IN'DRA. The great national god of Vedie India. Although Indra lost his supremacy through the rise of Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu, he is still preserved as n figure in the Hindu pantheon. As represented in the Veda (q.v.), he is primarily the god of the lightning and thunder, with the attendant plietionn•na of the storm, wind, and rain; by vanquishing the demons of drought and darkness he restores time sun to the sky, the light of dawn, nail the day. The realm of his aetivity is the at mosphere; and the many hymns of the Rig Veda that are devoted to his praise—far out numbering those to any other god—are rich in meteorological imagery and poetic allusions to natural phenomena. Armed with the thunder bolt (rajra), his special We/11)011, inspired by copious draughts of intoxicating sumo, his fa vorite beverage, he goes forth to do battle with the demons, Vritra, who, wrapped like a choking serpent about the clouds, has shut. up the waters as prisoners. One of the hymns that describes this battle and the god's triumph over the dragon (Pig-Veda 1.32) is an epic in minia ture. As the god of battles, lndra is looked upon in the historical hymns of the Veda as the royal patron of the vietorious Aryans in their eontliets with the aboriginal inhabitants of India. Ills supremacy during the whole Vedic period is unquestioned; the more ethical and transcenden tal Vanilla is no rival to his prowess.
In the later mythology a change takes place; India gradually sinks to a secondary rank among the gods. Ilis installation as god of the lesser divinities is described in the .1 itaralm-Ilrahlnaya ; and from that time onward he becomes rather a figurehead in the pantheon, and the type of a mortal king, than the former supreme lord of heaven. The Epic and Puranic periods distinctly show that he has ceased to enjoy the worship accorded him in Vedie times. He remains ruler of the atmosphere, it is true, and one of the eight world-guardians. regent of the eastern quarter of the sky, wielding his thunderbolt and sending down rain, but his real power is gone.
Instead of descriptions of him as the great god of battles. nraises are lavished on the delights of his paradise. Srarga, with its heavenly musi cians and enchanting nymphs, the Gandharras and .Ipsarasas, and all the joys of this happy abode of the gods and faithful worshipers. Like the later writings, the epics bring to view the sensual side of Indra's character in his arfours with Alialya. the wife of a sage—a hit of scandal as old as the Brahmanas. Tn eonse quenee of the curses of the outraged seer, the god was doomed Co lose his virile power; the conqueror Indra ceases to he invincible, even a son of the demon Havana vanquishes him, as told in the Paniagaya, and wins the title Indra-jit, victor over Indra. for his prowess. The Purayas likewise describe him as worsted by the rising god Krishna. an incarnation of Vishnu, and they name various successors of Indra as rulers in the different manvantaras, or ages of the world.
Among the Hindus at present Indra is little worshiped. In Bengal a single day of the year is consecrated to his service, and, on occasions of drought, he is prayed to in other parts of the country. But Indra the mighty is no more. His golden chariot in the Veda is now replaced by an elephant on which he is generally repre sented as riding, and the thunderbolt is grasped in his hand. The face and body are sometimes portrayed as covered with figures resembling eyes, into which they are said to have been mercifully transformed from the thousand vile marks that came out upon his person in conse quence of the curse brought upon him for his incontinency with Alialya. For a full descrip tion of Indra during the Vedic period, consult: Perry, "Indra in the Rig-Veda," in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. xi. (New Haven, 1880), and Vedic Mythology (Strassburg, 1897) ; for the later Indra, consult also Dowson, Hindu Mythology (London, 1879) ; Hopkins, Religions of India (Boston, 1895) ; Wilson, Hindu Mythology (2d ed.. London, 1900) .