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Indra
In Hindu mythology, the king of the gods. He is one of the most important gods
of the archaic Sanskrit collection of hymns, the Rigveda, and is the
Indo-European cousin of the German Wotan, Norse Odin, Greek Zeus, and Roman
Jupiter.
In early spiritual texts Indra performs a wide range of roles. As king, he leads
cattle raids in opposition to the dasas or dasyus, native inhabitants of the
lands over which his individuals range. He brings rain as god of the
thunderbolt, and he's the good warrior who conquers the antigods (asuras). He
also defeats innumerable human and superhuman enemies, most famously Vritra, a
dragon and a leader of the dasa. Vritra is accused in his dragon form of holding
again the waters and the rains, as a dasa of stealing cows, and as an antigod of
hiding the Sun. Indra is strengthened for these feats by drinks of the elixir of
immortality, the soma, which clergymen provide to him in the sacrifice. Amongst
his allies are the Rudras (or Maruts), who trip the clouds and direct storms.
Indra is usually known as “the thousand-eyed.”
In later Hinduism, Indra is now not worshipped but plays the important
mythological roles of god of rain, regent of the heavens, and guardian of the
east. Later texts word this break within the worship of Indra. In the
Mahabharata, the great Sanskrit epic, Indra fathers the nice hero Arjuna and
tries in vain to stop the god of fire, Agni, from burning an incredible forest.
In the Puranas, historical collections of Hindu myths and legends, Krishna, the
good god and avatar of Vishnu, persuades the cowherders of Gokula (or Vraja,
modern Gokul) to cease their worship of Indra. Enraged, Indra sends down
torrents of rain, but Krishna lifts Mount Govardhana on his fingertip and gives
the folks shelter beneath it for seven days till Indra relents and pays him
homage.
In portray and sculpture, Indra is usually depicted riding his white elephant,
Airavata. Indra also performs a component within the Jain and Buddhist mythology
of India. When Mahavira, the Jain saviour and reformer, lower off his hair to
signify his renunciation of the world, Indra, as king of the gods, acquired the
hair into his hands. In Buddhist mythology, Indra is sometimes mocked and is
sometimes portrayed as a mere
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