The Ascent and Decline
of Indra in Hindu Mythology
Indo-European Roots
to Modern Practices
| “Indra, when you killed the first-born of dragons and overcame by your own magic the magic of the magicians, at that very moment you brought forth the sun, sky, and dawn. Since then you have found no enemy to conquer you.” Rg Veda, I.32.4 |
No one stays
in power forever--a fact that is written all over the history of mortals
in India. The power-brokers of the Indus River civilization saw their
decline at the hands of nature and the seemingly unending hoards of immigrants
from Afghanistan. Yet, these Indo-European tribes, too saw their
own power over South Asia eclipsed by invaders from Turkey, the Mughals,
and later Arabs. In turn, these Muslim empires also collapsed, giving
power over to the British merchant and administrative forces. Nevertheless,
the great empire-builders of Europe, who once felt themselves impenetrable,
also saw their
fortunes in India turn in face of
massive public resistance and a soft-spoken man named Gandhi. If
the lives of human beings in India were so tumultuous, what about those
of the gods? An examination of divine history, too, reveals a telling
story of rises and falls from power. Perhaps the most illustrious
reign and steepest fall came in the form of Indra, the rain and war god
who saw his rise to power over the ancient Dyaus-Pitar but who himself
lost his position as supreme god over the centuries to a host of figures,
including Prajapati, Visnu, and Rudra/Siva.
Even before
the Indo-Iranians who had settled on the plains of Afghanistan began their
own diaspora into modern day Iran and India (hence the name Indo-Iranians),
their occurred, near the Caspian Sea, and even greater diaspora that flung
peoples and cultures to the far corners of the Eurasia. This group
of people, referred to as the Indo-Europeans, shared more than a living
space--they enjoyed a common culture and a common language. The products
of their shared linguistic experience can be seen today in the family of
languages that stretches from Iceland in the north and west to India in
the south and east. Their shared culture, however, also left imprints
on the practices of their descendants, including their mythology.
A study
of early Indian mythology, however, reveals that the early Aryan immigrants
to South Asia had made a clear and distinctive break from their brethren
in Europe in terms of their pantheon. One of the most striking features
of similarity between different Indo-European mythological traditions is
the constant reappearance of a god that Muller terms “the heavenly father1.”
This figure, in several traditions, appears to be nothing short of the
supreme god who rules over the pantheon of other deities, often commanding
the skies and the heavens at his will. Clear examples of this icon
can be seen in the Hellenic Zeus Pater and the Italic Jupiter alongside
the Nordic Tyr2. The leitmotiv of
a heavenly-father as supreme god indicates a possible origin in the mythology
of the Caspian Sea peoples.
In India,
however, the central role of the heavenly father, as seen in the Greek
and Roman traditions, does not exist by the time of the Rg Veda, the earliest
example of mythology from the Indo-European in habitants of South Asia.
Instead, early Hindu mythology undoubtedly terms Indra, the ruler of storms
and rain, as king of the gods and supreme ruler of the heavens. Indra’s
role as lord of the storms and rain certainly lead to some speculation
that Indra is simply the Indian manifestation of this heavenly father.
However, such assertions become complicated when examining the existence
of another Vedic god--Dyaus-Pitar. The name is a direct cognate of
the Greek and Roman heavenly-fathers, but in the Rg Veda, Dyaus plays but
a shadow of the role enjoyed by his counterparts in the Hellenic city-states
and Italy.
Dyaus and
his companion mother Earth, in the mythology of the Rg Veda, sometimes
serve as parents or guardians for the world, but not truly as active participants
and even less as rulers3. Indra,
instead, has usurped much of the original role of Dyaus (as we might have
expected to see him in proto-Indo European mythology) into his figure as
supreme god. The reasons for this can never clearly be understood
or explained if for no other reason that the lack of any direct extant
mythology from the transitional period when Indra was still gaining Dyaus’
role. Nevertheless, the environment of India can provide a possible
explanation for Indra’s rise to power:
| “Dyaus...representing the bright
blue sky or the starry heavens (was) the highest (deity) of the Aryans
in their original home. In India they came to a country where for
months together the earth is exposed to the scorching rays of the sun,
sometimes without a single shower, so that it is impossible for the fields
to be ploughed or the seed to be sown. It is not surprising, therefore,
that a god in whose hands are the thunder and lightning, at whose command
the refreshing showers fall to render the earth fruitful, should most frequently
be appealed to,
and that the most laudatory songs should be addressed to him.4” |
By the time
of the earliest Veda, there is little doubt as to the supremacy of Indra.
Dyaus has been removed from the forefront of devotion and Indra, with his
thunderbolt has assumed the place at the head of the Hindu pantheon:
| Even the sky and the earth bow low before him, and the mountains are terrified of his hot breath; he who is known as the Soma-drinker, with the thunderbolt in his hand, with the thunder-bolt in his palm, he, my people, is Indra.5 |
Nevertheless his dominion stretches
far beyond the sky and the earth, as this compilation of verses from the
Rg Veda indicates:
| He is the king. He, the thunderwielder, is the king of all that moves and moves not and of creatures, which are tame and horned. Over all living men he rules as sovereign containing all as spokes with the felly...He is the king of both worlds. He is the lord of heavenly treasures and all terrestrial wealth that earth possesses. He is the lord of people....He is unrivaled suzerain of the whole universe...He is the master of the whole animate world, heaven, people, tribes, movements, energy, strong luster, rivers full of bounties, and joyous song...He is the only lord of this universe.6 |
As the proto-typical
warrior, soma drinker, and cow-thief, he exemplifies the very values of
the Aryan culture as it continued its migration into Northern India.
He is, indeed, the most prominent and favored of the gods:
| The Vedas leave no doubt that Indra, the darling of Vedic Indians, is the most prominent of all deities, one who is looked up to as a model more than anybody else.7 |
This strong devotion and reverence
for Indra even leads to his strong influence in the structure of the Rg
Veda:
| Indra...is eulogized in 250 hymns or almost a quarter of the whole collection.8 |
As the march
of history continues through the Vedic period, Indra, for a time, maintains
his stance as supreme god and king of the Hindu pantheon. In fact,
once could argue that Indra in fact gains importance:
| Indra is also described here (in the Yajur Veda) as a god who stays out of our vision and listens to our prayers and helps us to follow the path of rta. This god Indra is also described as identical with the Supreme One. On the microcosmic lines Indra is described as individual soul within the human body.9 |
His position, too is maintained in
the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda:
| In the Atharvaveda also, Indra is celebrated as the highest lord.10 |
Indra’s
unchallenged march of power, however, end’s with the early Vedic period.
The texts that follow the four original Vedas all, in one way or another,
begin the long process of chipping away at Indra’s influence over the Hindu
pantheon. From the “Supreme One” Indra falls into a position of relative
unimportance even as early as the later phases of the Vedic period.
Perhaps
the earliest example of Indra’s decline can be found from the Black Yajur
Veda, a transitory text that claims to be a version of the Yajur Veda,
but is in fact more closely a Brahamana stylistically. Here, the
ancient tale of Indra and Vrtra is retold with some added twists.
First among them is the accusation that Indra is guilty of the major crime
of brahminicide not once, but twice. In killing Visvarupa, the son
of Tvastr, a brahmin, and later Vrtra, another son of Tvastr, Indra accumulates
a massive amount of guilt that must be absolved. This is only done
by appealing to other forces, including the Earth, women, Agni, and Soma11.
While the
particular episode in the Black Yajur Veda may have only been an attempt
at explaining the origins of certain natural features by attributing their
creation to this absolution of guilt, the very fact that Indra is guilty
of such a grave sin is telling. In the early Vedic period, Indra
was unquestionably the most supreme of the gods and above all others.
However, here Indra is seen as fallible by committing an error against
rta or dharma and thus must seek solace in others; a minor detail, perhaps,
but the first step in Indra’s steady decline.
In the
later texts of the Brahmanasand the Upanisads, Indra’s position
as supreme god is made problematic by the rise of a reconfigured Vedic
god--Prajapati. In the Vedas, Prajapati is one among many gods who
is credited with creation. In fact, Indra himself has a creation
story. In the late Vedic texts, however, Prajapati becomes central
to the emerging consolidated version of cosmogony. The rise of a
single creator god becomes important in terms of Indra’s role as the supreme
god when Prajapati’s creative role is associated with brahma or it’s personification
Brahma--an already existent idea of a universal soul. It is this
god who in fact creates the world (including the gods) and sets things
into motion. Even Indra, as one of the thirty-three Vedic gods, springs
from him as demonstrated in the Taittiriya Brahmana:
| Brahma generated the gods. Brahma generated this entire world...Within him are all these worlds. Within him is this entire universe. It is Brahma who is the greatest of beings. Who can vie with him? In Brahma the thirty-three gods...(and)...all beings are contained as in a ship.12 |
By ultimately crediting Brahma with
the creation of everything, including the gods, the authors of the Brahmanas
imply that Indra can no longer be the “greatest of beings,” a position
that was unchallenged in the Vedas.
Indra’s
inferiority to Brahma is further implied in the Upanisads, a philosophical
group of texts concerned with explaining the Vedas in a changing social
and cultural atmosphere. An example of this is found in the Chandogya
Upanisad. The eighth
khanda of the text describes an
exchange between Brahma and Indra where the war god seeks knowledge on
the nature of the individual soul from the grandfather. Here, once
again it is implied that Indra is inferior to Brahma who is explaining
to Indra the nature of things, becoming, in a manner of speaking, his guru13.
This relationship in itself implies the inferiority of Indra to Brahma
becomes Indra must learn from a superior being.
The Kena
Upanisad implies another example of Indra’s inferior status to Brahma by
attributing Indra’s very crown to Indra’s realization of Brahma as the
supreme force:
| Therefore, verily, Indra is above the other gods, as it were; for he touched It nearest, for he first knew it was Brahma.14 |
Indra is king of the gods only because
he realized that the force perplexing the gods, the force that had overpowered
even Agni and Soma, was in fact Brahma. While the implication of
Indra’s subservience to Brahma is clear in the Brahmanas and the
Upanisads,
Indra, for the most part, retains the power associated with his position
as king of the gods and the proto-typical warrior. While Brahma is
now unquestionably regarded as the creator god, and thus above Indra in
that he teaches him
and in fact brought him into existence,
Brahma does not usurp any of Indra’s functions as a warrior or king.
Nevertheless, Indra does experience a loss of function in beginning in
the epic period as another Vedic god rises to power--Visnu.
Visnu,
like Prajapati and Indra, is mentioned in the Rg Veda, however, unlike
the two other gods, Visnu can almost be described as a minor or demi-god.
In fact, the only major function that Visnu has in the original text is
that of being a dwarf and taking three steps to save the world. However,
as the Vedic period drew to a close, a cult grew around Visnu, ultimately
becoming one of the powerful shapers of modern Hinduism. One example
of their power was the eventual take-over of the epics and their reconfiguration
into Vaisnava texts which propound the supremacy of Visnu.
One of
the most striking aspects of Indra’s descent from his position of power,
however, is not internal to the epics, but rather a consequence of the
popularity of the Ramayana, the first of the two great Indian epics15.
During the Vedic age, the role of Indra as the divine king led many human
kings to associate themselves with him by including Indra in their own
names. This use of Indra, however, as the proto-typical king was
usurped by the hero Rama (an incarnation of Visnu). The popularity
of the epic propelled Valmiki’s protagonist to become the ideal king, and
consequently, kings across South Asia and even in South East Asia invoked
Rama, and not Indra, in their names. Within the text of the Ramayana
itself there are also several clues as to the fall of Indra from his role
as supreme god in favor of Visnu. An example of this can be seen
in the appeal for help against Ravana. In the Rg Veda appeals for
help to the gods, such as when the cows needed to be rescued from the mountain,
were answered by the warrior Indra. In a later version of the Ramayana
(that is, not the critical edition), it is Visnu who receives the plea
of help from Earth to rescue her from the burden of the demon Ravana.
A similar
episode occurs in the Mahabharata (once again, not in the critical edition)
when the Earth again appeals to Visnu, but this time to relieve herself
of the burden of too many warriors. It is Visnu who receives the
plea for help and it is Visnu
who must descend into the mortal
world to save her from the burden of the warriors--a role that was once
held by Indra.
In the figure of incarnations
in the Mahabharata, too, the decline of Indra is apparent. Legend
holds that Krsna-Vasudeva is the incarnation of Visnu while Arjuna, according
to the critical edition itself, is the son of Indra. When Krsna-Vasudeva
is
serving as Arjuna’s charioteer,
the incarnation of Visnu reveals himself as the supreme being and creator
of the universe, and Arjuna bows before him as a disciple and devotee.
Although indirect, the implication is clear: Indra is subservient to Visnu16.
The Mahabharata
contains other examples of Visnu’s rise at the expense of Indra in the
secondary stories that are narrated to the Pandavas during their forest
exile. An example of this is the retelling of a story found in the
Brahmanas and alluded to in the Rg Veda concerning Cyavana, a Bhargava
sage. In the Mahabharata version of the tale, Cyavana, as a reward
to Asvins for the restoration of his youth, include the twin gods in the
sacrifice, an event that Indra objects to and threatens to avenge.
When Cyavana refuses to heed Indra’s warnings, the king of the gods attempts
to humble the sage. In the end, however, it is Cyavana who humbles
Indra by suspending his arm in mid-air and sending a demon after the king
of the gods:
| When (Cyavana) had been addressed in this way (by Indra), the Bhargava, smiling and looking at Indra, offered the soma and an excellent ladle to the Asvins in the proper fashion. Then (Indra) started to the hurl the dreadful thunderbolt at him. But the Bhargava paralyzed his arm as he was throwing it. When he had paralyzed (Indra) the very powerful Cyavana recited mantras and made offerings to the fire for the sake of (producing) an evil spirit...intent on destroying the god (Indra).17 |
In order to regain his strength,
Indra must ask for Cyavana’s grace:
| The god (Indra) saw (the demon) with his terrible face, coming like death about to ear (him) with gaping jaws. The king of the gods, his arm paralyzed, licked the corners of his mouth repeatedly in fear. Oppressed with fear he spoke to Cyavana. ‘The Asvins shall be worthy of soma from now on...No undertaking of yours shall be in vain. Let this be the supreme rule...Be gracious to me, since what I did served to show your power.’18 |
The image of Indra suspended by a
human sage, sitting in fear while a demon approaches is a direct antithesis
to the Indra seen throughout the Rg Veda who fearlessly conquered demons
and who couldn’t be challenged by anyone. The omnipotent and supreme
Indra is now impotent through the supreme power of a human sage.
Indra’s
role as the supreme god and unvanquished conqueror of the demons has now
been lost to him. Brahma originally deprived him of his role as the
supreme being by usurping the functions of the creator god and bringing
Indra into the fold as one of his creations. The process was simply
continued under Visnu where Indra comes to acknowledge Visnu as the supreme
god, higher than even he. Cyavana provides the final and most compelling
evidence of Indra’s fall for now the once-supreme god is bowing even before
mortals. As if the fall thus far wasn’t enough, the next great phase
in Hindu mythology--the Puranas provide further evidence of Indra’s humility
and humiliation before other gods of the Hindu pantheon and humans.
Furthermore,
Indra is acknowledged as inferior to the now powerful Siva. In a
similar story to that Cyavana in the
Mahabharata, the Puranas
also provide for the overpowering of Indra by human hands. In the
Vaisnava tale of the churning of the ocean, the narrator describes, once
again, an Indra who is laid impotent by a powerful human sage. This
time, however, the sage is made angry by Airavata’s (Indra’s elephant)
rejection of a garland given by the sage Durvasas. The powerful sage
curses Indra to be powerless in all three worlds. When the forces
of good are finally defeated across the three worlds that Indra is to protect,
the gods, including Indra, must run to Brahma for help. Brahma directs
the party to Visnu, describing him as the only god who can rescue the world
from Indra’s impotence. In this way, the previously established superiority
of Brahma over Indra is furthered to place Visnu over Brahma himself, and
only by pleas to Visnu can the world be saved--this time by Visnu’s churning
of the ocean19.
Again a
human is able to suspend the power of the king of the gods. This
time, though, Indra loses command over the three worlds, a power he cannot
recover until he begs Visnu for help. Indra’s fate as
subservient to others is now only being reinforced because even if Visnu
chose to restore Indra as king of the three worlds, the Puranas
only continue to deny him any dominion. Now, however, it is also
to the god Siva.
Siva did
not emerge as a contender for the position of supreme god until the beginning
of the Puranas when early Shaivite devotees began to tell the story of
Rudra’s rise to power and reconfiguration into the modern god Siva.
However, Siva quickly
eclipses Indra, revealing how low
the once powerful god has fallen in the Hindu pantheon, below Brahma, Visnu,
Siva, and even powerful humans.
An example of this is the
episode of Daksa’s sacrifice where Indra and the other gods attend a sacrifice
offered by one Siva’s enemies. Not surprisingly, Siva is not invited,
but when the god hears of the sacrifice he immediately arrives in a fit
of rage. To
punish the insolence and inability
of the gods to recognize Siva as the supreme lord, the ganas begin an attack
of the other deities:
| Virabhadra too, his soul afire, gleefully paralyzed the outstretched hand of Sakra and those of the other deities as well.20 |
Indra is now also humiliated in the
face of Siva and his army of ganas. Perhaps saddest of all, however,
in the story of Indra’s fall is what happens to him after the great mythological
texts of Hinduism were written. Although Indra’s decline brought
him into the subservience of Brahma, Visnu and Siva over time, at least
Hindus continued to recognize even the shadow of importance that Indra
once had by making an effort to gauge the newly important gods by the Vedic
standard. After the Puranas, and even in modern Hinduism,
however, Indra has dropped into relative obscurity, serving no important
role in Hinduism inside or outside of the ritual.
Individual
bhakti movements abandoned Indra and the pantheon for the monotheistic
views of Siva and especially Visnu. Meanwhile, Ganesa gained a growing
importance in the modern Hindu prayer to the gods. Indra, on the
other hand, has
retreated from king of the gods
and the supreme being to what may have very well been his original function
when the Aryan immigrants entered the Indian sub-continent--the rain god21.
It is only in this context today that Indra is recognized as a modern god,
all of the grandeur of his rain and his deeds being stored in a ritualistic
past that rarely finds expression today.
Nevertheless,
the question begs to be asked, how could Indra, the most powerful god of
the Vedic pantheon, fall into such obscurity? Perhaps the answer
lies in Indra’s own rise to power at the expense of Dyaus-Pitar.
Indra was only able to come to power over the other gods because of the
climactic changes experienced by the proto-Hindus in northern India.
It is very possible that other changes in the Indian sub-continent after
the early Vedic period, especially in the area of culture and society,
led to the steady decline of Indra and further changes in the lives of
Hindus could just as easily alter the modern triumvirate of Brahma, Visnu,
and Siva--three gods who came to power at the expense of Indra, the destroyer
of cities and conqueror of Vrtra.