Description
The Rigveda has about 250 hymns to Indra, and every one speaks of a single god. He is born. His mother hides him. He kills Vritra and frees the rivers.
So where did "Indra is just a post" come from?
Buddhist texts made him Sakka, a job a brahmin youth named Magha earned with seven vows. A Jataka even says that Magha was the Buddha in a past life.
In the Jain Ramayana, the Indra Ravana defeats is only a Vidyadhara king, freed on condition he sweeps Lanka every day.
The Mahabharata shows four old Indras locked in Shiva's cave.
The Vishnu Purana gives every age its own Indra. Today it's Purandara. The next one? Bali, son of Virochana. An asura.
And in the Brahmavaivarta, a boy laughs at a line of ants. Every one of them was once Indra.
Indra stood for the old order. The new traditions had to bring him down to rise.
The Rigveda's Indra had a mother. A chair doesn't.
Which Indra did you grow up hearing about: the Vedic god, or the post? 👇
📜 Source: Rigveda 2.12, 4.18, 1.32 · Samyutta Nikaya 11.12 · Jataka 31 · Vimalasuri's Paumacariya · Mahabharata Adi Parva 199 · Vishnu Purana 3.1–3.2 · Brahmavaivarta Purana, Krishna Janma Khanda 47
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