| Type: | Hindu |
| Parents: | Kashyapa andAditi (according to the Puranas)[1] |
| Devanagari: | इन्द्र |
| Sanskrit Transliteration: | Indra |
| Affiliation: | Adityas, Deva, Dikpala, Parjanya |
| Other Names: | Devendra, Mahendra, Surendra, Surapati, Suresha, Devesha, Devaraja, Amaresha, Parjanya, Vendhan, |
| Children: | Jayanta, Rishabha, Midhusha, Jayanti, Devasena (Shashthi), Vali and Arjuna |
| Festivals: | Indra Jatra, Indra Vila, Raksha Bandhan, Lohri, Sawan, Deepavali |
| Siblings: | Adityas including Surya, Varuna, Bhaga, Aryaman, Mitra, Savitr and Vamana |
| God Of: | King of the Devas King of Svarga God of Weather, Lightning, Thunder, Storms and Rain |
| Abode: | Amarāvati, the capital of Indraloka in Svarga[2] |
| Weapon: | Vajra (thunderbolt), Astras, Indrastra, Aindrastra, |
| Consort: | Shachi |
| Mount: | Airavata (white elephant), Uchchaihshravas (white horse), A divine chariot yoked with eight horses |
| Symbols: | Vajra, Indra's net |
| Texts: | Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads |
| Greek Equivalent: | Zeus |
| Mantra: | Om Indra Devaya Namah Om Indra Rajaya Vidmahe Mahaindraya Dhimahi Tanno Indraya Prachodayat |
| Gender: | Male |
| Equivalent1 Type: | Celtic |
| Equivalent1: | Taranis |
| Equivalent2 Type: | Japanese |
| Equivalent2: | Susanoo-no-Mikoto, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto |
| Equivalent3 Type: | Nuristani |
| Equivalent3: | Great Gish, Sudrem |
| Equivalent4 Type: | Egyptian |
| Equivalent4: | Amun |
| Equivalent5: | Śakra |
| Equivalent5 Type: | Buddhist |
| Abodes: | Svarga |
| Indo-European Equivalent: | Perkwunos |
| Day: | Sunday |
| Norse Equivalent: | Thor |
| Roman Equivalent: | Jupiter |
| Slavic Equivalent: | Perun |
| Canaanite Equivalent: | Ba‘al |
Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas[3] and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war.[4] [5] [6] [7]
Indra is the most referred deity in the Rigveda.[8] He is celebrated for his powers based on his status as a god of order, and as the one who killed the great evil, an asura named Vritra, who obstructed human prosperity and happiness. Indra destroys Vritra and his "deceiving forces", and thereby brings rain and sunshine as the saviour of mankind.[7] [9]
Indra's significance diminishes in the post-Vedic Indian literature, but he still plays an important role in various mythological events. He is depicted as a powerful hero.[10]
According to the Vishnu Purana, Indra is the title borne by the king of the gods, which changes every Manvantara – a cyclic period of time in Hindu cosmology. Each Manvantara has its own Indra and the Indra of the current Manvantara is called Purandhara.[11] [12] [13]
Indra is also depicted in Buddhist (Pali: Indā)[14] [15] and Jain[16] mythologies. Indra rules over the much-sought Devas realm of rebirth within the Samsara doctrine of Buddhist traditions.[17] However, like the post-Vedic Hindu texts, Indra is also a subject of ridicule and reduced to a figurehead status in Buddhist texts, shown as a god that suffers rebirth.[17] In Jain traditions, unlike Buddhism and Hinduism, Indra is not the king of gods, but the king of superhumans residing in Svarga-Loka, and very much a part of Jain rebirth cosmology.[18] He is also the one who appears with his consort Indrani to celebrate the auspicious moments in the life of a Jain Tirthankara, an iconography that suggests the king and queen of superhumans residing in Svarga reverentially marking the spiritual journey of a Jain.[19] [20] He is a rough equivalent to Zeus in Greek mythology, or Jupiter in Roman mythology. Indra's powers are similar to other Indo-European deities such as Norse Odin, Perun, Perkūnas, Zalmoxis, Taranis, and Thor, part of the greater Proto-Indo-European mythology.[7] [21] [22]
Indra's iconography shows him wielding his Vajra and riding his vahana, Airavata.[23] Indra's abode is in the capital city of Svarga, Amaravati, though he is also associated with Mount Meru (also called Sumeru).[17]
The etymological roots of Indra are unclear, and it has been a contested topic among scholars since the 19th-century, one with many proposals.[24] [25] The significant proposals have been:
Colonial era scholarship proposed that Indra shares etymological roots with Avestan Andra, Old High German *antra ("giant"), or Old Church Slavonic jedru ("strong"), but Max Muller critiqued these proposals as untenable.[24] [31] Later scholarship has linked Vedic Indra to Aynar (the Great One) of Circassian, Abaza and Ubykh mythology, and Innara of Hittite mythology.[30] [32] Colarusso suggests a Pontic origin and that both the phonology and the context of Indra in Indian religions is best explained from Indo-Aryan roots and a Circassian etymology (i.e. *inra).[30] Modern scholarship suggests the name originated at the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex where the Aryans lived before settling in India.
In other languages, he is also known as
Indra has many epithets in the Indian religions, notably Śakra (शक्र, powerful one),
Indra is of ancient but unclear origin. Aspects of Indra as a deity are cognate to other Indo-European gods; there are thunder gods such as Thor, Perun, and Zeus who share parts of his heroic mythologies, act as king of gods, and all are linked to "rain and thunder".[34] The similarities between Indra of Vedic mythology and of Thor of Nordic and Germanic mythologies are significant, states Max Müller. Both Indra and Thor are storm gods, with powers over lightning and thunder, both carry a hammer or an equivalent, for both the weapon returns to their hand after they hurl it, both are associated with bulls in the earliest layer of respective texts, both use thunder as a battle-cry, both are protectors of mankind, both are described with legends about "milking the cloud-cows", both are benevolent giants, gods of strength, of life, of marriage and the healing gods.[35]
Michael Janda suggests that Indra has origins in the Indo-European *trigw-welumos [or rather ''*trigw-t-welumos''] "smasher of the enclosure" (of Vritra, Vala) and diye-snūtyos "impeller of streams" (the liberated rivers, corresponding to Vedic apam ajas "agitator of the waters").[36] Brave and heroic Innara or Inra, which sounds like Indra, is mentioned among the gods of the Mitanni, a Hurrian-speaking people of Hittite region.[37]
Indra as a deity had a presence in northeastern Asia minor, as evidenced by the inscriptions on the Boghaz-köi clay tablets dated to about 1400 BCE. This tablet mentions a treaty, but its significance is in four names it includes reverentially as Mi-it-ra, U-ru-w-na, In-da-ra and Na-sa-at-ti-ia. These are respectively, Mitra, Varuna, Indra and Nasatya-Asvin of the Vedic pantheon as revered deities, and these are also found in Avestan pantheon but with Indra and Naonhaitya as demons. This at least suggests that Indra and his fellow deities were in vogue in South Asia and Asia minor by about mid 2nd-millennium BCE.[27] [38]
Indra is praised as the highest god in 250 hymns of the Rigveda – a Hindu scripture dated to have been composed sometime between 1700 and 1100 BCE. He is co-praised as the supreme in another 50 hymns, thus making him one of the most celebrated Vedic deities.[27] He is also mentioned in ancient Indo-Iranian literature, but with a major inconsistency when contrasted with the Vedas. In the Vedic literature, Indra is a heroic god. In the Avestan (ancient, pre-Islamic Iranian) texts such as Vd. 10.9, Dk. 9.3 and Gbd 27.6-34.27, Indra – or accurately Andra[39] – is a gigantic demon who opposes truth.[30] In the Vedic texts, Indra kills the archenemy and demon Vritra who threatens mankind. In the Avestan texts, Vritra is not found.[39]
According to David Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran. It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements", which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices" from the Bactria–Margiana Culture. At least 383 non-Indo-European words were found in this culture, including the god Indra and the ritual drink Soma. According to Anthony,
However, according to Paul Thieme, "there is no valid justification for supposing that the Proto-Aryan adjective *vrtraghan was specifically connected with *Indra or any other particular god."[40]
In Rigveda, Indra is described as strong willed, armed with a thunderbolt, riding a chariot:
Indra's weapon, which he used to kill the evil Vritra, is the Vajra or thunderbolt. Other alternate iconographic symbolism for him includes a bow (sometimes as a colorful rainbow), a sword, a net, a noose, a hook, or a conch.[41] The thunderbolt of Indra is called Bhaudhara.[42]
In the post-Vedic period, he rides a large, four-tusked white elephant called Airavata.[26] In sculpture and relief artworks in temples, he typically sits on an elephant or is near one. When he is shown to have two, he holds the Vajra and a bow.
In the Shatapatha Brahmana and in Shaktism traditions, Indra is stated to be the same as the goddess Shodashi (Tripura Sundari), and her iconography is described similarly to that of Indra.[43]
The rainbow is called Indra's Bow (Sanskrit:, indradhanus).[41]
Indra was a prominent deity in the Vedic era of Hinduism.[27] In Vedic times Indra was described in Rig Veda 6.30.4 as superior to any other god. Sayana in his commentary on Rig Veda 6.47.18 described Indra as assuming many forms, making Agni, Vishnu, and Rudra his illusory forms.[44]
Over a quarter of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda mention Indra, making him the most referred to deity.[27] [45] These hymns present a complex picture of Indra, but some aspects of Indra are often repeated. Of these, the most common theme is where he as the god with thunderbolt kills the evil serpent Vritra that held back rains, and thus released rains and land nourishing rivers.[24] For example, the Rigvedic hymn 1.32 dedicated to Indra reads: