Indra
Indra South and Central AsiaKing of the gods in the Rig Veda, the early collection of Hindu hymns, Indra has authority over the firmament, dispensing rain and thunderbolts at his pleasure. He won his position by slaying Vritra, or Ahi, the serpent of drought, who had swallowed the cosmic waters and lay in coils on the mountains. The decisive thunderbolt split the stomach of Ahi, releasing the waters, generating life, and liberating the dawn. This victory of a sky god over the snake, the embodiment of mother earth, is a very old myth. For the Greeks it was a zealous earth goddess, Hera, sister and consort of Zeus, the paternal sky god, who sent her snake attendants to kill Hercules, the child of a clandestine affair between Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene.
Indra rescued the sacred cows of the gods from the asuras, or demons, and pitted his strength against human foes on the battlefield, where his presence was signalled by a rainbow in...
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