The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c9.27

c9.27

Not only is Indra abused, in some *Ṛgveda* passages his very existence seems to be doubted and even denied.³⁷ Thus we read in *Ṛgveda* 2. 12. 5 "about whom they ask, 'Where is he?' the dread one. And they say about him, 'he is not.' He takes away the goods of the lord like (a gambler) the dice. Trust him; he, O men, is Indra."³⁸ On the words "he is not," Geldner confidently notes in his translation "die Nāstikas".³⁹ Though apparently we touch here on the classical nāstika's ancestry, it is highly unlikely that this is the expression of a doctrine. It would seem that this and similar expressions of doubt have to be seen in the light of the verbal contest, especially the contest with the "reviler."⁴⁰