INDRA (from the Sanskrit id, which probably meant "to see, to discover," hence literally, " he who sees or discovers," sell., the doings of the world) is the name of one of those Hindu deities that were worshiped more especially in the Vedic period of the Hindu religion, but enjoyed a great legendary popularity also in the Epic and Puranic periods. Sec INDIA, sect. Religion. In that class of Rig-Veda hymns which there is reason to look upon as the oldest portion of Vedic poetry, the character of Indra is that of a mighty ruler of the bright firmament, and his principal feat is that of conquering the demon Vritra, a symbolical personification of the cloud which obstructs the clear ness of the sky, and withholds the fructifying rain from the earth. In his battles with Vritra, he is therefore described as " opening the receptacles of the waters," as " ing the cloud " with his " far-whirling thunderbolt," as "casting the waters down to earth," and " restoring the sun to the sky." He is, in consequence, " the upholder of heaven, earth, and firmament," and the god "who has engendered the sun and the dawn." And since the atmospherical phenomena personified in this conception are ever and ever recurring, he is "undecaying " and "ever youthful." All the wonderful deeds of Indra, however, are performed by him merely for the benefit of the good, which in the language of the Veda means the pious men who worship him in their songs, and invigorate him with the offerings of the juice of the some plant. See INDIA, sect. Religion. is therefore the "lord of the virtuous," and the " discomfiter of those who neglect religious rites." Many other epithets, which we have not space to enumerate, illustrate the same conception. It is on account of the paramount influence which the deeds of India exercise on the material happiness of man, that this deity occupies a foremost rank in the Vedic worship, and that a greater number of invoca tions are addressed to him than to any other of the gods. But to understand the gradual expansion of his mythical character, and his ultimate degradation to an inferior position in the Hindu pantheon of a later period, it is necessary to bear in mind that, however much the Vedic poets call Indra the protector of the pious and virtuous, be is in their songs essentially a warlike god, and gradually endowed by imagination, not only with the qualities of a mighty, but also of a self-willed king. The legends which represent him in this light seem, it is true, to belong to a later class of the Rig-Veda hymns, but they show that the original conception of Indra excluded from his nature those ethical considerations which in time changed the pantheon of elementary gods into one of a different stamp. Whether the idea of an incarnation of the deity, which, at the Epic and Puranie periods, played so important a part in the history of Vishnu, did not exercise its influence as early as the composition of some of the Vedic hymns in honor of Indra, may at least be matter of doubt. He is, for instance, frequently invoked as the destroyer of cities—of seven, of ninety-nine, even of a hundred cities— and he is not only repeatedly called the slayer of the hostile tribes which surrounded the Aryan Hindus, but some of the chiefs slain by him are enumerated by name. The
commentators, of course, turn those "robbers" and their "chiefs" into demons, and their cities into celestial abodes; but as it is improbable that all these names should be nothing but personifications of clouds destroyed by the thunderbolt of Indra, it is, to say the least, questionable _whether events in the early history of India may net have been associated with the deeds of Indra himself, in like manner as, at the Epic period, mortal heroes were looked upon as incarnations of Vishnu, and mortal deeds trans formed into exploits of this god.
The purely kingly character of Indra assumes its typical shape in the ilitarega-Rria rnana, where his installation as lord of the inferior gods is described with much mys tical detail; and from that time he continues to be the supreme lord of the minor gods, and the type of a mortal king. During the Epic and Purilnic periods, where ethical conceptions of the divine powers prevail over ideas based on elementary impressions, Indra ceases to enjoy the worship he had acquired at the Vedic time, and his existence IS chiefly upheld by the poets, who, in their turn, however, work it out in the most fan tastical detail. Of the eight guardians of the world, lie is then the one who presides over the cast, and he is still the god who sends rain and wields the thunderbolt; but poetry is more engrossed by the beauty of his paradise, Swarga, the happy abode of the inferior gods, and of those pious men who attain it after death in consequence of hav ing, during life, properly discharged their religious duties; by the charms of his heav enly nymphs, the Apsarasaa, who now and then descend so earth, to disturb the equa nimity of austere penitents; by the musical performances of his choristers, the Gand harms; by the splendor of his capital, Amariltati • by the fabulous beauty of his garden, Icandana, etc. A remarkable trait in this legendary life of India is the series of his conflicts with Krishna, an ,incarnation of Vishnu, which end, however, in his becoming reconciled with the More-impertant god. As the god who is emphatically called the god of the hundred sacrifices (Satukratu), Indra is jealous of every mortal who may have the presumption of aiming at the performance of that number of sacrifices, for the accomplishment of such an intention would raise the sacrificer to a rank equal to that which lie occupies. He is therefore ever at hand to disturb sacrificial acts which may expose him to the danger of having his power shared by another Indra. According to the Puranas, the reign of this god Indra, who is frequently also called Sakra, or the mighty, does not last than the first munwantaru, or mundane epoch. After each successive destruction of the world, a new Indra was created, together with other gods, saints, awl mortal beings. Thus, the Indra of the second manwautara is Vipa.i-; chit; of the third, Suseinti; of the fourth,Sivi; of the fifth, Vibhu; of the sixth, Mann ? Java; and the Indra of the present age is Purandaru. When represented in works of art, Indra is generally seen riding ou his elephant; and where he is painted he is cov ered with eyes.