobstructed"
(i.
e. the
milk which streams unhindered
from the cow's
udder,
without
drying
up).
And ii. 30. 6:
"
Ye take
away strength
from
whomsoever
ye may purpose it, ye
are
encouragers
of the
upright
offerers of
sacrifice;
Indra and
Soma, ye
have
helped
us
already; procure
for us free
scope
in this
present
strait.'
Cf. further
vii.
104,
a
prayer
to Indra and Soma for the chas-
ing
away
of all sorts of demons.
These and other
passages,
according
to which Soma,
when
fully personified
and associated with other
gods, accomplishes
all the acts
usually performed by them,
show
conclusively
that
we have not here to deal with
any original nature-myth,
but
with an
unusually
rich and detailed embellishment of an
orig-
inally very simple thought.
164
Indyai in the
Riq-
Veda.
It was said above that
Indra, beyond
all other
divinities,
was
addicted to
Soma-drinking.
It will be
interesting
to observe
what
expression
the Vedic
poets
gave
to their
conceptions
of
his
faGcultas
bibendi.
Thus,
ix. 99. 3: "We strain the intoxi-
cating
draught,
which is drunk
chiefly
by
Indra." He is
styled
also
dyukso
madasya somyasya
raja,
'
the brilliant
king
of the
intoxicating
Soma'
(vi.
37.
2);
and is thus addressed in x. 167.
1:
"
Thou rulest over the tub of the
pressed-out beverage."
As soon as he was
born,
Indra formed his habit of Soma-drink-
ing
(iii.
32.
9,
10;
vii. 98.
3). According
to iii. 48. 3
(quoted
above,
p. 128),
he seems to have even
preferred
it to his mother's
milk. He concerns himself little about meum and tuum when
his favorite drink is in
question,
but
overpowers
Tvastar, and
drinks
up
his Soma
(iii.
48. 4 and iv. 18.
11).
He is invited to drink like a
thirsty stag
(rfyo
na trsyan:
viii. 4.
10),
like a bullock
(v.
36.
1),
or a
thirsty
buffalo (i. 16.
5);
or as a
very thirsty
bull drinks a fountain
dry (i.
130.
2).
Nay,
he drinks more than a buffalo
(vii.
98.
1).
His
belly
is
compared
to a
pond,
or even to a
sea,
in which there is room
for the most enormous
quantities
of water
(x.
43.
7). Soma,
after he has drunk
it, permeates
all his limbs
(iii.
51.
12;
viii.
17.
5).
Not
only
is he invited to satiate himself with Soma at
men's sacrifices, but this is carried aloft to him
by
a
falcon,
gyena
(i.
80.
2;
93.
6;
iv. 26. 5; vi. 90.
6,
et
saepp.).
Some-
times he
indulges
in niore solid food at his
drinking-bouts:
in
x. 27.
2,
he consumes a roasted
bull;
in vi. 17.
11,
a hundred
of
them;
in v. 29.
7,
three
hundred;
and his thirst then
assumes such
proportions
that he drains three lakes of Soma.
It was however still
greater
on another
occasion,
when he swal-
lowed
thirty
lakes full of
it,
and that too in one
draught (viii.
66.
4).
He cannot wait until it is drawn for him, but
gulps
down cask and faucet and all
(x.
116.
4).
No wonder that
after such
exploits
his Hercules-head is in a somewhat befogged
condition,
as described in the
amusing hymn
x. 119
(Geldner
and
Kaegi);
or that he
staggers
about at the sacrificial
feast,
tottering
like a boat in the water
(ii.
16.
7),
and receives the
honorable title vithuro
astar,
'the
reeling
archer'
(viii.
85.
2).
Indra and
Brhaspati (Brahmanaspati).
-
Indra's union
with
Brahmanaspati,
' the lord of
prayer,'
furnishes an excel-
lent
parallel
or
companion-piece
to his alliance with
Soma,
and
is
similarly explainable:
i. e. not from
any
common features of
original nature-myths,
but as the
product
of conscious delibera-
tion. Indra is
joined
with Soma for a
purely physical,
with
Brahmanaspati
for a
purely
moral reason. Since the latter un-
ion is of no
significance
for Indra's
nature,
I content
myself
with
quoting
a
paragraph
from an
essay by
Roth entitled
"
Brahma
and the
Brahmans,"
in Z. D. M. G.
i.,
which illustrates the
165
22 VOL. XI.
E. D.
Perry,
same
development
of ideas in the
legends concerning
Brah-
manaspati
which we found in the fables relating to Soma.
"
The
request
which occurs oftenest in the
hymns
(of
the
Rig-
Veda),
and is directed to Indra, is the
prayer
that he will
oppose
the machinations of the
cloud-demon,
who threatens to
carry
off the fruitful rains of
heaven,
or holds them
already
imprisoned
in
mountain-caves;
that he will
pour
out the
waters,
fructify
the
earth,
and bestow sustenance
upon
man and beast.
If, as his name denotes, the nature of the
god Brahma.naspati
really expresses
the victorious
power
of devotion,
then we
must find him in this
myth-cyclus
oftener than elsewhere. He
actually appears by
Indra's side in the battle
against
the wicked
one; and in such a manner that to him is attributed a
portion
of the work which in the
majority
of other
hymns
devolves
entirely upon
Indra. And
finally,
in a few rare
passages
it is
he alone who breaks
open
the caves of
Bala,
to
bring
to
light
the hidden treasures of the
fructifying
water: i. e. in the alle-
gorical expression,
the rich milch-cows." Roth then
quotes
ii. 24.
3,
4,
according
to which verses
Brhaspati
alone
opens
the
caves
by
means of brahman,
'prayer,'
just
as Indra does with
the thunderbolt.
The
only
entire
hymn
directed to Indra and
Brhaspati,
the
49th in Book
iv.,
contains
simply
invocations of
very general
nature and invitations to the
sacrifice,
and offers little that is
explanatory
of the relations between the two deities.
They
are
besought
for
wealth, especially
for
horses,
and invited to
get
drunk,
as is their favorite custom-a fine
occupation
for
the "lord of
prayer!"
The verses of vii. 97 are
mostly
directed to one or the other of the two
gods,
but offer
equally
little. In v. 9 we read: "
Help along
our
prayers,
awake in us
wisdom,
make
powerless
our enemies and the
evil-doings
of
our
opponents."
We find them called
conquerors
of human
enemies
in viii.
85,
15:' "Indra with
Brhaspati
for his com-
panion
defeated
the
impious advancing
nations." In i. 18.
4,
Indra
appears
with his
physical
as well as his moral
ally:
"Whatever
mortal
Indra,
Brhaspati,
and Soma
support,
that
hero receives
no hurt."
Indra
and Gandharva.-In
view of the ideas contained
in
x. 139. 4, 6,
I have
preferred
to discuss the relations
between
Indra and Gandharva
at this
point
in
my
essay, although
other
views,
almost diametrically opposed (found
e.
g.
in viii. 1.
11;
66. 5;
ix. 83.
4),
might
induce the belief that
Gandharva
should
be classed with the enemies
of Indra. Yet both
sides
of his character
are
easily explainable
from one and the
same
ground-thought.
1
ViQo idevIr abhy acirantIr brhaspatina yujendrah
sasahe.
166
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
Gandharva is not the
rainbow,
as Roth at first
supposed,
in
which he was followed
by
Grassmann;
but rather the
genius
of the
moon,
as the discussion of him in the Pet.
Dict.
plainly
shows. He dwells in the
sky,
or in the broad
air,
and is
guar-
dian of the
heavenly Soma,
by
which is
signified
as well the
actual Soma, brought into
mystical
connection with the
moon,
as the
heavenly
waters
typified
by
this
figure.
Since now
Gandharva watches over the
Soma,
or
rain,
a twofold
concep-
tion
develops
itself:
either,
as
guardian
of the
waters,
he with-
holds them from
mankind,
and must therefore be
brought
to
terms
by Indra;
or else it is Gandharva who
protects
the
Soma,
or
rain,
from
capture by
the
demons,
and reveals their
hiding-place
to Indra when the latter seeks them. The second
of these
conceptions
is found e.
g.
in x. 139. 4.1 The third
pada
has either one or two
syllables
too
many.
Grassmann
removes
indra.h;
I
prefer
to
reject
asdm, and to read indra
in three
syllables,
as is
frequently necessary.
I would also read
somagandharvarm
as a
compound.
"The
waters,
when
they
had
perceived
the
Soma-Gandharva,
in whose
possession
lies
all
wealth,
flowed out then in the
right
channel
(i.
e. down to
earth);
when
Indra,
hastening toward
them,
discovered them,
then he
perceived
the veil of the sun"
(i.
e. the halo around
the
sun);
v. 6 :' "He
(Gandharva)
found the victorious
(Indra)
in the track of the
streams;
he
opened
the
gates
for those that
were
imprisoned
in the
rocks;
Gandharva revealed their nectar
(i.
e. told Indra their
whereabouts),
and Indra made trial of
the
dragons' powers."
The
opposite conception
finds
expression,
as
already stated,
in viii. 1.
11;
66. 5; ix. 83. 4. Here Gaidharva is
guardian
of the
Somina,
or
rain,
and Indra
compels
him to surrender it.
Thus,
viii. 1. 11 : "(I invoke
Indra)
in order that he
urge
on
the sun's steed and the two
galloping winged
horses of the
wind;
in order that he of hundred-fold courage
may
drive to
Kutsa
Arjuneya;
in order that he
may
surprise
the uncon-
quered
Gandharva;" 66. 5 :4 "Indra
pierced Gandharva
through
in the fathomless
air,
to the
joy
of his
worshippers
;"
1
vigvAvasurh
soma
gandharvam apo
dadrgfi$is
tad rtena
vy
ayan: tad
anvavaid indro rarahain asam
pari suryasya paridhmir
apagyat.
2
sasnim avindac carane nadfnam
apavrnod duro
aqmavrajanam:
pra-
sarh
gandharv6
am.rtani vocad indro diakam
pari janad
ahiinam.
3
yat tudat sura 6taqarh vafiku
vatasya
parnina: vahat
kutsam
arjune-
yaiih
gatakratus tsarad
gandharvam astrtam.
4
abhi
gandharvam
atrnad abudhnesu
rijahsv
a: indro
brahmabhya
id
vrdhe.
167
E. D.
Perry,
ix. 83. 4:'1 "Gandharva
protects
his
(Soma's)
abode;
invisible
he guards the creatures of the
gods;
the holder of the
net
(Indra:
cf. A. V. viii. 8. 5
if.)
catches the
enemy
(Gandharva)
with his
net;
the most
pious
ones achieved the
enjoyment
of
the sweet drink."
Although
this last verse is
susceptible
of
different
explanations,
the
comparison
with the others
quoted
seems to
point
to the
interpretation
here
given.
Indra and
Agni.-The
hymns
to
Agni
in the
Rig-Veda
are
surpassed
in number
only by
those to
Indra;
and no two
divinities are so often associated. Yet the verses which thus
combine them throw
very
little
light
on Indra's nature.
Agni,
as
god
of fire in
general, naturally
manifests himself
in all the different
appearances
of that element-which
being
threefold,
his nature is likewise threefold. He is
god
of the
fiery
element in the
sky,
and in this
quality appears
associated
with
Varuna, particularly
as divider of
day
and
night:
i. e. he
is the sun; as
lightning,
he
presides
over the fire in the atmos-
phere,
and stands at Indra's side in all
exploits
of the latter
which
belong
in this
sphere;
and
finally,
he is
god
of the fire
upon earth, preeminently
of the sacrificial
fire,
and hence is
chosen as the
messenger
to invite and conduct the
gods
to the
sacrifice,
or else to
convey
the
offering
to them on
high.
In these
conceptions
of
Agni's
character
lay
a double reason
for
associating
him with Indra: a
general reason,
for which the
messenger
between men and
gods
exercises his functions often-
est for the most lauded and honored
deity, Indra;
and a more
special one, according
to which
Agni, god
of the
lightning,
the
fiery
element
in the
atmosphere,
which is
indispensable
to In-
dra's
victory
over Vrtra,
naturally
stands as
ally
at Indra's side.
To the one or the other of these views
nearly every conception
of the alliance between Indra and
Agni
may
be traced back.
It is remarkable how
Agni
is
everywhere
subordinated to In-
dra
;2
as in fact the other
gods
lose a
great
part
of their
import-
1gandharv&
ittha
padam asya
raksati
pati
devanaih
janimany
adbhu-
tah:
gTbhniti ripriih
nidhaya nidhSpatih suk.ttama
midhuno bhakiam
aqata.
2
The two verses vii. 6. 1-" I
praise
the deeds of him that is
mighty
as Indra"
-and viii. 63. 10--" Thou Lord similar to Indra"-are
really
no contradiction
of
this statement;
for other verses show
conclusively
that such
glorifications
of
Agni spring
merely
from the
poet's fancy.
In
general,
the Vedic poets
seem to
have regarded
a
comparison
with Indra as the
highest praise possible
to be be-
stowed upon
another
divinity.
Piusan is called indro na sukratuh, vi. 48.
14;
Manyu, vijesakrd
indra
iva, 'victory-giving
like
Indra,'
x. 147. 6. Pedu's
mighty
horse is
carkrtyam
indram
iva, 'glorious
as
Indra,'
i. 119. 10. In x. 173. 2,
the
poet compares
a
king,
in 166. 2
himself,
to Indra. The
Aqvins
and Usas
are
styled
indratamd, generally
rendered 'most like Indra'
(i.
182.
2,
vii. 79.
3); per-
168
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
ance when
they appear
in the
society
of the
mighty thunderer;
Varuna alone can claim
anything
like
equal
rank with
Indra,
and
subsequently
even he endures the
comparison
none too
successfully.
Several
passages
relate that Indra created
Agni:
so e.
g.
ii.
12. 3,' where we have to understand the use of the
lightning
in the battle with the
demons,
in the
atmosphere
between
heaven and earth. The
expression
is then
transferred,
with
mystical intent,
to the birth of
Agni upon
earth: x. 45. 3 :'
" In the sea
(of
air),
in the
waters,
in the udder of the
sky (i.
e.
in the cloud: cf. iii. 1.
9),
did he who is
friendly
to
men,
who
looks
upon
men
(i.
e. Indra: cf.
passages quoted
in Pet. Diet.
s. v. nrmanas),
produce
thee." Grassmann's reference of this
passage
to the
lightning
is
undoubtedly
correct. This seems
to contradict the statements of vi. 59.
2,
as
quoted
in Part
II.,
p.
130 ff. And in fact the two verses are hard to reconcile-
which is the less
wonderful,
as the
conceptions
of
Agni's origin
are in the
highest degree
uncertain and
wavering,
and evi-
dently
formed to accord with the
phenomena
of his
appearance
under
widely
different circumstances.
Agni
as a
power
of
Nature,
and
Agni
as this or that form of
fire,
have
very
differ-
ent
origins.
Agni's character as a
priest
or
messenger
to the
gods
at the
sacrifice
(since
the
offerings
were consumed
by
the
fire)
is
illustrated
by
the
following passages:
v. 5. 3 :' "When hon-
ored,
0
Agni,
bring
hither the brilliant beloved Indra"
(citram
might
also be construed as a
predicate adjective,
in the sense
of '
visible');
iii. 53. 4 :' "As often as we
press
the
Soma, may
Agni
run to thee as
messenger."
Likewise iii. 35. 9:
"
Drink
the
Soma, Indra,
by
means of
Agni's
tongue" (cf.
v.
10).
Agni's tongue
is the
flame,
into which the Soma for Indra is
poured,
and which stretches itself toward the
sky.
So also v.
51.
2,
et
saepp.
The verse viii. 38.
1,
if taken
literally,
would
present
a view not
found,
so far as I
know,
in other
passages
:
"
Be the
priests
of this
sacrifice,
Indra and
Agni,
for
ye
are
victorious in battle and in sacrifice." The
meaning probably
is: Ye are the real
priests;
men
alone,
without
your
help,
have
haps
'most
rapid'
were better
(cf.
above in Part
I.);
since in iv. 43. 3 the
rapidity
of the
Aqvins
is likened to that of Indra. In
fact, the word indratamd may
be
an intentional
pun.
1
y6
aimanor antar
agnimh
jajana.
2
samudr6 tva nrmina
apsv
antar nrcak.a idhe div6
agna
tudhan.
3
Ilit6
agna
a vah6ndraih citram iha
priyam.
4
yada
kada ca sunavama s6mam
agni4
tva dut6
dhanvaty aicha.
6
yajfiisya
hi sthai
rtvija sasni
vajesu
k/irmasu:
indragnI
tasya
bo-
dhatam.
169
1E D.
Perry,
no
power
whatever.
Strictly taken, only Agni
is the
priest.
But we have here doubtless still another instance of
the
exten-
sion of an attribute which
really belongs
to
only
one of a
pair,
so as to
apply
to the other as well. Other well-known
ex-
amples
of this
poet's
license are
pitara
and matara for the two
parents,
dyava
for heaven and
earth,
etc.
The other side of
Agni's
character, according
to which he
appears
as the fire of
lightning, explains
at once his
connection
with Indra in the battle of the thunderstorm,
and the circum-
stance that both are invoked
together
as
general helpers
in
battle, more
especially
in battles
against non-Aryans,
and as
bestowers of
war-booty
and all sorts of riches. The
process
of
development
is here
quite
the same which we discovered in the
case of Indra-Soma, Indra-Brhaspati,
etc.: so soon
as,
for
any
reason, any divinity
is associated with Indra in his battle for
the
rain,
the motive is furnished for
connecting
him with In-
dra in all manifestations of the latter's
activity.
Indra and Agni
occupy
the same
chariot, especially
when
going to sacrifices on earth. Thus, i. 108. 1 :1 "With
your
most
splendid wagon,
Indra and
Agni,
which looks
upon
all crea-
tures, come hither
together
in the
wagon,
and drink of the
pressed
Soma
;"
v. 3:
2
"Ye have united
your friendly persons,
ye
are
yourselves
united,
0
ye Vrtra-slayers;
after seating
yourselves
in
company,
0 Indra and
Agni, pour down,
O
strong
ones,
the
strong
Soma."
In verse 4 of i.
109,
aQvina
are invoked and
besought
to
make the herbs
palatable
for the second
pressing
:' "Ye acvina
(i.
e. 'horse-possessors'),
with
luck-bringing,
skilful
hands,
rinse them
(the herbs)
and
steep
them in water with
mead"(?)
-i. e. that the herbs after
being steeped
in water
may yield
juice
a second
time.
Myriantheus's
exegesis
of this verse
deserves
notice for its
extraordinary absurdity (AQvins, p. 147):
"
That the
lightning
was conceived as a
being
with a horse's
head,
or as a
horse,
is seen from i. 109. 4 and vii. 1.
12,
where
Agni,
the
lightning,
and
Indra,
are called
aQvina,
or
Agni
alone aqvm,
' furnished with horses'
or
'
horse-tamer.'"
But
' horse-guider'
is a
perfectly
satisfactory
translation of the
epithet
used
here;
and
Myriantheus's
conclusion of the
"
being
with a horse's
head" is
extremely
strained and
altogether
unnecessary.
Indra and Agni
are called
aQvina,
not because
they
have
lightning
at their
disposal,
but
simply
because
the
1
ya
indragni
citratamo
ratho vam abhi
vigvani
bhfivanani caste:
t6na
yatarh
sarathamh
tasthivansatha s6masya pibatami sutasya.
2
cakr&the
hi
sadhryafi
nama
bhadrami sadhricina vytrahana
uta sthah:
t1v indragni
sadhrynfica ni4adya v.rnah
s6masya vraani
vrgetham.
8
tav
aqvina
bhadrahasta supan.i
dhavatam madhuna pyiaktim apsfi.
170
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
poets
imagined them as
driving. Besides,
it is not even cer-
tain that Indra and
Agni
are here intended
by aQvind. For
in v. 3 the vrsanah
(the
busy
Soma-pressers)
are mentioned as
laboring
for Indra and
Agni;
and in v. 4 the
epithets
bhadra-
hastd and supadn, and the work
they
are exhorted to under-
take,
suit the
pressers
so well that
only
the dual number
pre-
vents our
referring aQvind
to
them,
since the
press-stones
are
often
compared
to steeds. Thus Grassmann ad loc. If then
a,cvin here
really
refers to Indra and
Agni,
I can
only explain
the verse as follows: The
gods
for whose benefit the sacrifice
is
begun
are
besought
to interfere in the
process
and watch
over the
details,
that no mistake be made.
A few
passages
will suffice to illustrate the
part played by
Agni
in the Vrtra-battle.
Thus,
iii. 12. 6 : "Indra and
Agni, by
one act
ye
shattered all at once the
ninety
demon-ruled forts."
Cf. i. 109.
7,
8
(purarhdara, vajrahast&,
vajrabadh).
In i. 59.
6,
Agni himself is called
slayer
of (ambara.
Further,
viii. 40. 5 :'
"Arrange
the
prayers
after Nabhaka's fashion for Indra and
Agni,
who
opened
the sea
(in
the
air)
with its seven
bottoms,
which was turned mouth
downward."(?)
Cf. also v. 8. In the
following,
Agni's
subordinate
position
is
emphasized:
v. 29. 7 :
"The
friendly Agni
roasted
gladly
three hundred bullocks for
his
friend;
Indra drank the
Soma, pressed by mortals,
in order
to slay Vrtra, three lakes full at once."
Agni
himself
says in
x. 52. 5 :' "I procure for
you,
0
ye gods, immortality
and an
abundance of
heroes,
that I
may present
you
with
freedom;
I
will
put
this
lightning
into Indra's
hands,
and then he will win
all these battles." And as Indra through his
victory
recovers
light as well as
rain,
so we find
Agni
of assistance in this labor
also: vi. 60. 2 :2 "Win back for us
now,
0 Indra and
Agni,
the
cows,
the
light,
the dawns that were led
astray;
thou, 0
Indra,
yokest
for
thyself
the
quarters
of
heaven,
the
light,
and
the
many-colored
dawns;
and
thou,
0
Agni,
the
waters,
the
cows,
as a team ;" iii. 12. 9: "0 India and
Agni, ye
have
by
the battle restored to order the
light-regions
of the
sky."
A further extension of the functions of both
gods
makes of
them demon-killers in
general, exactly
as was the case with
1
indragnI
navatim
puiro dasapatnir adhunutam: sakam 6kena kirmana.
pra
brahmani nabhakavid
indragnibhyam irajyata:
ya
saptfbudhnam
arnavaih
jihmabaram apornutfh.
3
sakha
sakhye apacat
tfyam agnir
asya kritva mahis$ trf
9atani:
trf
sakam indro minu.sah sarafisi sutam
pibad
vrtrahftyaya
s6mam.
4
, vo
yakqy
amrtatviih suvfrarh
yftha vo deva vairivah kirani: a
bahv6r
vajram indrasya dheyam ftheml
vi9vah
prtana
jayati.
5
ta
yodhitam abhi
ga
indra nQnaim
api.h
svar
uoaso
agna Wuhah:
digah
svar uaisa indra citra
ap6
ga agne
yuvase niyfitvan.
171
E. D.
Perry,
Indra alone
(i.
21.
5;
iv. 28.
3),
and
they
are
supposed
to ren-
der assistance
against
human
enemies,
and to bestow
booty
in
war and all sorts of riches
(vi.
60.
4, 5, 6;
59.
9;
v. 86.
4;
iii.
12.
4;
i. 109. 1, 2,
5, 8;
vii. 93.
2;
viii. 40.
4).
The verses v. 2. 8 and x. 32. 6 contain
fragments
of a curi-
ous
fable,
for which I can find no
parallel
in the
Rig-Veda,
unless the 6th verse of v. 2-in which
Agni
is said to be
kept
prisoner
by
the
wicked,
and Atri's
songs
shall free
him-may
be combined with the 8th verse. The
passages
are as follows:
v. 2. 8 :'
"
In
anger
didst thou
depart
from
me,
the law-watcher
of the
gods
revealed it to
me;
Indra
knew,
for he discovered
thee;
instructed
by
him,
0
Agni,
I came hither;" x. 32. 6:'
"The law-watcher of the
gods
revealed to me him who was
hidden and concealed in the waters," etc.
(as
in v. 2.
8).
One
at once thinks of the fable in Book
x., according
to which
Agni, weary
of his unending sacrificial
duties,
takes to
flight,
but is reinstated
by
the gods after Yama has discovered his
hiding-place:
cf. x. 51 and 52.
According
to Taitt. S. ii. 6. 6'
(see
Muir S. T. v.
203),
a fish
betrayed
Agni's
place
of con-
cealment. The fish was
evidently
made the
betrayer
because
the
fugitive
deity
lay
concealed in the waters.
May
not a
similar
conception
have made Indra his discoverer ?
By
"
wa-
ter" we
may,
in the
Veda, generally
understand either or both
of two
things,
the waters of the
atmosphere
and those of the
earth,
which the
poets intentionally
confused time after
time,
for the
purpose
of
imparting
a
mystical
tone to their
hymns,
so that a distinction is often
quite impossible. Accordingly,
when we read that
Agni
hid himself in the
water, by
which
one
poet
meant the terrestrial
waters,
and that a
fish,
as the
animal which dwells in the water and hence is
supposed
to
observe whatever
goes
on
there, betrayed him,
it is
self-explan-
atory
how another
poet,
who
by
"
waters" meant those of the
firmament,
should have related that
Agni
was discovered and
betrayed by Indra;
for Indra was in the
highest degree
con-
cerned about the
heavenly
streams.
According
to
yet
another
version it was Yama who
spied
him
out;
the
change
of names
shows that the
person
of the discoverer was a more or less
arbitrary
invention.
Indra and Visnu.-Visnu
is the
all-quickening, all-preserv-
ing sun-god.
He strides with three
steps
over
earth,
atmos-
phere,
and
heaven;
and where his
highest step
falls the
gods
dwell. He bestows
prosperity
and
fruitfulness;
and in order
that nature
may
subsist in undisturbed
regularity,
he
props up
1
hpnlyimano apa
hi mad
aiyeh pra
me devanarh vratapa
uvaca: indro
vidv&fi anu hi tva
cacakqa
t6nahim
agne inuqita agam.
2
nidhly&amnam apagi1Sham apsu
pri
me
deviinam,
etc.
172
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
firmly
both heaven and earth. As
god
of fruitfulness he is
associated with Tvastar and Pisan.
Yet,
as we have seen
already,
the
orderly progress
of natural life is
constantly
threat-
ened or even arrested
by
evil
spirits,
whom it is
necessary
to
subdue, so that Visnu inmust assume the character and
functions
of a
demon-slayer.
But other deities
perform
a similar office
-Indra and the
Acvins
exert themselves to ensure the eternal
change
of
day
and
night,
and the
regular
flow of rain
upon
earth;
and
naturally
Visnu is often associated with them. He
is oftenest mentioned in connection with
Indra,
the demon-
slayer
in
chief;
and in the same subordinate
position
in which
we have hitherto discovered all the
companions
of the
mighty
thunderer. Visnu offers Indra the Soma, or is sometimes sent
by
Indra into the fight
alone,
in which case the latter
imparts
to him the
requisite
strength
and
courage. Again,
he stands
side
by
side with
Indra,
who bids him withdraw
somewhat,
to
give
free room for
brandishing
the thunderbolt
(iv.
18.
11;
viii. 89. 12:
differently explained
by
Miiller,
R. V.
Transl.,
i. 85. 7, note
2).
How Indra and Visnu
fight
in
company
for the
preservation
of order in the universe will be best seen from a few extracts.
Thus,
Val. 4. 3
(cf.
above, p.
153): "(Indra,)
who receives the
prayers
for himself
alone;
who
boldly
drinks the Soma; for
whom Visnu took his three
steps,
according
to the decrees of
Mitra." In viii. 12. 27 Visnu does this through Indra's
might.
Again,
vi. 20. 2:1
"
To thee the
gods yielded
as it were the
whole dominion over the
sky,
when
thou,
0
impetuous one,
allied with Visnu, didst
slay
the dragon
Vrtra,
who
enveloped
the
waters;"
vii. 99. 4 :2 "Ye
procure
free
scope
for the sacri-
fice,
by
making sun, dawn,
and fire shine
out;
ye
have
brought
to
naught
the wiles of the demon
VrsaTipra,
0
ye
heroes;"
v. 5 :
"
Indra and
Visnu,
ye
have broken
open
the nine
and
ninety firm forts of (?ambara, and have
overwhelmingly
beaten
the hundred and the thousand warriors of the Asura Varcin
all
together."
Visnu uses the same
specific
to
acquire courage
which Indra
employs:
vi. 69. 2: "Indra and
Visnu, ye
who
evoke all
prayers,
ye
two Soma-casks."4 In v. 6
they
are
styled
"a seal' of Soma: cf. also v. 5.
The same extension of functions which we have
already
1
div6 na
tfibhyam
anv indra
satrasuryarh dev6bhir
dhayi vigvam:
ahiih
yid vrtram
ap6 vavrivanisarh hann
.rjlin
vfinuna sacanah.
2
urfih
yajfiya
cakrathur u lokarh
janiyanta stiryam uisam
agnim:
disasya
cid
v:ra9iprasya
maya
jaghnathur
nara
prtanajyesu.
3
indraviinu drfihitah
qambarasya nava
puro navatirh ca
9nathitam:
qatamh varcinah sahasrarh ca sakaih hath6
apraty asurasya viran.
4
Cf. the German Altes
Bierfass, and Gcethe's "Altes
Weinfass"
(Faust).
VOL. XI. 23
173
E. ED.
Perry,
often met
with,
when
demon-slayers
become general protectors
and
givers
of
wealth,
is to be found here also. Indra
and
Visnu are called abhimr tisaha,
'conquerors
of the attackers,'
vi. 69. 4. In i. 155. 2: "The Soma-drinker escapes the
fierce
conflict with
you
mighty ones; ye
are they
who turn
aside
from mortals the aimed arrow of the
bow-stretching
archer."
Cf. vi. 69. 1.
A curious reference is made to Indra and Visnu
in vi. 69. 8,
according to which
they
"divided the thousand-fold
into three
parts."
I can find no
explanation
for
this,
unless
by
the
"thousand-fold" the universe be
signified,
which Indra and
Visnu
might
be said to have divided into three
parts,
i. e.
heaven, atmosphere
and
earth, by restoring
order to the dis-
turbed course of nature.
Another difficult allusion occurs in i. 61. 7.1 Grassmann
translates thus: "As soon as
strengthened by
the
juices
of his
mother,
when he had
gulped
down the
drink,
the noble
food,
he, energetic
and
victorious,
stole the
bright-flamed,
and hit
the boar, shooting
over the rocks." What G-rassmann under-
stands
by
"the
bright-flamed"
he does not
say;
in his diction-
ary
he takes
pacatam
much more
correctly
as
nenter,
'
cooked
food.' The words mdttuh savanesu
sadyo
are,
according
to
him, equivalent
to " while he
yet
subsisted on mother's milk
;"
and visnuh is an
adj.,
'energetic,'
and
referring
to Indra. On
this
point
he
agrees
with
Benfey,
who renders the verse as
follows
(Orient
and
Occident,
i.
583):
"Hardly
had the
strongest
hero
gulped
down the drink and the excellent food
at the
sacrifice,
when he stole from the workman that which
was to be made
glowing,
and smote the
boar, piercing
him
through
with the bolt." In a note
Benfey
adds this remarka-
ble
explanation: "According
to
my
notion the sense is:
Hardly
had Indra refreshed himself
upon
the sacrificial
offering,
when
he stole the thunderbolt made
by
the celestial
workman,
and
smote Vrtra. We receive here a new moment for the
mythi-
cal
conception
of
Indra, by
which he links himself with the
lightning-stealing
Prometheus
(cf.
Kuhn,
Herabkunft
des
Feuers,
p.
17);
pacatam,
Vedic
part.
fut.
pass.:
lit'ly,
'
that is to
be set
boiling,'
i. e. the
thunderbolt,
which must be made
glowing
hot before use." Against this
speak
several considera-
tions. 1. The
syntactical
union of
mdtuh-mahah-pacatam
is
very bold,
on account of the order of words. 2. The accent
of mat'.h is an
obstacle,
since the
word,
if a
genitive
or abla-
tive from mdtar,
'
carpenter,'
would be
necessarily
accented
on
1
asyed
u matiuh savanesu sady6
mah.ah pituim papivan
carv anna:
muayaid
vi?nuh pacatirh sahiyan vidhyad
varahaih tir6 adrim ista.
174
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda. 175
the first
syllable.'
3. The
mneaning
'
that is to be made hot' for
pacatam
is
quite indefensible,
first on account of the form of
the
word,
and
secondly
because
pac
does not mean
simply
'
heat,'
but
specifically
'
cook over the
fire,'
and is used of food
only.
A "cooked" thunderbolt would have rendered Indra
invaluable assistance in the conflict with
Vrtra,
who showed no
vulnerable
parts!
Possibly
viii. 66. 10
may
instruct us how to render
pacatamr.
In this
verse,
~ndra
(i.
e.
indrah)
is
certainly
a
mistake;
tvesi-
tah
(=tva+sisitah)
shows that the vocative indra must
orig-
inally
have stood
here,
which is also indicated
by
the fact
(acknowledged by Grassmann)
that vv. 10 and 11 form a
separate fragment, originally
addressed to Indra. The col-
lector or editor took
exception
to the inconsistent deviation
from sandhi-rules in the case of the voc. indra-a deviation
which was
justified by
the Vedic
usage
of metrical
pronuncia-
tion-and corrected to
indra,
in
thepada-text
indrah. Grass-
mann translates as
though
he had likewise read
indra,
but
makes no mention of it in the niotes. The
meaning
would
then be as follows: "All this the
far-stepping Visnu,
sent out
by thee, brought
back-a hundred
bullocks,
a
porridge
cooked
with
milk,
and a destructive
boar,
O Indra:" odana here
=pacata.
In i. 61.
7,
the words savanesu to
anna, inclusive,
seem to
form a
parenthesis,
and we
mnight
translate as follows: "After
he had
swiftly
and with
joy
drunk the
draught
and
(eaten)
the
acceptable
food at the
Soma-feast, Visnu,
who was
superior
in
strength,
stole from that one's mother the
porridge;
he smote
the
boar,
hurling
the stone
through
him."
Still,
this neither
explains
the verse
completely
nor
interprets
the
mythus.
Un-
fortunately
the
story
does not recur in the
Rig-Veda.
Both
verses lack all connection with the others of their
respective
hymns,
unless
perhaps
in viii. 66 the verses 10 and 11 form
a
strophe.
From these two
passages
alone the
original
form
and
signification
of the
mythus
are
quite unrecognizable.
Indra and Tvastar.-The
Rig-Veda
offers the
following
for
the relations between Indra and Tvastar. 1.
Tvastar,
the
gen-
eral workman and artist
among
the
gods, prepares
the thunder-
bolt for Indra: i. 52. 7 :3' "Tvastar increased the
power
which
resided in
thee,
he
forged
the thunderbolt of
overwhelming
l Pet. Diet. s. v. matar:
"
The reference
might
be to Vrtra's mother."
2
vi9vet
tA vinur abharad urukramas
tvesitah:
gatafim
mahisan kslra-
pakam
odanfiam varahaim indra emusafim.
3
tvasta cit te
yujyamh
vavrdhe
9avas
tataksa
vajram abhibhutyojasam.
E. D.
Perry,
force
;"
vi. 17. 10:'
"Then,
0
mighty one,
did Tvastar
turn
out for thee
swiftly
the
thousand-pointed,
hundred-edged
thunderbolt,
the
eager,
obedient
(thunderbolt),
wherewith,
0
impetuous one,
thou didst crush the
bellowing dragon." Cf.
x. 48.
3;
i. 61. 6. For the doubtful verse i.
61. 7,
see the
preceding
section.
2. Indra
overpowers
Tvastar and drinks
up
his Soma: iv.
18. 3 :' "In Tvastar's house Indra drank from the
vessels the
pressed Soma,
of the value of a hundred
(cattle?) ;."'
iii. 48. 4
:4
"Mighty, rapidly conquering,
of
overpowering might,
Indra
changed
his
person
as he
would;
after as was his wont he had
overcome Tvastar,
he seized the Soina and drank it out of the
vessels."
Myriantheus,
who never abandons the unfortunate belief
that each and
every
fable
concerning
a
god
is
explainable
as a
natural
mythus,
i. e. referable to some event in
nature, explains
this violent
proceeding
in the
following
not less violent man-
ner
(Afvins,
p.
146):
" Tvastar is creator of heaven and earth
and of all creatures, and in his house, as we read, was the
Soma,
which Indra drank after Tvastar had been overcome.
This Soma can not but be identical with madhu, as indeed Soma
is often called madhu
(see
x. 49.
10,
and Kuhn's
Herabkunft
etc.,
p.
155
ff.).
From
this,
and from what was
proved
above
concerning
the
meaning
of
madhu,
the Soma which Indra
drank
in the house of
Tvastar,
creator of all
things,
can
only
be the rain,
which he takes from Tvastar's
dwelling
and sends
down to his
worshippers."
But we can not
spring
so
lightly
over such real difficulties.
Let us observe the two
passages
more
carefully.
Neither has
a word about
sending
the Soma down to the
worshippers:
on
the
contrary,
Indra drinks it
solely
for his own
pleasure.
Moreover,
in the first half of iv. 18. 3 reference is made to
Indra's violence toward his
mother;
and if we allow
any
con-
nection between the two halves of the
verse,
we are constrained
to admit that the similar nature of the actions mentioned
respectively
in both was the reason for their combination
in
afidha tvasta te maha ugra vajraiih
sahasrabhrstim
vavrtac chataqrim:
nikamam
arfmanasaih
y6na
nfvantam ahiih sfm
pinag rjlin.
2
tvastur
grh6
apibat
s6mam indrah
gatadhanyaih
camvroh sutasya.
3
Ludwig
translates as follows
(Die philosoph.
u.
relig. Anschauungen
d. Veda,
p. 31):
"He looks
upon
his
dying
mother: 'I will not refuse to
yield
to him,
I will follow him;' [Indra
now breaks into
Tvastar's house,
to
procure
Soma
for
his dying mother,
and kills Tvastar's
son]
in Tvastar's house Indra drank
Soma
of hundred-fold value,
from the two vessels of
juice."
I confess
my inability
to
comprehend
this.
4
ugras
turasal abhibhityoja yathavaarh
tanvath cakra esah.:
tvata-
ram indro
janusabhibhuyamuiya
s6mam
apibac camtisu.
176
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
one stanza. Now
comparing
iii. 48.
4,
we
perceive
that the
appropriation
of Tvastar's Soma was an act of
pure violence,
as is indicated
by
the occurrence of abhi-bhAa twice. This
accords well with the whole
hymn
iii.
48,
which treats of In-
dra's
extraordinary
fondness for the
Soma,
and his
dependence
upon
it for his
strength,
so that he seizes
upon
it
greedily
the
very
moment after his birth. In
every
verse
except
the
5th,
which consists
merely
of
invocations,
mention is made of his
Soma-drinking,
and no reason exists for
taking
the word soma
in vv. 1-3 in
any
but the usual sense:
why
then all at once in
v. 5 in the
signification
of "rain ?"
Similarly
iv.
18,
as far as
its
unity extends,
consists
largely
of references to Indra's
violent and
headstrong
nature. For this reason doubtless the
collectors
placed
the 3rd verse
among
the
others, well-knowing
that no deed of
especial
friendliness to mankind was commem-
orated
by
it.
Myriantheus's
theory
moreover involves him in a contradic-
tion. What has Tvastar to do with the rain ? If Indra robs
him of the
waters,
to bestow them
upon mankind,
then Tvastar
must have detained them
by
force,
which would make him an
enemy
of
gods
and men-a
conception
of his nature
utterly
at
variance with that otherwise entertained. For Tvastar fashions
the thunderbolt for
Indra,
that he
may
conquer
the rain-steal-
ing demons. It is
undoubtedly
true that madhu often
signifies
the sweet
Soma,
and is often
metaphorically
transferred to the
Tain;
but in iii. 48. 4 madhut does not
occur,
and we have no
right
to
explain
soma there of the rain.
Besides,
the verse
x. 49.
10,
which
Myriantheus quotes
to sustain his
position,
proves nothing
for
him,
since mradhu there refers not to Soma
or the rain at
all,
but to
plain earthly
cow's milk. Indra is
boasting
of his own deeds.
Among
them was this:
"
I
put
into the cows the white
milk,
which not even Tvastar
put
into
them;
into the udders and bodies of the cows the
precious,
sweet,
delicious
milk,
for
mixing'
the Soma."
3. Indra causes the death of Tvastar's son
Vi;varfpa.
This
has been discussed in the section
"
Indra and Trita."
Indra and the .RbAus.-The Rbhus bear
nearly
the same
relation as Tvastar to
Indra, being engaged
as skilful artisans
on his behalf. In most cases no distinction is made between
the
three, Rbhuksan,
Vaja,
and Vibhvan. But iv. 33. 9
gives
a more detailed account:
"Vaja
acted as artisan for
(all)
the
gods,
Rbhuksan for Indra, Vibhvan for Varuna."
They
build
Indra's chariot and fashion his steeds: i. 111. 1:
"
They,
work-
1
diram,
infin. from a + f-ar=a- + 9ri: cf. viii. 6. 19.
2
taksan ratharh suvrtamh
vidmanapasas
takoan
hari indravaha
v.ran-
vasl.
177
E. D.
Perry,
ing with
intelligence,
built for Indra the well-wheeled
chariot,
they
fashioned the steeds which
pull
Indra and
bring
with
them
great
riches." The same characteristic of care in their
work is
emphasized
in i. 20. 2:1 "Those who with
right
under-
standing created for Indra the steeds which harness themselves
at the
word,
received for their exertions a sacrifice"-i. e. they
were deemed
worthy
of divine
honors;
before
this,
so the
story runs, they
had not been considered as actual divinities.
We read in v. 31. 4:2 ", The Anus
prepared
the chariot for
thy
steed."
Anu,
an
appellation
of a
non-Aryan
race,3
seems to
indicate that the Rbhus were
especially
honored
by
this
people,
or that the Anlus had
developed
unusual skill in
wagon-
building.4
These relations between Indra and his artificers were the basis
of further connections. In iv. 35. 7 we read: "O guider of
sorrel
steeds,
thou hast drunk
(alone)
in the
early morning,
and
the
midday pressing belonged
likewise to thee
alone;
drink
now
(i.
e. at
evening)
with the
wealth-bestowing Rbhus,
with
whom thou hast entered into
friendship,
by
reason of their
skill." Cf. iii. 52. 6. Indra himself is
styled
.rthuksan in i.
111.
4;
vii. 37.
4;
x. 74.
5;
and in iv. 37. 5 Rbhu's strength
is
compared
to Indra's.
Indra as
Chief
of
the Vasus.-The character of the Vasus
is so
vague,
so little
developed
and
individualized,
that we
shall
hardly
discover
any
internal reason for their union with
Indra as their chief. Certain
passages
seem to indicate that
the
gods
were divided into three
classes, Adityas, Rudras,
and
Vasus;
so e.
g.
ii. 31. 1:
"Help
our chariot, 0 Mitra and
Varuna, joined with the
Adityas,
the
Rudras,
the Vasus." In
x. 48. 11 Indra
says
of himself: " I break not the laws of the
gods,
of the
Adityas,
the
Vasus,
the Rudras." And x. 66. 3:
"May
Indra with the Vasus
guard
our
dwelling,
Aditi with
the
Adityas
afford us
protection,
the
god
Rudra with the
Rudras show us
mercy,
and Tvastar with the
goddesses help
us
to
prosperity."
I know of but one verse which
justifies any
conclusion as to
the real nature of the Vasus: vii. 47. 2 :5 "Ye
waters, may
the
son of the waters
(Agni)
protect your
sweet
waves,
with which
Indra
together
with the Vasus refreshes himself-these
(waves)
1
ya indraya vacoyija tatakoir
manasa hari:
9amibhir yajfinam agata.
2
anavas te ratham agvrya
taksan.
3
So
Roth,
Pet. Diet. s.
v.; Zimmer,
Altind.
Leben, p. 125,
considers them
Aryans.
4
Perhaps
both. The word dnu is not
wholly clear,
and
perhaps
in this
passage
is used
quite appellatively
of the Rbhu.
5
tam irmim
apo
madhumattamarh vo
'pai napad
avatv
aguh6ma: yas-
minn indro vasubhir
madiyate
tam
agyama
devayinto
vo
adya.
178
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
may
we receive
to-day
from
you."
We
might
suppose
from
this that the Vasus were
imagined
to have
played
a
part
in the
recapture
of the
waters;
yet
other indications of such anl idea
are lacking.
Perhaps
the connection between them and Indra
is but the
product
of later
schematizing:
as Varuna was
placed
at the head of the
Adityas,
and Rudra over the
Rudras,
so
also,
in lack of a chief for the
Vasus,
the most
prominent among
the
remaining
divinities was chosen.
VTasupati,
used often of
Indra,
may
signify
either 'Lord of the Vasus' or 'Lord of
Riches'-in most cases doubtless the
latter;
and
perhaps
the
name,
at first used in the latter
sense, gave
rise
by
its
very
ambiguity
to the idea that Indra stood in near relations to the
Vasus.
Indra's battles with human enemies.-It was so natural for
Indra,
the
mighty
warrior of the
atmosphere,
the
doughty
con-
queror
of
demons,
the
fighter par
excellence and ideal of a war-
like hero
among
the
gods,
to advance to the
position
of the
war-god,
that the mere
quotation
of several
significant passages
will render
unnecessary any
more detailed comments. The
verses which I shall here adduce
might
be classified with
equal
right
with those which
yield
information
concerning
Indra's
relations with his
worshippers;
but I have
preferred
to intro-
duce them
here,
that we
may
have the
portrait
of Indra as a
warrior
complete
before our
eyes,
ere
turning
to the results of
his
battles,
in which he
appears
as a
cosmogonic
power,
a
god
of
benevolence,
etc.
The most
general conceptions
offer themselves in such
pas-
sages
as ii. 30. 10:' "
Together
with our warlike
heroes,
0
hero,
perform
what deeds thou hast to
perform; long
have
(the
enemies)
been
puffed
up;
smite them and
bring
us their
pos-
sessions
;"
iv. 16. 17 : "In the moment when the
sharp
weap-
ons of men are
flying about,
when the dreadful shock
occurs,
then,
0 faithful
hero,
then be thou
protector
of our bodies."
Cf. also the other verses of the same
hymn,
and vii. 31. 3, 6.
But Indra enters into
yet
closer alliance with
mankind-he
becomes,
like other
gods, especially
Agni
and the
A~vins,
the
especial guardian
of the
Aryan
races,
who
regard
him as their
exclusive national
property,
and their
champion against
the
aboriginal
inhabitants of the Indian
country
which
they
over-
run. These
aborigines
seem often to have been viewed rather
as devils than as men;
they
are styled
dasyu and dctsa
(see
Zimmer,
p.
109
ff.).
Muir, S. T. v.
113,
has collected the
1asmAkebhih satvabhih qura
9uirir vIrya krdhi
yani
te
kartvani:
jy6g
abhivann
anudhQpit3so hatvf tesam a bhara no vasuni.
2
tigmi yad antar aainih
patati k/ismifi cic chura muhuk6
jnananm:
ghorA
yid
arya
samrtir
bhavaty
adha sma nas tanv6 bodhi
gopaih.
179
E. D.
Perry,
verses most
significant
for this side of Indra's character.
Thus,
i. 103. 3 :1
"Bearing
the thunderbolt
(?
thus
Say.),
and confi-
dent in his
strength,
he strode on
ahead, breaking
down the
hostile
(das.h,
fr. ddsa,
'
demoniac')
forts;
0 thunderbolt-
bearer,
hurl
thy
weapon
with skill
against
the
Dasyu,
augment
the
strength
and
glory
of the
Aryans,
0 Indra." Cf.
i. 130. 8;
iv. 26.
2;
vi. 18.
3;
viii. 14.
15;
24.
27;
x. 49. 2. In the fol-
lowing
verse Indra's assistance is
very significantly
alluded to:
i. 131. 5 :'
"They praised
this
thy
deed of
valor,
0
giant,
that
thou in
thy
drunkenness didst
help
the
suppliants,
didst
help
those who
sought
after alliance with
thee;
for them thou didst
make
(i.
e. didst
inspire
them
with)
a
battle-song,
to their
victory
in the
battle; they
that were on the march
gained
one
stream after another"
(sanisr.nata, intens., expressing
a
repeti-
tion of the
action).
The verse is of
peculiar interest,
in that it mentions the
assistance lent
by
Indra to the
Aryans during
their
wanderings
through
the
Penjab
toward the south and
east,
and the
gradual
occupation
of the
peninsula.
The
9ravasyantah
are those
engaged in the
migration.'
The Vedic Indians led a life half
nomadic,
half
settled,
and the older
parts
of the Veda date
from the time of their slow
progress
to and across the Indus-
valley,
and into the interior of Hindustan.
Jealousy
and
enmity
between
neighboring
tribes of the same
race was a
very
ancient trait of
Indo-European character,
which
in
many
instances has remained undiminished to the
present
day.
The Greeks
presented,
in
spite
of their close relation-
ship,
an
example
of the most constant
quarreling;
and in later
times Germanic tribes offer the same
spectacle.
That the
Indians were not
only
not free from such a
"particularism,"
but even infected with it to the
greatest extent,
is evident from
the
post-Vedic history
of the Indian
peninsula,
where no
unity
of Indian rule ever
grew up,
the land
being split up
after the
fashion of
Germany
and
Italy
into countless little
sovereignties
and duodecimo
principalities.
Tribe
fought against tribe,
clan
against
clan, community against community;
and in all such
contests each
party sought
to
gain
Indra's
help
for
itself,
and
was at
great pains
to allure the
god by
enticing promises
from
an alliance with others to their own. See
particularly
the
' sf
jatibharma 9raddadhana
6jah puro
vibhindann acarad vi daslIh:
vidvan vajrin
dasyave
hetim
asyaryaih
saho
vardhaya dyumnam
indra.
2
ad it te
asya viryasya
carkiran
made*u vr.ann uQijo yad
avitha
sa-
khlyat6
yad
avitha: cakartha karfm
ebhyah p.rtanasu pravantave;
t6
anyam-anyatih
nadyarh sani4nata qravasylntah saniqnata.
3
This
passage speaks strongly against
Grassmann's
explanation
of
~ravasy:
see his Dict.
180
In dra in the
Rig-
Veda'. 181
hymn
iv. 24. I
quote
some
passages
in illustration: iv. 30. 18
(Geldner
and
Kaegi):
"
Thou didst smite the
Aryans
from the
Sarayu,
Arna and
Citraratha,
both in one
day ;"
vi. 22. 10 :1
"Bring
hither to
us,
0
Indra,
that we
may
conquer
our
enemies,
that
great
never-ceasing
assistance, whereby,
0 thun-
derer,
thou didst
put
to
flight
barbarian and
Aryan
enemies
and the
neighboring
clans." Cf. vi. 33.
3;
46.
8;
viii. 52. 7.
We have in the different allusions to Kutsa and his relations
with Indra a most instructive
example
of these
quarrels.
Kutsa
Arjuneya,
a celebrated rsi of ancient
times,
stood on
terms of the closest
intimacy
with Indra.
They
ride
upon
the
same chariot
(vi.
20.
5),
with the steeds of the wind
(i.
174.
5;
175.
4);
and Indra kills the demon
Qusna
as an
especial
mark
of favor to Kutsa, and steals,
again
for him, one wheel from
the sun's chariot
(i.
175.
4;
iv. 30.
4);
or,
as v. 29. 4 relates
more
circumstantially,
takes
away
one wheel
indeed,
but leaves
the other in
place,
that the sun's
progress
may
not be
altogether
arrested.
By
far the
greater
number of
passages
exhibit this
view. But in others we discover a
conception exactly opposed
to this.
Thus,
i. 53. 10:
"Thou,
0
Indra,
didst
give Kutsa,
Atithigva,
and
Ayu
into the hand of the
great young king
(Su?ravas);"
and
similarly
Indra deserts him
according
to
ii. 14.
7;
iv. 26.
1;
vi. 18.
3;
and even kills him
(Val.
5.
2).
The verse x. 38. 5 contains a
curiously
worded
prayer:
" Break
loose from
Kutsa,
and come
hither;
why
sits one of
thy great-
ness as
though
bound fast
by
the testicles ?"' In like manner
Indra,
who
usually
takes sides with the
(non-Aryan?)
heroes
Turvaga
and
Yadu,
is in vii. 19. 8 entreated to kill them.
Such differences are
easily explained,
when we consider how
many
scores of authors have left memorials of themselves in
the
Veda,
from the fact of continual
petty
warfare between
tribes of kindred
race,
who nevertheless
presented upon
occa-
sion a solid front to the alien foe.
Indra and Parvata.-On account of the
prayers
which
they contain,
I introduce the
following
verses here. Parvata
is doubtless, as Roth
supposes,
a
genius
of the mountains, and
at the same time ruler of the clouds. Further than
this,
his
character can
hardly
be determined with
certainty. Thus,
i. 122. 3 :
"May
the
wanderer,
the
early battler,
make us
rejoice; may
the
wind,
which
accompanies
the
waters,
make us
rejoice;
Indra and
Parvata,
bestow
presents
upon
us;
may
all
a
sarhyatam indra nah svastfii
gatruttiryaya brhatfm
Amydhram:
yyay
disany
aryani vrtra karo
vajrint
sutikai nahuiani.
Doubtless a
proverbial expression.
3
mamattu nah
parijmia vasarh/ mamittu vAto apahi vra.vain:
9i9Iltam
indraparvata
yuvarii
nas tan no
viqve varivasyantu devai.
VOL. XI. 24
E. D.
Perry,
the
gods grant
us free room
;"
i. 132. 6 :' "As
champions,
0
Indra and
Parvata,
thrust aside
every
one that would
conquer
us,
thrust him aside with the thunderbolt
;"
iii. 53. 1 :2
"
Indra
and
Parvata, bring
hither in the
lofty wagon
the
wished-for,
the
hero-strengthening
refreshment; graciously accept
at the
sacrifice the
proffered
gifts; delight yourselves
with the
hymns,
intoxicating yourselves
with the
beverage."
Indra's
Cosmogonic
Labors.-In the
passages
of the Rig-
Veda which have now to
engage
our
attention,
Indra's
activity
reaches far
beyond
his
original sphere
in nature. He rises
from a
god
who manifests himself in the thunderstorm to the
level of a creator and
preserver
of the
universe,
to a cosmo-
gonic power
whose
activity
makes that of the other
deities,
at
least in this
field,
seem almost
superfluous.
Yet the
develop-
ment of ideas which here
presents
itself is
perfectly logical
and
intelligible.
Indra's
cosmogonic
activity
is after all
nothing
but an ideal
generalization
of his labors in his own
province
of
nature. The intermediate
steps
in the
development
of these
ideas I
suppose
to have been as follows:
1. Indra restores to the various
regions
of the
universe,
which have been shaken and confused
by
the battle of the
elements,
their
pristine
order.
2. He who does this must in the first
place
have
arranged
and fixed the
spaces
of the universe.
3. Their
arranger
must also have been their creator.
Such seem to have been the successive
stages
of
thought.
In the case of
particular
verses it is often
difficult,
if not
impos-
sible,
to
say
upon
what
step
of
development
the ideas contained
in them
stand;
when taken in their
totality, however, they
indicate with tolerable
certainty
such a
gradation.
1. After the battle of the
elements,
Indra restores order to
the universe. Thus, i. 56. 5 :' "When thou hadst fastened the
atmosphere
above the unshakable earth in the frame of the
sky,
by
thy power;
when
thou,
0
Indra,
in
intoxication,
in
impatient
excitement,
hadst slain the
enemy,
then didst thou
let loose the water-floods"
(cf.
v.
6);
x. 113. 4 : "As soon as he
was
born,
the hero crowded his enemies
apart;
he looked about
1
yuviam
tam
indraparvata puroyfidha y6
nah
prtanyad apa
taiih-tam
id
dhatait vajrena tilh-tam
id dhatam.
2
indraparvata
brhata rathena vamir isa a vahataih suvfrah: vlt&ah
havyany
adhvaresu deva vardhethamx
girbhir ilaya
madanta.
3
vi
yat
tir6 dharunam
acyutarh raj6 'tiqthipo
diva atasu barhanai:
svaLrmilhe yan
mada indra
hiarsyahan
vrtrarh nir
apam dubjo
arnavam.
4
jajfian
eva
vy
abadhata sprdhah prapa9yad
vir6 abhi
paufisyaih
ranam: avr9cad adrim ava
sasyadah. sijad
astabhnan nakaih
svapasyaya
prthfim.
182
Indra in the
Rig-
Ved.18
him for heroic deeds and for battle
(cf.
viii. 45.
4;
66.
1);
he
broke
open
the
rock,
he
poured
out the
water-floods,
he fast-
ened with skill the broad heaven." Cf. i. 62.
5;
vi. 30. 3;
viii. 78.
5;
x. 111. 5.
2. Indra fixes the universe and maintains order in
general.
Thus,
ii. 12. 2:
"
Who fastened the
tottering earth,
who bade
the
quivering
mountains stand
fast,
who
gave
the air its boun-
daries and the heaven its
supports-that,
0
ye nations,
is
India
;"
ii. 13. 10 :1 "Thou hast fastened the six directions
(i.
e. the four cardinal
points
of the
compass,
and toward the
zenith and
nadir),
five
(of which)
are visible
(i.
e. the first five:
the sixth is
invisible, owing
to the intervention of the
earth);
and all this hast thou
encompassed
;"
viii. 15. 2 :2 " The
great
god
whose
mighty power, by
reason of his
strength,
held fast
both
worlds,
the
mountains,
the
fields,
the
waters,
the
light ;"
x. 89. 4 :' "He who
by
his
power
fastened
apart
Heaven and
Earth,
as
(one fastens)
wheels with an axle :" cf. further v. 1
of the same
hymn,
and i. 62.7; 121.
2;
ii. 15.
2;
17.
5;
iii.
30.
9;
v. 29.
4;
vi. 17.
7;
viii. 14. 9.
Especially important
in
this connection is Val. 3. 8 :4 "After
he,
who
through
his
power
won the water-skin
(i.
e. the
cloud) by
crushing
Qusna
with
blows,
had fastened the
sky firmly,
spreading
it
out,
then first
was born the earth-dweller
(i.
e.
man)."
The
step
from this
stage
of
developiment
in the
conception
of Indra's
cosmogonic
activity
to the
next,
i. e. to the belief
that he
actually
created all that he afterward restored to order
and
preserved,
was
very
small and
easy.
Just here it is often
extremely
hard to decide in which
group
particular passages
belong;
hence I will
quote
only very
plain
ones.
3. Indra
actually
created the world: x. 54. 3 :' "Since thou
didst create out of thine own
person
father and mother
(i.
e.
Heaven and
Earth)
at once." In viii. 36.
4,
Indra is called
janita
divo
janita
prthivydh,
'
creator of
Heaven,
creator of
earth.'
In a
perfectly analogous
manner was
developed
the
concep-
tion of his relations to the sun and the other
heavenly
bodies.
Indra frees the sun from the veil of darkness which the thun-
derstorm
spreads
around
it,
and makes it revolve in
freedom;
1
sal astabhna
vistirah pfanca
samdrqah.
pari par6
abhavah
sasy
uk-
thyah.
2
yasya
dvibarhaso brhat sfho dadhara r6dasi:
girfiir
ajrda
apiah svar
vrsatvana.
3
y6
akseneva
cakriya
qacibhir visvak tastambha
prthivim utf
dyam.
4
pra
y6
nanakse
abhy
6jasa
krivim vadhaih qfiusnar
nighosayan:
yad6d
astambhit
prathayann
amumh divam ad
ij janista
parthivah.
5
yan
mataramh ca
pitarami
ca sakam
ajanayathas
tanvah
svaIyah.
183
E. D.
Perry,
he directs its course in
general,
and
guides
its
daily journey
about the earth;
finally
he created it to
begin
with.
1. Indra frees the obscured
sun,
and the other celestial
lights
as well: v. 40. 6 :1 "When
thou,
0 Indra,
hadst
brought
to
naught
the enchantments of
Svarbhanu,
which were
going
on
in the
sky,
then did
Atri, by
the fourth
prayer,2 again
recover
the
sun,
which was
enveloped
in
impious
darkness
;"
i. 51. 4 :
"When
thou,
0
Indra,
hadst by
thy might
slain the
dragon
Vrtra,
thou didst make the sun climb the
sky,
that it
might
become visible." Cf. iv. 30. 6; vi. 17.
5;
ii. 13.
5;
also sev-
eral of the
passages
cited in the section
treating
of Vrtra; and
vi. 72. 1, addressed to Indra and Soma
(p. 164).
2. Indra
regulates
in
general
the courses of the sun and the
other celestial bodies: iv. 16. 4 :4 "When the sun became
visible,
beautiful to behold with its
rays,
when
they (the
rays)
streamed out a
great light
in the
early morning ;5
then did the
hero in his
graciousness
turn the dim confused
gloom
into
sight
for the heroes"
(i.
e. made it
possible
for men to
see);
iii. 30. 13 :6 "At the
departure
of
night
men see with
joy
the
great many-colored appearance
of the
brightening
dawn;
when
she
(the
dawn) approaches
in
glory,
all know that Indra's
many
works are well done." Cf. vi. 30. 2; iii. 30. 12 :' "The sun
mistakes not the
appointed
courses which from
day
to
day
are
marked out for him
by
the driver of sorrel steeds; when he
has run
through
his
journey,
he halts with his
horses;
and
that is his
(i.
e.
Indra's) doing ;"
v. 31. 11 :8
"
He
brought
forward
again
the
wagon
of the
sun,
which in the darkness had
run backward"
(i.
e. he made the
sun,
which
during
the
night
had returned from west to
east,
rise
again
in the
east);
i. 102. 2 :'
"Sun and moon
go by
for us in
turn,
0
Indra,
that we
may
1
svarbhanor adha
yad
indra
maya
av6 div6 vartamana avahan:
gu-
lhamh
suryamh tamasApavratena turfyena
brahmanavindad atrih.
2
Perhaps:
not until the fourth
prayer
had been
said;
i. e. after
long
be-
seeching.
3
vrtrah
yad
indra 9avasavadhir ahim ad it
sfuryash divy arohayo
dr9e.
4
svar
yad
vedi sudrqikam arkair mfhi
jy6ti
rurucur
yfd
dha vastoh:
andha tamanfsi dfudhita vicak.e nrbhyaq
cak5ra
nftamo
abhita.u.
5
I follow Grassmann's rendering;
the lack of accent on rurucus
is, however,
then irregular.
6
didrk.anta uaso
yamann
akt6r
vivasvatya
mahi citram anikam:
viqve
jananti
mahina
yad igad indrasya
karma sukrta puritni.
7
digah suryo
na minati
pradi4ta
div6-dive
hiryaqvaprasutalh:
sa
yad
anal kdhvana ad id aqvair
vim6canarh krnute
tat tv
asya.
8
suraq cid ratham
paritakmyayam
purvarh
karad
fparam j!Qjuvafisam.
9
asme suryacandramAsabhicAk~e
graddh6
kam indra carato vitarturmm.
184
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
see,
and
may
put
our trust in
thee;"
x. 138. 6 :' "Thou hast
determined the rules for the moons in the
sky;
the father
(Heaven)
bears a disk niarked off
by
thee." Cf. also i. 121.
13;
iv. 28.
2;
vi. 72.
2;
x. 171. 4.
Possibly
the
Pedu-myth belongs
in this connection. Pedu
receives from the
Agvins
a white
horse,
which in i. 118. 9 is
called
indraj?ta,
'driven on
by
Indra.' If Pedu be
really
the
sun,
as
Myriantheus
maintains
(AQvins,
p.
102
ff.),
this is
then a further indication of Indra's labors as a director of the
sun's course.
3. Indra
actually
created the sun and the
heavenly lights:
viii. 12. 30:' "When thou didst
place
in the
sky
the
sun,
a
great light,
then,"
etc.;
87. 2 :3
"Thou,
0
Indra,
art
almighty,
thou madest the sun to
shine;
thou art
all-active,
all-divine,
thou art great ;" ii. 12. 7: "Who created the sun and the
dawn." Cf. iii. 31. 15; 32. 8; vi. 17. 5
;
30. 5; 39. 3, 4.
The
process by
which Indra is made the creator of
plants,
trees,
etc.,
is much shorter; for
vegetable growths
of all sorts
depend
for their sustenance
upon
the bestower of water and
light.
Thus,
ii. 13. 64 :
"Thou,
who
givest
nourishment and
riches,
who didst milk from the moist
(rain
and
dew)
the
dry
and sweet"
(i.
e.
plants, particularly
the
Soma):
v. 7 :6
"
Thou
who didst scatter over the fields the blossoms and fruits accord-
ing
to the law
(of
nature
?),
who didst also distribute the
brooks
;"
iii. 34. 10 :6
"
Indra bestowed
plants
and
days,
be-
stowed trees and the air." Cf. x. 138. 2.
In
correspondence
with all these various
ideas,
we find in
the Veda
many passages
which
actually
call Indra creator and
director of the entire universe. Some of these I
quote here,
while others I reserve for the section
treating
of Indra's
great-
ness,
in Part IV. In ii. 30. 1' we find Indra called "The
divine ruler who established order."
Further,
x. 54. 5:8
"Thou
art,
0
Indra,
the
arranger
and the
giver ;"
iv. 30. 22:
"Thou who didst
fatally
wound
Vrtra,
thou who directest the
' masah vidhanam adadha adhi
dyavi
tvaya
vibhinnam bharati
pra-
dhim
pita.
2
yad/ stiryam
amfirh divi
9ukrarh jyotir adharayah:
ad it etc.
3
tvim indrabhibhfir asi tvkah
sturyam arocayah:
vigvakarma
viQva-
devo mahif asi.
4
y6
bh6janarh
ca
dayase
ca vardhanam ardrad a qiuskam madhumad
dud6hitha.
5
yah
pupi4ni9
ca
prasvaq
ca dharmanadhi dane
vy avinir
idharayah.
6
indra 6sadhir asanod Ahani
vanaspatIfir
asanod antariksam.
7
vtarh devah krnvant savita.
8
tvam
jfinat
tvim indrasi data.
185
E. D.
Perry,
whole world, thou art the
shepherd
of all
;"
i. 52. 14 :1 "Thou
whose
greatness
not Heaven and
Earth,
whose ends not the
streams of the
atmosphere
reached,
when thou in
thy
intoxica-
tion didst battle with the rain-hinderer-thou alone didst create
all other
things
in turn ;" viii. 85. 6 :2 "Let us
praise
(Indra),
who created all these
creatures,
which are under him."
Conceptions
of a
deity
could
hardly
be more exalted. Such
hyperbolical
thoughts
as these led earlier scholars to consider
Indra as
originally
the
supreme god
of the Vedic
pantheon.
I
trust the
foregoing
may
have shown the erroneousness of this
view.
Indra's Benevolence, and his relations with his
Worship-
pers.-The
consideration of the different fields in which Indra
displays
his
potent energy
will have made
unnecessary
a
detailed
explanation
of the
prayers
addressed to him. It is
evident that the
god
of the
thunderstorm,
who
conquers
the
stealers of rain and
light,
the
mightiest
of all
warriors,
is
invoked that he
may grant
water and
light,
may
banish all
demons,
and extend
protection
in the
struggle
with aliens and
opponents
of
Aryan
blood. But from the
conception
of the
heroic deeds which he
performs,
of his bounteousness in be-
stowing rain, light,
and active assistance
upon
his
devotees,
arose the idea that he
granted
wealth and
prosperity
in all their
varieties;
and in this sense many
prayers
are directed to him.
By
"wealth" the Indian of Vedic times understood before
all else abundance of cattle for his
bodily sustenance,
and of
children-i. e. a
large family
which should be able to defend
itself
against
hostile
aggression-and
a safe estate which would
easily
support
its owners. It is but a
very
natural
consequence
of the desire for children which
prompts
the
poet
in his naivete
to ask for women. A few verses will suffice for illustration of
these
points. Thus,
iv. 32. 17: "We beseech Indra for a
thousand
yoke
of
horses,
for a thousand measures of Soma."
18. "We shake down from thee a hundred thousand
cows;
may thy gifts
come unto us." 19.
"
Ten
jars
of
gold
have we
received from
thee;
thou art a rich
giver,
0
slayer
of Vrtra."
20. "Thou abundant
giver, give
an
abundance; bring
hither
for us not a little, but much;
certainly
thou wilt
give
abund-
ance,
0 Indra." 21.
"
For thou art
everywhere
known as an
abundant
giver,
0
hero, Vrtra-slayer;
let us share in
thy gifts."
Malthusian doctrines had not
begun
to be
promulgated
in
Vedic times: vi. 18. 6: " In the
acquisition
of children and
1
na
yasya dy[vAp.rthivt
anu
vyaco
na sindhavo
rajaso
antam
anaqfih.:
n6ta svavrt.im made
asya yudhyata
6ko
anyac
cakIre
vi9vam
anuaik.
2
tam u stavama ya
ima
jajana viqva jatany ivariny
asmat.
186
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
grand-children
one must invoke the
thunderer;"
19. 7:1
"When
thou,
0
Indra,
hast a
right vigorous drunkenness,
that
gives victory
in
battle, bring
it
hither,
that we
may by
its
means consider ourselves victorious in our
struggles for children
and
grand-children;"
iv. 17. 6: " When
wishing women,
we
draw from the
woman-giver,
as from a well with a
pitcher."
Verse 13 of the same
hymn
exhibits Indra as the
deity
who
renders assistance to men in the search for
dwelling-places
and
in their settlements.
The value of cattle for an Indian
family
in Vedic times can
hardly
be overestimated. Cows furnished the milk
upon
which the
family mainly subsisted,
and which was
indispensa-
ble in the
preparation
of butter and
suet,
both of which
played
an
important part
in the sacrifice.
Cattle, moreover,
served as
a medium of
exchange,
for which reason we find such
frequent
mention of the
price
of "a hundred" or "a thousand cows"
(in
iv. 24. 10 a
priest
offers to lend his
image
of Indra for ten
cows).
For
instance,
i. 33. 1:2 "Will not the invulnerable one
grant
us riches and
cattle,
our
highest
desire ?"
(rdyo
and
ga-
vdm are
properly objective genitives
after
ketam).
Hence it
was a
particularly great
and noble deed when Indra
put
into
the
cows,
which the
poet thought
of as "
raw,"
the
nourishing
milk,
which the
poet
in his childish
simplicity imagined already
"cooked," since it was fit to be used as food without
previous
preparation. So,
e.
g.
i. 62. 9:3
"
Thou didst
place
in the raw
cows,
the black and the red
ones,
the white cooked milk
;"
iii. 30.
14;
39.
6;
viii. 78.
7;
et
saepp.
(Cf. Aufrecht, Introd.
to
Rig-Veda,
2nd
ed., p.
xvii.)
How much this redounded to
Indra's credit
may
be seen from the fact that even
Tvastar,
the
skilled artificer of the
gods,
could not
perform
this
feat,
as
Indra
says
in his own
praise,
x. 49. 10. Likewise
only
Indra
is able to coax milk froin the bewitched barren cattle
(iv.
19.
7).
The nianner in which the
requests
are
preferred
is of
quite
as much interest as the
requests
themselves. In the
following
chapter,
where we shall have to notice the Vedic
descriptions
of Indra's
personal character,
we shall find the
humanizing
of
his
nature,
and so to
speak
the
popularization of his
person,
carried to an extent
unparalleled
in the accounts of
any
other
Vedic
deity
whatever. The
poet
talks with Indra as a man
with a
man;
often too as a
poor
wretch with a rich and
power-
ful
lord;
and from such
hymns speaks
forth often a
crouching
pusillanimous spirit,
and the fear of his
violence,
rather than
1
yas
te madah
prtan5asl amrdhra indra taih na a bhara
9qUuvainsam:
yena
tokasya
tanayasya
satafi manisImahi
jiglvnfisas
tvotah.
2
anamrniah kuvid ad
asya
ray6 gavamh k6tam param
avarjate
nah.
3
amasu cid
dadhioe pakvam antah
piyah krnsisu rufiad
r6hipiIu.
187
E. D.
Perry,
reverential awe for his
magnificent
and sublime nature. Often
such
prayers degenerate
into
whining
entreaties. Yet other
poets greet
the
god
with a hail-fellow-well-met! and in such
cases no too
great respect
is
paid
to Indra's
divinity;
while
often, again,
the
coarsest,
broadest
popular
humor breaks
through. Compare,
for
example,
the
already quoted
verse
x. 38. 5, on
p.
181.
Especially
when the
subject
is a Soma-
drinking-bout
do we find Indra described as a
very
human
character. But
through
all the
hymns
runs an
unswerving
devotion and
fidelity
toward the national
deity,
a firm belief
in his existence,
in
spite
of all
godless blasphemers,
and a
touching
reliance
upon
his
goodness. Muir,
S.
T.,
v. 103
ff.,
has collected a
large
number of
passages
which throw abundant
light
upon
these
points.
I follow his
arrangement.
Men must not doubt Indra's existence
(ii.
12.
5;
vi. 18. 3;
viii. 89. 3,
4),
but cherish a firm belief in him
(i.
102.
2;
108.
6;
vi. 28.
5;
ix. 113.
2);
for he alone is an
everpresent
helper
(i.
84.
19;
vii. 23.
5),
a liberator and an advocate
(viii.
85.
20),
a wall of
defense,
a castle
(viii.
69.
7).
His friend never meets
with disaster
(x.
152.
1),
for he is
helper
of the
upright
(viii.
69.
3).
He is an old friend of the
poets (vi.
18.
5;
21.
5,
8),
even a brother
(iii.
53.
5),
or a
father,
and that too the best of
all fathers
(iv.
17.
17);
the bard
clasps
him as a son
clasps
his
father
(iii.
53.
2),
or as women embrace their husbands
(i.
62.
11;
186.
7;
x. 43.
1).
But often the
poet
becomes
impatient,
and then he addresses the
god
with words which are none too
respectful,
as for
example
in iv.
32,
and iv. 21. 9: "I would
do better than
thou,
were I
only Indra," says
the author of
vii.
32;
"I would bestow
upon my
worshippers
cows and other
property every day."
" Be not like a
lazy priest,
thou lord of
possessions"-thus
in viii. 81. 30. Indra must not waste
any
time in the
dwellings
of other
worshippers (ii.
18.
3;
iii. 25.
5;
x. 38.
5),
but
spring
over the barriers with which
they attempt
to hold him in
captivity (iii.
45.
1).
The
description
of these intimate relations between the
mighty
and
generous deity
and his
worshippers
in
general
will
receive
greater completeness
from a few
examples,
celebrated
particularly
often in the
Veda,
of his care for certain eminent
chiefs
among
his devotees.
Kutsa,
of whom mention has
already
been
made,
seems to
have held the
highest place among
Indra's favorites. The
god
condescends to take him
upon
his own
chariot,
and kills for
him the demon
Qusna.
He even arrests the
progress
of the
sun
through
the
sky,
that the
night may
not
interrupt
the
battle in which Kutsa is
engaged
before he shall
prove
victo-
rious. Thus
namely
is to be
explained
the fact that Indra
takes
away
a wheel from the sun's chariot for Kutsa's benefit:
188
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
v. 29. 10 :' "One wheel of the sun didst thou
pull
off for
Kutsa;
the other thou didst leave in
place,
that it
(the sun)
might
yet
advance."
Compare
iv. 30. 4 in Geldner and
Kaegi's
translation,
and their comments.
Turvaca and Yadu were two
non-Aryans (viii.
10.
5),
who
could not swim (asndtr, ii. 15.
5;
iv. 30.
17),
and who re-
ceived assistance from Indra while
crossing
a river on an ex-
pedition
into a
strange
country:
vi. 45. 1:2
"
The
young
Indra
who with faithful
guidance brought
hither Turvaca and Yadu
out of the distant
land,
is our friend ;" v. 31. 8:' "Thou didst
stay
the
deep-flowing
waters near the shore for Turvaca and
Yadu."
It was
perhaps
on the same occasion that Indra showed a
similar favor to Turviti and
Vayya,
for
they
are named with
Turvaga
and Yadu in i. 54.
6,
as
recipients
of his
kindness;
and we read in ii. 13. 12 :4 "For Turviti and
Vayya
didst thou
stay
the current of the
flowing waters,
that
they might
cross."
Sudas,
the oft-mentioned
king
of the
Trtsus,
was a devoted
worshipper
of
Indra,
who manifested his
graciousness
in the
assistance and
preservation
of Sudas in the latter's
struggle
against
the allied
power
of ten hostile
princes.
Cf. vii. 19.
3;
20.
2;
32. 10,
11;
and the entire
hymn
vii.
83,
which makes
Indra and Varuna to have been Sudas's
helpers.
The sacer-
dotal family of the Vasisthas stood in
high
favor at Sudas's
court,
and not the least
part
of the credit for his
victory
is said
to have been due to their
prayers
(cf.
vii. 33. 1
ff.).
The de-
tails are described with an elaboration unusual in the
Veda,
yet
they
are sometimes far from clear
(vii.
18).
But this much
is
certain,
that the whole
episode
of Sudas rests
upon
a histori-
cal
basis,
and
points
to the
struggles
of an ambitious and war-
like dynasty.
Mudgala
and his
spouse
Mudgalani,
who stood under Indra's
protection,
entered into battle
riding upon
a chariot drawn by
a bull and a stallion. Indra
imparted strength
to the
bull,
who
proceeded
with all deliberation in medias
res;
and Mud-
gala
won the
fight
(x. 102).
Not
only
in
war,
but in
peace
as
well,
do we find Indra
play-
ing
an active and
helping part
in the affairs of mankind. ie
provided a
young
wife for the
aged
Kaksivant: i. 51. 13:
"Upon
the
tottering
old man
Kaksivant,
because he
pressed
Soma, thou didst bestow the
young
Vrcaya."
He
rejuvenates
1pranyac
cakram avrhah
siuryasya
kfitsayanyad
varivo
yfitave 'kah.
2
ya
anayat
paravatah suniti turvgamxh
yadum:
indrah sa no
yfiva
sakha.
3
tvam
ap6 yadave
turva9ayaramayah sudughah
para indra.
4
aramayah sarapasas taraya
kirh
turvitaye ca
vayyaya
ca srutim.
VOL. XI. 25
189
E. D.
Perry,
old maids: iv. 19. 7 :'
"
He made the unwedded maidens, who
observed the rites, to be
juicy
like
spouting
flowing springs."
His arm
helped
the blind and the lame
(iv.
30. 19; ii. 13. 12;
15.
7;
iv. 19.
9).
He rescues from certain death the child
of
the
maiden,
which its mother in shame had made
away
with-
or, according
to one
version,
had thrown
upon
an ant-bill:
ii. 15. 7:2
,"
He knows the girls'
hiding-place (i.
e. where
they
secrete their
illegitimate
children);
coming
to
light,
the child
that was
exposed
came forth :" cf. 13. 12 : iv. 30.
16; and
19. 9: "Thou master of sorrel steeds didst draw forth from
the
place
of concealment the maiden's
child,
which the ants
were
gnawing."
This anecdote reminds one of the stories told
of Indra's own
childhood,
as in iv. 18. Whether or no such
current fables
concerning
Indra
gave
rise to the view that he
was an
especial protector
of
exposed
children is not
likely
to
be
proved.
Indra and Pisan.-It seems
strange
at first
sight
to dis-
cover
by
the side of the
mighty war-god,
whose whole
energy
is so often devoted to the annihilation of his enemies and of
the
Soma-offerings,
a
deity
of so contrasted a nature as is Pu-
san. That the Vedic
poets fully
realized the
strangeness
of
the combination is
plainly apparent
from their humorous
descriptions
of Pusan. We read e.
g.
in vi. 57. 2 :3
"
The one
seats himself in order to drink the
pressed
juice
from the
gob-
let ;4 the other demands
porridge
;"
3 : "Two
goats
draw
the
one,
two
compact
(strong)
sorrel steeds the
other;
with
these two
(gods)
together
one defeats his enemies."
Yet there must have been
points
of
agreement
between the
natures of both
gods,
since the unions of deities which we find
in the Veda are
not, except
in
general
invocations, by any
means
arbitrary. Pusan,
as
is
evident from the
hymns
refer-
ring
to
him,
was a
personification
of the
fructifying
sun and its
beneficent influence, indicated also
by
the
epithet
aghrni,
'glowing,' applied
to him iii. 62. 7 et
saepp.,
and the allusions
to his sister
Survya
vi. 55. 4, 5;
58.
4;
and from the stories of
his
eating porridge (which
started the fable of his "rotten
teeth," karudatin, iv. 30.
4),
and of his
driving
behind
goats
and
carrying
a
goad (astra,
vi. 58.
2),
we
may reasonably
con-
clude that he was
originally
a
deity
of the
shepherds.
Above
all,
however,
he
provides
for fruitfulness of flocks and
herds,
1
prigruvo
nabhanv6 na vakva dhvasra
apinvad yuvattr rtajfi'ah.
s2 vidv/fi apagohiam
kaninam avir bhavann ud atilthat paravrk.
3
s6mam
anya
upasadat patave camv.oh
sutam: karambham
anya
ichati.
4
If carm
signifies
a
drinking-vessel:
see
Haug,
G6tt. Gel.
Anz., 1875, p.
592.
5
aja
anyasya vahnayo
harI anyasya sambhyta: tabhyarh vrtrani jigh-
hate.
190
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
upon
which Grassmann
(
Wtbeh., s. v.
Pusan)
well
remarks:
"The
prosperity
which he bestows is not
(as
in the case of
Indra,
Parjanya,
the
Maruts, etc.)
dependent upon
the
rain,
but
upon
the
light,
particularly
the
sunlight."
He is
protector
of cattle, of mankind, and of all
beings.
In x. 17. 3 he is
called
anastapaaur
bhuvanasya gopdh,
'The
shepherd
of the
world,
whose flock receives no hurt.'
Pusan's
junction
with
Indra, then,
rests
upon
a double basis.
As
givers
of
prosperity
in
general they
are
praised
in the fol-
lowing verses: ii. 40. 2:1
"Indra, together
with Soma and
Pusan, these two, created in the raw cows the cooked milk"
(see above, p. 187);
iii. 57. 2 :' "Skilful are the
heroes,
Indra
and Pfiusan; the
dearly-loved
(waters)
stream almost without
ceasing from the
sky; may
I,
0
ye
good
ones
(plur.),
receive
this
favor,
that all
gods
may
delight
themselves on earth"
(bhaumyam
to be
supplied
for
asyam
?).
The following
passage
from a
hymn
addressed to various rural deities exhibits
plainly
their
activity
in
sending prosperity
to their
worshippers:
iv. 57. 7:3
"May
Indra sink the
furrow,
Piusan
give
it its direc-
tion;
may
it
produce bounteously
for us
throughout
each
future
year."
Upon
the other of the two
principal
sides of Pfiusan's
nature,
which shows him as a
protector
in all needs
(i. 42; vi.
53,
54),
seems to rest his union with Indra in the
following passages:
vi. 56. 2 :4
"
Indra,
the
captain
of the
army,
the best chariot-
guider,
defeats the
enemies,
in the
company
of his
ally (Pu-
san)" (cf. pada
c of vi. 57. 3, quoted above).
And
similarly,
Pusan's character as a
protector brought
hinl into Indra's com-
pany
in the
fight
with the demons: vi. 57. 4:5
"
When
Indra,
best of heroes, took
away
with him the
great dispersing waters,
there was Pfiusan in his
company."
Geldner
conjectures
vrtah,
'
imprisoned,'
for ritah.
Pfusan and Visnu act as encouragers of Indra during the
Vrtra-battle.
Thus,
vi. 17. 11 :6 For
thee,
whom all the Ma-
ruts with one accord cheered
on,
(Agni)
roasted a hundred
'abhyam
indrah
pakvam amasv ant.ah
somapusabhyarii
janad usriyasu.
2indrah su
pQa vr.aina suhasta div6 ni
prItih ga9ayarii duduhre:
viQve
yid asyaxh ranayanta
devah
pri v6 'tra vasavah sumnam
a9yam.
3
indrah sitari ni
grhnatu
tam
puainu
yachatu:
sa nah
piyasvatI duham
dittaram-uttaraih samam.
4
uti
gha sa rathttamah
sikhya satpatir
yuja:
indro vrtri.ani
jighnate.
' yad indro
inayad
rito mahir
ap6 vrsantamah: tatra
puQibhavat sica.
6
vardhan
yarh
vi9ve
marfitah
saj6sah
pacac chatam mahisifi indra
tfibhyam:
pusa visnus trini sarafnsi dhavan vrtrahanam madiram
anftgim
asmai.
191
E. .
Perry,
bulls, 0
Indra;
Pfusan and Visnu caused to flow for thee three
ponds
full of
enemy-slaying,
intoxicating
Soma"
(?).
Indra and the AQvins.-The number of
passages
in the
Rig-Veda
which
bring
the
Agvins
into direct connection with
Indra is
very
small. I
append
all such that I have found.
i. 116. 21: "On one and the same
morning,
0 A?vins,
ye
did
help
Vaga,
to his
great joy,
so that he won thousand-fold
booty;
united with
Indra,
0
ye heroes,
ye did both drive off
the hostile
spectre
from
Prthugravas."
In i. 182. 2 the
Agvins
are called indratamd. See
above, p.
124. In viii. 9. 12 and
35.
1, they
are invited
along
with Indra and the other
gods
to
the
sacrifice;
and the
compound
indr&nasaty5 (voc.)
occurs in
26. 8.
Thus,
x. 73. 4 :2
"Together
with these come in haste
to the
sacrifice, bring
the
Nasatya (AVvins)
hither to an alli-
ance;
in
thy treasure-house,
0
Indra,
thou
keepest
many (treas-
ures);
the
Agvins
brought gifts
unto
thee,
0
hero;"
131. 4 ;'
"Ye
Agvins,
lords of the rapid
flight,
after
ye
had drunk the
well-intoxicating Soma,
did
help
Indra in his deeds
(i.
e. the
battle) against
the demon Namuci
;4
5 :' "As
parents help
a
son,
so did both
Agvins
with
prudence
and skill
help thee,
0
Indra."
The
Agvins
are also found in Indra's
company
at the crea-
tion of Pedu's horse. See
above, p.
185.
We see from these verses that the union between Indra and
the
Agvins
is a
very
loose one. I am therefore inclined to
seek the
origin
of their association in a mere coincidence of
certain later
developed phases
of their character.
Starting
from different observations of natural
phenomena,
the
concep-
tions of their natures run
parallel
for a time in the course of
their
development.
We have learned that Indra was originally
a
god
of the
thunfderstorm,
who overcame the
rain-stealing
demons;
and
IMlyriantheus
has
proved conclusively
that the
Agvins
were above all else
gods
who recovered and bestowed
light. And whereas the
similarity
of these
conceptions
in
their
primitive
form is
complete,
so we find it undiminished in
the course of their
development
from their
original
nuclei.
6
ekasya
vastor avataih
rainaya vagam
aqvina sanaye
sahasra: nir aha-
tarh duchuna indravanta
prthuqravaso
vra.nav aratih.
2
saman/ tirnir
upa yasi yajiinm
a
nasatya sakhyaya
vaksi:
vasivyam
indra
dharayah sahasraqvina
qura dadatur
magh,ani.
3yuvaih
suramam
aqvina
namucav
asur6 saca:
vipipana
qubhas
pati
indram karmasv avatam.
4
Myriantheus:
"In the sacrificial ceremonies
against
the evil
spirit Namuci"(Q).
The translation
given
here is but an
attempt.
Grassmann
conjectures vipapana.
See in
Appendix,
s. v. Namuci.
5
putram
iva
pitarav aqvinobh6ndravathuh kavyair
daisanabhih.
192
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
Like
Indra,
the
Aqvins
are
besought
to
destroy
all
demons;
as
Indra's
help
is then
implored
against
non-Aryan
enemies,
so
we find the A9vins entreated for the same
favor;
Indra's
efforts,
like those of the
Acvins,
are directed toward the restor-
ation of the natural order of
things,
which suffers
daily
inter-
ruption.
And
just
at this
point
the
conceptions
of the two
war-gods
on the one
hand,
and of the one
war-god
on the
other, overlap
each
other,
so that we find the Acvins
praised
as recoverers of
rain,
and Indra celebrated as restorer of
light-
a
complete exchange
of their original functions. A
step
fur-
ther,
and we discover the
Acvins
and Indra alike as
gods
of
prosperity
and fruitfulness in
general;
hence,
as also from the
intimate relations between them and their
worshippers,
they
become benevolent and
healing
deities-a trait of
character
much more
elaborately amplified
in the case of the
Agvins
than in that of Indra.
It is somewhat curious
that,
in
spite
of these
many points
of
contact between
Agvin-myths
and
Indra-myths,
so few
passages
occur in which
they
are mentioned
together;
and it is also
remarkable that of
any rivalry
between the Thunderer and the
Horsemen there are discoverable no indications whatever.
IV. Descriptions
of
Indra's Person.
In the three
previous
Parts I have endeavored to determine
Indra's original
position
in the Vedic
pantheon,
to
illustrate,
and,
where
possible,
to harmonize the fables of his
origin,
and
to define and describe not
only
his
activity
in the field of
natural
phenomena,
but also his concern with the most various
circunmstances of human life. In the fourth and last Part I
shall
attempt
to
reproduce
that
picture
of Indra's
person
which
Indian
fancy painted
for itself.
In the case of no other Vedic
divinity
do we find so
pro-
nounced an
anthropomnorphism,
so
plastic
a
figure,
as in that of
Indra-a circumstance
readily explainable
from
his
position as
war-god
and national favorite of the Indian
people.
The
poets
never
weary
of
describing
his
greatness,
his
huge size,
his
impetuous vigor,
his craftiness and shrewdness, the riches
at his
disposal
and his
generosity
in
distributing
them,
the
mighty horses and the strong chariot with which he travels,
the
fearful
unerring weapons
which he carries. And so it
happens
that the
Indra-hymns afford us not
only
a
remarkably
detailed
portraiture
of this
divinity,
as it was
developed
in the Indian
mind, but also not less faithful indications of Indian character
and
life,
from which
many
particulars were
unconsciously
transferred to the likeness of Indra.
Indra is lord of
might (i.
11.
2),
the first
among highest
ones
193
E. D.
Perry,
(viii.
50.
2),
the
mightiest
of the
gods,
who concentrated in
him all their
manly vigor, power,
and wisdom
(i.
80.
15),
and
are far from
being
his
equals
(vi.
21.
10;
vii. 21.
7).
Neither
youth
nor
grown
man attains an
equal greatness
with
him,
for
he filled the universe with his
person,
and crowded out the
lights
of heaven
(i.
81.
5);
neither men nor
gods,
nor the
heavenly waters,
ever reached the limit of his might
(i.
100.
15;
54. 1;
ii. 16.
3;
vi. 29.
5),
for he is immeasurable
(i.
102.
7;
iv. 16.
5).
He takes the
great
heavens
upon
his head
(ii.
17.
2),
even the remotest
regions
of ether are for him not dis-
tant
(iii.
30.
2).
Earth cannot confine him
(i.
55.
1;
iii. 36.
4);
Heaven and Earth
together
do not suffice for his
girdle (i.
73.
6);
he
grows beyond
them when intoxicated with Soma
(i.
100.
14;
iii. 36.
6;
vi. 21.
2;
viii. 6.
15;
12.
24;
77.
5;
87.
5;
89.
4); nay,
he is even
greater
than
Heaven, Earth,
and Atmos-
phere
combined
(i.
10.
8;
iii. 46.
3).
The half of him alone is
more than both worlds
together (vi.
30.
1);
he covers the
earth with one
thigh
(iii.
32.
11).
Of his
might
one
part
is on
earth,
the other in the
sky;
it is concentrated in the
midst,
like the
light
(? i. 103.
1).
"Were the earth ten times as
great,
and
though
men live for
ever,
yet
thy greatness
would
still be celebrated
day
after day"
(i.
52.
11).
Both worlds and
the mountains tremble at his breath
(ii.
12. 1-he is the thunder-
storm
!),
even the
god-like
tree bends before
him; everything
upon
earth is
shaken,
both worlds bow before him like an
obedient woman. He is
king
of the
heavenly
race and of all
nations
upon
earth
(i.
100.
1;
iii. 31.
8;
46.
2;
vi. 22.
9;
36.
4;
vii. 27.
3;
viii. 37.
3;
84.
3),
the lord of
flowing
and of
standing water,
and of Soma
(vi.
44.
21;
viii. 53.
3),
and he
knows them all
thoroughly
(viii.
46.
12).
Even the
savage
wolf abides
by
his decrees
(viii.
55.
8),
for his will determines
all
things
(50. 4).
He holds the tribes of men in his hand
(vi.
31.
1);
both boundless worlds are to him but a handful
when he
grasps
them
(iii.
30.
5).
The smallest deed of such a
divinity
is at once bruited abroad
throughout
the whole world
(viii.
45.
32).
Unto him the
high
mountains are
plains,
he
finds a ford in the
deepest
water
(vi.
24.
8).
He
rages
and
roars when
going
on his
expeditions, loudly
shouting
(ii.
20. 3:
cf. the
epithet purufravas
in x. 95.
7, which,
as
already
re-
marked
above, p. 129,
is doubtless to be
applied
to
Indra);
snorting
and
fuming, raising
the dust to the
sky,
he hurries
through the air
(iii.
51.
2;
iv. 16.
5;
v. 34.
5;
vi. 18.
2),
and
dashes everything in
pieces (ii.
21.
2);
he is
unrestrainable,
irresistible
(i.
84.
2, 7).
After the feast he turns his course
hither and
thither,
like a beast of
prey,
dreadful as a horned
bull,
like a
raging
whirlwind
(iv.
32.
2;
vii. 19.
1;
viii. 33.
8).
His
path
is inaccessible as the sun's
(i.
100.
2),
and both worlds
194
Indra in the
Pig-
Veda.
cannot then hold him fast
(i.
10.
8).
He finds no
evenly-matched
opponent;
none cast him to
earth,
all are cast to earth
by
him
(i.
33.
2;
129.
4);
for he coerces all
(v.
34.
6;
35.
4;
vi. 17.
4;
18.
1,
2; 20.
3;
25.
5;
44.
4;
vii. 20.
3),
and no one who has
provoked
him can
long
endure his wrath
(v.
34.
7;
vii. 31.
12);
he cannot be humbled. He sees and hears all
things(viii.
67.
5),
and when he roars even the deaf
may
hear and tremble
(x.
27.
5).
Not even the
gods
can arrest
Indrar(iv.'17.
19;
30.
3,
5);
and whenever he
slays
a
man,
he fears not the
vengeance
of relatives
(v.
34.
4).
Thus invincible was he
ever,
thus will
he ever
be;
no one will ever stand in his
way,
it matters not
what he
may
undertake
(iv.
30.
23).
Indra
possesses
all the treasures of the world
(i.
30.
10;
174.
1;
vi. 45.
8)
in his treasure-house
(viii.
1.
22);
he rules over
the abodes of men and the stalls of cattle
(iv.
20.
8);
all
paths
to riches unite in
him,
as streams in the ocean
(vi.
19.
5).
All
herds round about are
his,
and he watches them with the
eye
of the sun
(vii.
98.
6).
He is a
flowing
stream of
possessions
(viii.
32.
13),
a
spring
of gold
(50. 6),
a
depository
of
riches,
as
vast as four oceans
(x.
47.
2).
From this he makes
generous
presents
to
men;
neither
god
nor
man,
nor rocks nor
fortresses,
can restrain his
generosity (viii.
14.
4;
70.
3;
77.
3).
He is
the most
generous
of all
givers,
he
gives
without hesitation
from full hands
(i.
30. 1
;
iv. 31.
7).
His assistance is everlast-
ing.
He
keeps
not back the
flocks,
when he has heard the
song
of
praise;
he is a bull for him that wishes
bulls,
a horse
for the seeker after horses
(vi.
24.
1;
45.
23,
26);
he never
refuses
(vii.
27.
4),
but assists in
obtaining
still
greater
riches
(viii.
16.
10).
Even a hundred envious meddlers can restrain
his
gifts
as little as
they
can frustrate his
plans (iv.
31.
9).
"f We cannot
grasp
thy
whole
greatness,
0
Indra,"
says
the
author of vi.
27,
"
nor
thy generosity,
0
generous one,
nor all
thy
ever new
gifts;
no one has fathomed
thy power."
The
magnitude
of his
bounty
is not to be
comprehended;
for his
gifts,
like the
light, spread
abroad over the whole earth
(viii.
24.
21);
there exists no one who can say: "He has not
given
;"
but it is said:
"
Indra alone is the active
dispenser
of
gifts,
his
many
acts of
mercy
follow one anlother
swiftly" (vii. 26.
4),
they
spring up
side
by
side like shoots of trees
(vi.
24.
3).
The
god's youth
and
vigor
are as
unfailing
as his
gifts
to
mortals. He
grows
not
old,
nor is he
subject
to
death
(iii.
32.
7;
vi.' 19.
2);
he makes others
grow old,
while he himself
remains
eternally young (ii.
16.
1);
neither months nor
years
consume
him, days do not waste him
away
(iii.
46. 1; vi. 24. 7;
x. 48.
5).
When the mighty prince
says
to himself:
"I shall
not
die,"
then even this
thought
is realized
(viii. 82.
5).
In x.
19.S
E. D.
Perry,
86. 11 we read: "Among all women, Indrani
(Indra's
wife)
is
most
happy,
for her husband shall never die of old
age."
And Indra is also wise and
prudent (i.
61.
14; 62.
12).
In
his
belly
he carries
Soma,
in his limbs wondrous
power,
in his
hand the
thunderbolt,
and in his head wisdom
(ii.
16. 2;
viii.
85.
3).
He is called most
sagacious
of the wise
(x.
112.
9),
and
his wisdom is
unapproachable (ii.
21.
4).
He is an
enchanter,
understands all stratagems
(vi.
22.
1;
44.
14), yet
he is faithful
and not treacherous
(viii.
51.
12);
he is considered sinless
(i.
129.
5). Among
the
Angirases
he is the best
Angiras,
among
heroes a
hero, among
friends a
friend;
he
rejoices
with them
that
rejoice,
the most skilled of them all in
song
(i.
100.
4).
He has assumed the
inspiration
of
prophets
(iii.
36.
5),
he is
Brahman and Rsi in one. He is
proud (i.
62.
10),
and his
mind
firmly
bent
upon
its
objects
(i.
102.
5).
Corresponding
to his bold and warlike
character,
.Indra
appears
to the
eye
of his
worshipper's imagination
with
gigan-
tic
body.
His frame is full of
vigor,
mighty his
neck, brawny
his back;
he
possesses
irresistible
strength
in his
body,
it rests
in his limbs as water rests in hidden
springs
(i.
55.
8;
iv. 17.
8;
v. 37.
1;
viii. 1.
23;
17.
8;
67.
7).
His
figure
is well cal-
culated for
drinking-bouts.
His
belly
holds whole lakes of
Soma,
it swells like a sea
(i.
8.
7;
11.
1;
30.
3;
104.
9;
iii. 36.
8);
his mouth is
huge,
like a great
body
of water
(vi.
41.
2).
His arms are
sleek,
his hands thick and
firm,
both
right
and
left well
formed;
his
strength
lies in
them, they accomplish
noble
works, they
win the flocks and herds
(i.
80.
8;
102.
6;
iv. 21.
9;
vi. 19.
3;
viii. 32.
10;
33. 5; 50.
18;
70.
1).
He
has a
golden
beard,
which he shakes with satisfaction at his
approach
and after the
draughts
of Soma
(ii.
11.
17;
viii. 33.
6;
x. 23.
1,
4),
and handsome cheeks or
lips,
which he
puffs
out on such occasions
(iii.
32.
1).
In several
hymns
the word
hari,
'golden, sorrel,'
is made the
subject
of endless
punning,
so that Indra is called
"gold-cheeked"' (harigipra),
"golden-
haired"
(harikera), "golden-bearded" (hariQmagaru),
"golden-
formed"
(harivarpas); similarly
hiranyaya, 'golden,'
and
hiranyabahu,
'golden-armed.'
From his firmness and
strength
he is called
ayasa,
'
of metal,
brazen'
(i.
7.
2;
vii. 34.
4;
viii.
55.
3;
x. 96.
4,
5, 8, 9,
12).
His whole
appearance
is
brilliant,
wonderful, splendid,
like the sun in
glory (i.
53.
3;
173.
4;
iii. 45. 5
;
iv. 16.
14;
21. 2
;
v. 37.
1).
He is adorned like the
dawn
(i.
57.
3),
he
hangs
the
fleecy
cloud about him
nfor
an
ornament
(iv.
22.
2).
But he can also assume
any
form what-
ever at
will, through
his
magic powers (iii.
53.
8;
vi. 47.
18).
Two
passages
of the Rik seem to refer to
images
of
Indra,
of some sort or other: iv. 24. 10: "Who will offer me ten
cows for this
my
Indra here ? When he has killed his
enemies,
196
InfJdra in tMe
Riqj-
Vedea.
he must
bring
him back to ime ;" viii. 1. 5 :1 "Not even for a
great price
would I sell
thee,
0
slinger,
not for a hundred nor
a thousand nor ten thousand
(cattle),
0 thou thunderbolt-bearer
who receivest hundreds of libations." One
may
well
imagine
what hideous
objects
such
images
must llave been in Vedic
times;
and that the bahula
gabhasti
and the urvir
lapo
na
kakud were most
successfully portrayed.
Indra rides to battle or to the sacrifice on a
golden wagon
or
chariot,
which the Rbhus built for him. It runs
easily,
has a
good
frame and
good hubs,
and
speeds through
the air swifter
than
thought
(i.
16.
2;
102.
3;
vi. 29.
2;
37.
3;
x. 44.
2).
Indra
urges
on his steeds with a
golden whip (viii.
33.
11).
As a rule he drives two sorrels
(ii.
15. 6 calls them mares: cf.
iii. 44.
3);
but often this number is too small for the enthusi-
astic
poet,
who with the well-known Indian fondness for
play-
ing
with numbers
multiplies
them without stint
(ii.
18. 4,
7;
iv. 46.
3;
vii. 47.
18).
They
snort and
neigh, they prance
and
rear
during
the
journey,
as
though they
were drunk like their
driver
(i.
81. 3; iii. 43.
6;
i. 30.
16).
Even Indra
slhrinks,
tired and
anxious,
when after
many
vain efforts he has
finally
yoked
them for his drive
(x.
105.
3).
They
have
golden
manes
(viii.
32.
29),
straight
backs
(viii.
1.
25;
6.
42;
iii. 35.
4),
tails
like
peacocks (iii.
45.
1;
viii. 1.
25),
noble limbs
(iii.
43.
4),
are
well
groomed (v.
6);
their
eyes
are bright as the
sun, they
them-
selves are like sunbeams
(i. 16.1;
ii. 11.
16). They
receive warm
fodder
(iii.
53.
3);
well-fed, they
fill out their
girths (i.
10.
3).
The
god
is carried
by
them as an
eagle by
his
wings
(viii.
34.
9);
they
are
always
ready
for a
journey,
be it
morning
or
evening
when Indra would start on his rounds
(i.
104.
1),
they convey
him to the sacrifice in a trice
(x.
32.
2). They
are
yoked
through
the
power
of
prayer,
that the
god may appear among
his
worshippers
(ii.
18.
3;
iii. 35.
4;
viii. 1.
24;
45.
39; 87.
9).
Indra received them from Heaven
(i.
121.
8),
or from the
Rbhus
(i.
111.
1).
But he also travels with the horses of the
wind
(Vayu ?)
or of the sun
(Agni ?) (i.
51.
10;
121.
12;
x. 22.
5;
Val. 2.
8;
x. 49.
7).
Indra's usual
weapon
is the
thunderbolt,
which Tvastar
made for him. This is described as
golden (i.
57.
2;
85.
9;
viii. 57.
3),
or brazen
(i.
81.
4;
viii. 85.
3;
x. 48.
3); easily
victorious
(i.
100.
13),
intended to be hurled
(i.
84.
11);
and is
called Indra's
companion
(sacabh/t, i. 131.
3).
It is three or
four-edged (i.
121.
4;
iv. 22.
2),
hundred-edged
(vi.
17.
10),
with a hundred knots or
joints (i.
80.
6),
or a thousand
points
(v.
34.
2).
Indra whets it as a bull his horns
(i.
55.
1).
An-
'
mahe can;i tvam adrivah
para gulkiya deyam:
na
sahisraya
nlyfi-
taya vajrivo
na
gataya
9atamagha.
VOL. xI. 26
197
198
other
weapon,
gamba,
perhaps
a staff or
club,
is mentioned in
x. 42. 7. According to x. 60. 3, he carries a
goad
(paviravat);
in i. 32.
12,
and x. 180.
2,
a
lance;
and in several
passages
bow
and arrows
(viii.
45.
4;
66.
7,
11; x. 103.
2,
3).
He is often
called adrivat, 'armed with
stones'-referring
doubtless to
rough pieces
of loose rock suitable for
throwing.
He also has
a
hook,
with which ,he secures riches for the
Soma-presser
(viii.
17.
10;
x. 44.
9).
In some
passages
the word
qipra,
generally
rendered ' cheek' or
'
chin,' seems to mean ' helmet
;'
so
perhaps
in
hiriqipra,
vi. 29. 6. Cf. the remarks on the word in Muir's
Skt.
Texts,
v. 149.
According
to ix. 83. 4
(see
above,
p.
168),
Indra was armed with a
net,
doubtless for the
purpose
of en-
tangling
his
opponents,
as was done
by
the Roman retiarii.
Finally,
the
poets
ascribed to Indra a
household,
in which
he took his ease in the
society
of his wife Indrani :' cf. iii.
53,
4-6;
vii. 18.
2;
x. 99. 5. As he is about to take the field
against
his
enemies,
Indrani calls him back to
get
his accus-
tomed
draught
of Soma. A satirical
description
of his domes-
tic life is contained in the curious and
very
corrupt hymn
x.
86,
which is instructive as a
possibly
not unfaithful
picture
of the mores of those times. A
conjugal
quarrel
has,broken
out between Indra and his
spouse,
the cause of which was
Indra's
pet monkey
Vrsakapi,
who,
besides
making
a nuisance
of himself in
many
other
ways,
disturbed the
people's sleep
(?
v.
22),
and meddled with the secrets of his mistress's toilet
(v. 5).
Indrani
complains
of Indra's lack of consideration for
her,
and declares her intention of
killing
the
monkey-slhe
who could boast of the
greatest
female charms
(v. 6).
Indra
will not abandon his
pet,
which has shown itself useful on
other occasions
(vv.
12.
18).
The
quarrel
ends with the recoin-
ciliation of the
pair,
and the monkey is reduced to order.
i
IndranT, a fem. formed from the masc. indra,
is in the
Rig-Veda hardly
more
than a
name,
without
any personal characteristics;
she is mentioned but five or
six times. Varunani is an
equally rudimentary personage.
2
Hardly,
as Grassmann supposed,
son of Indra and Indramni.
E. D.
Perry,
Jndtrr in the
Rig-
Veda.
APPENDIX.
DEMONS MENTIONED BY
NAME,
WITH WHOM INDRA FIGHTS.
The allusions to
many
of these demoniac
beings
are so
vague
that one is often in doubt to what class
they belong-whether
they
be rain-stealers or
personifications
of other influences de-
structive to mankind.
Anargani: mentioned
only
in viii. 32.
2,
without nearer
descrip-
tion. Its
etymology
is obscure. If from a
priv.
and
V/arp (=rip),
it would
signify
'
not-harmful.'
Arnava is niot necessarily the name of a
demon,
as the Pet.
Dict. and Grassmann assume for the three
passages
x. 66. 11
;
67.
12;
11l. 14. In the first
passage
the context is best suited
by rendering
the word 'Air-' or
'Cloud-sea;'
in 67.
12,
arnavasya
seems to
belong
as
adjective
to
arbudatsya;
and 11 1. 4 is
proba-
bly
best translated thus:
"
Indra, praised by
the
Angirases,
broke the dominion
(of
the
demons)
over the
mighty
waves"
(objective genitive).
Arbuzdd: i. 51. 6: "Thou didst tread down with
thy
foot the
great
Arbuda." In the same verse 9usna and
qambara
are
named. The
adj.
arnava, used of Arbuda in x. 67. 12, is
'surg-
ing,
waving, undulating;'
i. e. Arbuda is
imagined
in
serpentine
form. Indra cuts off his head. The Pet. Diet. in both
passages
renders '
serpent.'
This Arbutda is doubtless identical with
A'rbuda,
mentioned in ii. 11. 20:
"
When he had refreshed him-
self with Trita's intoxicating draught, he cast Arbuda to earth."
In ii. 14.
4,
Arbuda is mentioned with Urana.
According
to viii.
32.
26,
he is smitten
by
Indra with snow or
ice-hirnenvid,hyad
arbudam. In v. 3 we iead:
"
Cast down the
height,
the
pate
of
the
great Arbuda;"
viii. 3. 19: "Thou didst drive out the cows
from the mountain of
Arbuda,
of the treacherous
Mrgaya."
Ahi, 'Serpent, Dragon'
("
Wurm" of German
mythology),
designates
both a demon and a mysterious being, Ahi
Budhnya,
'the
dragon
of the
depths.'
In most
cases, however, Ahi is the
demon,
identified with Vrtra-cf. e.
g.
i. 51.
4;
iv. 17. 7
if.;
vi.
72.
3;
x. 113.
3;
and the whole
hymn
i.
32---by
which is
signified
the
long
outstretched
cloud,
or else such clouds as seem to have
been rolled or coiled
up.
The root is
ah,
in the
signification
'
squeeze.'
The reference is
probably
to snakes of the constrictor
kind.
Ahipuva,
mentioned in viii. 32. 2
together
with
Srbinda, Anar-
9ani,
and
Pipru.
In v. 26 occur the words durnavdbham
ahMpu-
vam,
which Grassmann translates "the
spider-brood
Ahi9uva;"
so also 66. 2. x. 144. 3 :1
"
Carelessly
the bull
among
his females
watches the
busy
falcon"
(which
brings
the Soma to
Indra;
after
'
gh.suh 9gyenaya
krtvana asfi svasu
vafisagah: ava didhed
ahi9gvah.
199
E. D.
Perry,
the
draught
of which the
god
will overcome
Ahiguva
and
deprive
him of the
cows).
On this verse Grassmann remarks: "Accord-
ing
to the
hymn,
Ahi9uva
is doubtless identical with the asta
krVinus
['the
bow-stretching archer']
in iv. 27. 3." The transla-
tion which I have
given,
if
correct, proves
this
conjecture wrong.
No wonder need be felt that the demon is called
Vahsaga.
He
is
among
his
"
cows,"
the
clouds, and so is
naturally enough
styled
"the bull" of the flock.
The word durnavabha occurs without
ahipuva
only
in ii. 11.
18: aurnavabham danum. The
rendering
'
spider-brood'
is
quite
satisfactory;
cf.
Curtius,
Grundzi2ge,
No. 406 b. The
spider
was not
unnaturally
classed with animals under whose forms
demons were thought to exist, since in hot countries
spiders
are
not
only very
large and
disgusting.
but
positively dangerous.
Nor is it
improbable
that the
poets
saw a considerable
degree
of
resemblance between certain cloud-formations and
spiders'
webs.
Agna
('greedy'),
name of a demon in ii. 14.
5,
and in ii. 20. 5 :'
"The
mighty
(Indra),
stealing away
the dawns
by
means of the
sun, destroyed
the old
hiding-places
of
Agna;"
vi. 4. 3:2 "The
radiant one who
grows
not
old,
who scares
away (demons-Agni
is
meant),
destroyed"
etc. Who was this
"greedy
creature?"
Indra
destroys
his retreats
by
making the sun
rise; Agni
does
the same
by
his
rays;
so that
Agna,
although
mentioned
among
rain-stealers in ii. 14.
5,
was doubtless in the first instance a
demon of darkness.
Ilhbipa I find mentioned
only
in i. 33. 12: "Indra cast down
the
strongholds
of
Ilibiga."
Yaiska,
Nir. vi.
19,
makes the word
equivalent
to
ildbila9aya 'lying
in front of the door of refiesh-
ment'
(i.
e. of the
water).
The commentator adds:
"
He blocks
up
the
openings by
which the
refreshments,
the
waters,
flow
out,
and lies in fiont of them. It is a name for cloud." Yaska's idea
may
be
correct;
his
etymology
is of a sort with most of his
others.
ZTrana,
mentioned
only
ii. 14. 4:
"
Urana,
who stretched out
ninety-nine
arms." The
meaning
for urana,
'ram,'
given in Pet.
Diet. for the later literature, would suit the clouds
very well,
as
they
often have a
woolly appearance;
hence also the "
ninety-nine
arms," referring
to their
fringe-like
edges.
Aurnavabha. See
Ah^ttva.
Karanja:
named in i. 53. 8
along
with
Parnaya,
in x. 48 with
Parnaya
and Vrtra. Both are
conquered by
Indra with Ati-
thigva's
assistance, "by
means of the
wheel,"
i. e. chariots.
Ati-
thigva
is a surname of
Divodasa,
for whom Indra also kills
9am-
bara.
Parnaya
is
plainly enougll
'the
winged one;' karanja
I
can
only explain
as derived from ka
+
rafnja,
'
of uncertain
color,'
i. e. dark,
obscure.
Benfey,
Or. u. Occ. i.
413, supposes
the word
to be connected in some
way
with
kara,
'
hail.'
musnann us.saah suiryena
stavan
aqnasya
cic
chiQnathat purvyani.
2
Vi
ya in6ty ajarah
pavak6 'gnasya
cic etc.
200
Indra in the R;i- Veda.
Kuyava.
Although kuyava
is
generally
to be taken as an
adjective
qualifying
(uisna
(which
see
below),
yet
the word some-
times
appears
to be an
independent name,
as e.
g.
in i. 103. 8:1
where the order of words forbids our
taking pusnam
and
kuya-
vam
together.
To be
sure,
kuyavam might
here
belong
with
vrtram, but I know no other instance of Vrtra's
receiving
this
epithet.
The verse i. 104. 3 mentions two wives of
Kuyava:
"Kuyava's
wives bathe in the stream of milk
(i.
e.
rain);
let
them be dashed to
pieces
in the cataract of
f9ipha" (Grassmann);
i. e.
they
revel in the
possession
of what
rightly belongs
to man-
kind,
but
by
the renewed
flowing
of the
9yipha
they
are to be
destroyed.
Grassmann's
explanation
of
piphd
as name of a river
is doubtless correct.
[Kuyavdc
is mentioned
only
in i. 174. 7. Pet. Diet. and Grass-
mann derive the word from
kuya (-ku)
+vdc;
hence,
' slanderer.'
There is no further
authority
for
making
kuya
equivalent
to ku;
but the
meaning
'
slanderer' suits the
context,
as the
liymn
men-
tions
only earthly enemies,
and
particulaily
slanderers.]
Kdulitara,
see Qambara: iv. ';0. 14.
Krivi, 'leather
bag,
or bottle'
(a'oi6;),
i. e. the rain-cloud. In
ii. 17. 6 and 22.
2,
and Vcll. 3. 8 it seems to be used as name of a
demon.
Curnuri:
generally
in the
company
of Dhuni
('the
roarer').
Indra
put
them both
.to
s.eep,
and so killed
them,
as a favor to
Dabhiti. In vi. 26.
6,
we find Cumuri
alone,
and Dhuni is not
alluded to at all in the
hymn;
in all other
passages they
are men-
tioned
together.
[DWnava:
v. 29. 4 :2
"Indra, bidding
the swallower
(i.
e. him
who
sought
to swallow him
up) retire,
struck down the
snorting
l)anava"-where it is indifferent whether we take ddnavam as
name or
riot;
_vasant
is
applied
to Vrtra in i. 61. 10 et
saepp.
In v. 32. 1 ddnava
appears
to refer to Ahi, i. e. Vrtra
(cf.
the
other
verses);
so also ii. 11. 10. It is
evidently unnecessary
to
consider the
word,
formed as a
patronymic
from ddnu,
'
demon,'
as a
name.]
Drbhlka:
only
ii. 14. 3. It
perhaps signifies
'he who bunches
clouds
together.'
The root darbh
occurs,
according to Pet. Diet.,
only
in the Brahmanas. For the form cf. vrdhlka,
'helper,'
and
Whitney, Gr.,
?
1186.
Dhuni,
see Cum?tri.
NSamuci is
explained by
Pifnini as friom na + muci, i. e. 'he who
does not let
(the rain)
free :' cf. K. Z. viii. 80. In the
following
verse the relations between the A9vins and Namuci still await
satisfactory explanation:
x. 131. 4:3 "Ye
A9vins, lords of the
1
9ufiam
piprurh kfiyavami
vrtrfm indra
yadavadhir
vi
puirah
qam-
barasya.
2
jigartim
indro
apajarguranah
prati
9vasantam ava danavam han.
3
yuvaid suramam aqvina namucav asure saca:
vipipana
qubhas pati
fndraih karmasv avatam.
201
E. D.
Perry,
rapid flight,
after
ye
had drunk the
intoxicating draught
in the
company
of the demon
Namuci, helped
Indra in his deeds."
Elsewhere Namuci is
always
a rain-stealer. Indra strikes off his
head in v. 30. 7, 8 and vi. 20.
6,
or crushes it with the foam of
water,
v. 30.
9;
viii. 14. 13. See the curious
explanation
of this
by
the commentator on V. S. x.
33,
in
Muir, S. T. v. 94.
NVavavdstva,
'he who has a new
dwelling-place.'
In i. 36. 18
and vi. 20. 11 the word is
plainly
name of a man: in the first
pas-
sage, a favorite of
Agni;
in the
second,
son of
U9ana,
a favorite of
India. In i. 36. 18 he is also called
brhadratha,
'
having
a
great
chariot;'
so also in x. 49.
6,
where Indra
says
of himself:' "It
was I, the
slayer
of
Vrtra,
who hewed in
pieces Navavilstva,
even
as I hewed Vrtra"
(vrtreva=vrtram iva).
Hence it seems unne-
cessary
to make navavastva name of a demon.
Narmara:
only
ii. 13. 8. The text has ndrmaram
sahavasum,
generally
translated 'N/irmara with all his
possessions.' Sayana
takes sahavasu as name of an
Asura;
narmara would then be
patronymic
from nrniara
('causing
death to the
heroes'),
which
need not
signify
a demon.
Padgrbhi,
' who seizes
by
the foot:'
only
x. 49. 5.
Savya,
into
whose hands Indra delivers
Padgrbhi,
is not mentioned elsewhere.
Parnaya.
See under
Karanja.
Pipru.
The word is
plainly
derived from
V/par.
If from
1.
par,
the
meaning
would be 'the
overcomer, compeller;'
if from
2.
par,
'he who satiates himself'
(i.
e. with the stolen
waters).
For the
form,
cf.
si-sn-u,
ji-gy-t,
etc.
(Whitney, Gr.,
?
1178
c);
the accent raises difficulties. In i. 101.
2, Pipru
is called
avrata,
'disobedient to the laws.'
By
the "laws" we have doubtless to
understand Varuna's ordinance that the rain shall descend
upon
the earth. In iv. 16. 13 he is
styled mrgayam ?pfuvansam,
'a
mighty
monster,'
and Indra kills him. He
appears mostly
in the
company
of 9usna and
Qambara,
and like them is
possessed
of
castles and
strongholds, by
which
again
clouds are meant.
Piadci:
only
in i. 133. 5. The whole
hymn
is a
prayer
for the
banishment of demons. Grassmann's
derivation,
from
pipa+ac,
is doubtless
correct;
Pi9gci
would then be the
will-o'-the-wisp.
Makha
appears
in two
passages
as an
enemy
of the
gods:
ix.
101. 13:2 "Drive off the
greedy dog,
as the
Bhrgus
drove off
Makha"
(hatd,
2nd
plur.,
addressed to the
gods,
or to the other
priests);
x. 171. 2:3 "Thou didst rend the head of the wild
Makha from his
body,
and enter the
Soma-presser's
house."
In
the first
passage
Grassmann translates mackha
by
'
enemy;'
in the
second, by
'
warrior.'
M.rga,
'wild
beast,' designates
in i. 80. 7 Vrtra, who,
as is
1
aham sa
y6
navavastvam brhadrathamrh sam vrtr6va dasamh vrtraha-
rujam.
2
apa 9vanam
aradhasaih hata makhiam na
bhrgavah.
3
tvam makhasya
d6dhatah
9qir6
'va tvac6 bharah:
agachah
somino
grham.
202
203
apparent
fiom the rest of the
hymn,
is
here
thought
of in animal
form. So also v. 29.
4;
32.
3;
34.
2;
viii. 82. 14.
(Pet.
Diet.)
So also
Mrgaya,
used iv. 16. 13 of
Pipru,
viii. 3. 19 of Arbuda. In x.
49. 5
perhaps proper
name.
Rudhikra:
only
ii. 14. 5.
Grassmann,
'shedder of
blood,'
from
rudhi
(=rudhira)
and kra
(from V/kir):
cf. dadhikrd. Yet here
Rudhikra stands
among rain-stealers,
and
why
all at once a
'
blood-shedder?'
RP&uhina is mentioned in
Naigh.
i. 10 as
equivalent
to
megha,
'cloud.' In i. 103. 2, he is killed
together
with the rain-stealers
Ahi and
Vyansa;
in ii. 12. 12 he is called
dydm
drohant,
'the
stormer
(assaulter)
of the
sky'--the
Indian
counterpart
of the
Titans. In agreement with ii. 12. 12, the root ruh, 'climb,' seems
to underlie the
word;
Grassmann derives it fiom
rohin7,
'bay
mare.'
Vaingrda: only
in i. 53.
8,
where Indra and
R.
ji9van destroy
his hundred castles. Grassmann
separates
vangrd-a.
Varcin: mentioned four times-ii. 14.
6;
iv. 30.
15;
vi. 47.
21;
vii. 99. 5-each time in connection with
9ambara.
He leads
100,000
men
against Indra,
but is killed. Grassmann assumes for
the word a root
varc, 'glisten,'
and
compares
varcas and vrcivat.
Roth,
in a
private lecture,
hinted at a connection with the later
word
varcas,
'
dung,
filth.'
Vala
signiAes originally 'cave;'
and
by
this seems to have
been
signified
at first the cloud-cave which concealed the stolen
rain-cows,
and then,
by
a transition to a
person,
the demon who
had his abode therein. The first
meaning
is
exemplified
in vi.
39. 2:' "Indra tore
open
the untorn roof of the
cave,
he con-
quered
the Panis
by
his words
(alone)
:" cf. x. 62.
2;
138. 1; ii.
12. 3. The second we find in x. 68. 6 :2 "When
Brhaspati
with
fiery glowing
lightning-flashes
split open
the
hiding-place
of Vala
who
jeered
at him :" cf. vi. 18.
5';
viii. 14. 8. But in most cases
a distinction between these two
meanings
is
quite impossible,
and
there are
extremely
few verses in which vala is necessarily a
proper
name.
Vrkadvaras:
only
in ii. 30.
4; apparently
an
epithet
of
Vrtra.
Roth and Grassmann
conjecture vrkadhvaras, 'as harmful as a
wolf.'
Vrsapipra,
'
having lips
like a bull.'
Spoken
of in vii. 99. 4 as
conquered
by
Indra and Visnu:
"
0
heroes, ye destroyed
in battle
the
stratagems
of the demon
Vrsagipra."
Still, the word might
be
merely
an
adjective.
Vyansa.
The word
signifies literally
' with broad
(or
'
crooked')
shoulders.'
According
to iv. 18.
9,
he wounds Indra. He is
mentioned in some half-dozen
verses, together
with
Pipru,
9(usna,
l rujid
arugnaxm vi
valasya
sanum
pan/fir vacobhir abhi
yodhad in-
drah.
2
yada
valisya
pfyato jasum
bh6d
brhaspatir agnitapobhir arkaih.
I dr. irt tle
R;iy-
Veda.
E. D.
Pert/y,
Namuci,
and
others;
but it is
impossible
to determine his charac-
ter more
nearly.
Cf. i. 101.
2; 103..2;
ii. 14.
5;
iii. 34.
3;
in i.
32. 5
vyansa may
be an adjective
qualifying
Vrtra.
fand.ika:
only
in ii. 30.
8,
in
plur. Probably
demons rather
than men.
SSiyana
refers it to the descendants of
(panda,
who
appears
in V. S. as leader of the Asuras.
Vamnbara
appears
very
often,
and as one of the most
dangerous
among
Indra's
opponents.
The word is of
secondary formation,
from
pamba,
which in x. 42. 7
designates
a
weapon
used
by
In-
dra,
and is
explained
in
Naigh.
and Nir. by
vajra.
If the word
pambara
as name of a demon retains its
appellative
force,
then
this is the
only
case known from the R. V. in which a demon
carries the
weapon peculiar
to Indra.
Still,
the word nivividh-
van,
used of
Vyansa
in iv. 18.
9,
seems to
point
to a
regular
weapon
carried
by
the demons.
Roth,
Zur. Lit. u. Gesch. d.
Weda, p. 116,
and
Zimmer,
Altind. Leben,
p. 126, suppose pam-
bara to have been
originally
a
designation
of some
non-Aryan
tribe,
which was afterward transferred to certain demons.
For (9ambara the
following passages
are of
importance:
vi.
47. 21:1 "In the
abiding-place
of the waters the hero slew the
two
higgling
demons Varcin and
Qambara."
In ii. 12. 11 9(am-
bara is called
parvatestu ksiyat,
'
dwelling on the
mountains,'
where
'the mountains'
may
be either those
upon earth,
or the thus
imaginatively
described clouds in the
sky.
In vii. 18. 20:'
"Thou hast killed the
9(ambara,
who
thought
himself a little
god;
thou didst hurl him down from the
heights"-pambara
plainly
designates
a
hostile, non-Aryan tribe;
cf. the other verses of the
hymn,
and vi. 26. 5.
The clouds are called
Qambara's
castles. Indra is said to have
destroyed
ninety-nine
of
them,
or a hundred
(ix.
61. 1,
2;
ii. 14.
6);
and in the latter
case, ninety-nine during
the
day
and the
hundredth at evening (iv. 26.
3),
as an
especial
favor to Divodasa.
According
to ii. 12.
11,
Indra foulnd (Qambara
only
in the fortieth
year:
i. e. it was long before the stolrm broke-the
drought
was
of
long
duration. In iv. 30. 14,
9ambara
is called kaulitara
(' with a numerous family ?').
fusnrta is,
after
Vrtra,
Indra's most
dangerous enemy.
He is a
demon of
drought
and bad
harvest,
and with his destruction fer-
tility
and
prosperity
return to the earth.
Thus,
v. 32. 4 :3 Him
who revelled at will in these
waters,
the son of mist who
delights
to roam in the
darkness,
the demon's
rage
and
9usna himself,
did
Indra,
the thunderer,
who receives the
powerful libations, destroy
with the thunderbolt." The most
significant
of the
epithets
1
ahan dasa
vrqabh6 vasnayantodavraje
varcinami
9ambararm
ca.
2d6vakaih cin
manyamanarii jaghanthava
tmana brhataih
9ambaram
bhet.
3
tyafh
cid ea&h svadhiya
madantam mih6
napatarh suvtdhazm
tamo-
gam:
vfaprabharma
dinavasya
bhlmarh vajrena vajrf
ni
jaghana g91-
;am.
204
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
applied
to (9usna is
kuyava, 'causing
bad harvests.'
(For
Ku-
yava
as an independent
personification
see
above.)
Again,
x. 22.
14 :' "That the
earth, though
without hand or
foot, might
never-
theless
prosper through
the
help
of the
glorious ones,
thou didst
cast down
Qusna
upon
the
right hand,
to the
gain
of the whole
world :" cf. Vil. 3. 8.
(usna
is furth'ermore called
apusa
(proba-
bly
with an intentional
pun upon
his
name),
'greedy,'
a word
used
only
of him and once
(i.
174.
3)
of
Agni;
mdyin,
'
wily' (as
also
Vrtra); prngin,
'
horned;' amdnusa,
'hostile to
mankind;'
and
vrandin, 'enervating,'
which of course refers to the enervat-
ing,
exhausting influence of the
drought upon
all living things
(i.
33.
12;
x. 22.
7;
i. 54.
5).
His
cloud-castles,
which wander
restlessly
about (carisnu
ptur),
are mentioned in i. 103. 8 and
viii. 1. 28. Indra is
besought
to
destroy
his whole
progeny,
viii.
40.
10,
11. The act of
killing
him was an
especial
favor to Kutsa
Arjuneya: i. 63. 3:2 "For the
joyful youth
Kutsa thou didst
smite (usna with his
wagon
in his fort :" cf. iv. 16.
12;
vi. 26. 3;
31.
3;
vii. 19. 2.
The Pet. Dict. derives the word from
/pus-=pvas, 'hiss;'
Grassmann,
from
Ipfus,
'
dry up,
wither,'
which is found once in
the
Rig-Veda
in
composition
with
prati,
and often in the Athar-
van with other
prepositions.
For Roth's view
speaks
the
adjec-
tive
pvasana,
'
snorting,'
in i. 54.
5; yet
Grassmann's derivation
seems to
correspond
better with the
general conception
of this
demon.
Perhaps
even the Indians
forgot
at a
very early
date
the real derivation of the word.
Svarbhanu
('
he who has the
sunlight
in his
power' ?) appears
only
in v.
40,
as a demon who obscures the
sun,
but is slain
by
Indra for Atri.
1
ahasta
yad apadi vardhata ksah
9qcibhir
vedyanam:
9qunam
pari
pradaksinid viqvayave
ni qiqnathah.
2
tvam
qii9snam vrjane prksa
anadi
yfdne kfitsaya
dyumate sicahan.
VOL. XI.
205
27
E. ).
Perry,
INDEX TO PASSAGES TRANSLATED OR EXPLAINED.
V. Page.
. 3 126
. 10 147
. 3 154
6 154
. 4 166
. 2 178
. 1 187
12 200
. 4 184
6 199
13 189
. 6 136
7 175
11 194
14 186
. 10 181
* 1 121
. 1 121
4 120
* 4 131
5
122,
182
7 174
? 3 141
9 187
3 205
. 12 137
. 4 141
.13 138
. 5 161
. 7 161
. 2 184 f.
. 3 180
. 3 201
.9 144
.1 170
3 170
? 4 170
. ] 177 f.
.21 192
.10 139
11 135
? 3 181
5 180
6 182
1-3 140
8 163
2 174
2 161
6 161
1 142
9 147
7,8 136
10 164
19 143
20 143, 199
R. V.
ii. 12. 2
7
13
13. 6
7
10
12
14. 4
15. 2
7
20. 5
8
28. 4
30. 1
2
3
6
10
31. 1
34. 10
14
40. 2
iii. 12. 6
9
30. ]2
13
32. 6
34. 4
10
35. 9
47. 4
48. 4
53. 1
4
55. 19
57. 2
iv. 16. 4
8
17
17. 2
4
6
7
12
18. 1-5
3
8
10-12
19. 7
9
21. 4
22. 4
7
24. 1
Page.
183
185
121
185
185
183
189
200
122
190
200
137
134
185
130
136
164
179
178
145
143
191
171
171
184
184
135
139
185
169
161
176
182
169
147
191
184
141
179
125
125
187
135
125
127
176
127
127
190
190
162
126
138
131
B. V.
iv. 24. 10
28. 1
30. 18
22
32. 17-21
22
33. 9
35. 7
41. 2
42. 1-10
4
57. 7
v. 2. 8
5. 3
29. 4
7
10
30. 6
31. 4
8
11
32. 3
4
10
40. 6
51. 10
vi. 4. 3
17. 10
11
18. 2
6
19. 7
20. 2
22. 10
27. 3
31. 2
37. 2
39. 2
45. 1
47. 21
56. 2
57. 2-4
59. 1
2
60. 2
68. 2
3
69. 2
8
72. 1-4
vii. 6. 1
18. 20
20. 5
206
R.
i. 6
13
17.
18
20
33.
51
52.
53
54,
55
56
61
62,
63.
80.
83.
84
100
101
102
103.
104
105
108
109.
111.
116.
121.
122.
131.
132.
133.
135.
155.
170.
171.
187.
188.
ii. 11.
Page.
196 f.
164
181
185
186
131
177
178
155
156 f.
122
191
152, 172
169
201
171
189
138, 161
178
189
184
136
204
121
184
151
200
176
191 f.
121
186 f.
187
173
181
195
121
165
203
189
204
191
190 f.
130
130, 132
171
155
151
173
174
164
168
204
129
Indra in the
Rig-
Veda.
Page.
135
195
153 f.
188
188
178
131
168
155
154
155
155
155
153
155
154 f.
150
163
166
150
124
173,
203
173
140
197
167
199
126
142
161
138
150
143
185
140
183
199
183
169
It. V.
viii. 40. 5
45. 4
5
58. 4
15
59. 4
63. 10
65. 4
66. 1
1-3
5
10
81. 14
30
82. 5
85. 3
6
7
15
87. 2
91. 8
ix. 83. 4
86. 1
99. 3
101. 13
x. 10. 15
17. 3
22. 1
14
28 6
7
32. 6
38. 5
45. 3
46. 3
48. 2
11
49. 6
Page.
171
128
128
130
129
126
168
139
131
128
167
175
131
188
195
161
152,
186
137
166
185
147
168
143
165
202
147
191
153
205
129
137
172
181
169
142 f.
143
178
202
-v
R. V.
x. 49. 10
52. 5
54. 3
5
66. 3
68. 6
73. 1
4
10
86. 11
89. 4
8
92. 8
95. 7
101. 12
111. 2
4
6
113. 3
4
5
8
120. 1
6
124. 1-9
131. 4
5
134. 1
138. 6
139. 4
6
144. 3
153. 1
2
167. 1
171. 2
'al. 3. 8
4. 3
ERRATA.
p. 138, 1. 42:
for
130. 13 read 130. 3.
151, 33-4:
for
viii. 82. 6 read vii. 82. 6.
199, 10:
for
111. 14 read 111. 4.
R. V.
vii. 21. 3
26. 4
28. 4
32. 18
19
47. 2
56. 2
79. 3
82. 2
3
5
6
83. 9
84. 2
85. 2
3
4
90. 5
97. 9
98. 3
99. 3
4
5
104. 22
viii. 1. 5
11
3. 19
6. 28-30
7. 24
31
12. 6
14
16
30
14. 14
15. 2
32. 3
36. 4
38. 1
207
Page.
177
171
132,
183
185
178
203
130
192
130
196
183
152
121
129
131,
149
132
199
138
135
182
152
138
130
142
159
f.
192,
201 f.
192
129
185
167
167
199 f.
129
131
165
202
183
153,
173
208 E. D.
Perry.
SYNOPSIS OF THE FOREGOING ARTICLE.
Page
I. Introduction;
Indra's
Significance
in
Nature,
- - -
117
II. Indra's
Origin,
- - - - - - -
124
Physical Conceptions,
- - 125
Anthropomorphic Conceptions,
- - - -
127
Vague
Statements concerning
Indra's
Parents,
- - - 129
Conceptions
of Indra's
Origin
which rest
upon Speculation,
130
III. Fields of Indra's Activity,
and his Relations to other Divinities and
to his
Worshippers,
- - - - 133
Battles with
Superhuman Enemies, particularly
with Demons who
steal Water and
Light,
- - - - - - 133
Sarama,
the
Angirases,
and the Panis,
- - - - 140
Indra and Trita,
Vigvarupa,
- - - - - 142
lndra's Relations with the
Adityas,
and the development
of the
Indra-mythus,
- - - - - - 148
Indra and the Maruts,
- - - - - - 160
Indra and
Vayu,
- - - - - - 162
Indra and Soma,
- - - - - - - 163
Indra and
Brhaspati
(Brahmanaspati),
-
- - 165
Indra and Gandharva,
- - - - - - 166
Indra and
Agni,
- - - - - -
168
Indra and Visnu,
- - - - - - 172
Indra and Tvastar,
- .
- - -
175
Indra and the Rbhus,
- - - - - - 177
Indra as Chief of the Vasus,
- - - -
178
Indra's Battles with Human Enemies,
- - - -
179
Indra and Parvata,
- - - - - -
181
Indra's Cosmogonic Labors,
- - - - - -
182
Indra's Benevolence,
and his Relations with his Worshippers,
-
186
Indra and Pusan,
- - - - -
- 190
Indra and the A9vins,
- - - - -
192
IV. Descriptions
of Indra's Person,
- - - -
- 193
APPENDIX: Demons mentioned by name,
with whom Indra
fights,
-
199
INDEX to
Passages
translated or
explained,
-
-
-
206