Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c17.s2.9

c17.s2.9

(i) To the primary conception of Indra as the warrior-god several others are attached, which may have been originally independent of him and much earlier in date. Such are the conceptions of (a) the Vṛtraghna, the slayer of the dragon who guards in his rock-cavern the seven sacred streams; (b) the dawn-maker, who with a blow parts heaven and earth, and makes the light appear; (c) the storm-god, who rides at the head of his host, the Marutaḥ, and who strikes down his foes with his mace, the thunder-bolt; (d) the conqueror of some miserly foe, such as the Paṇayaḥ or Vala, whose cows he seizes. These conceptions cross one another and the primary conception of the warrior-god in all imaginable directions, and can therefore only with difficulty be disentangled.