History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c37.6.2

v3.c37.6.2

6 Indra is asked to go home at once after drinking Somas, as he has a charming wife and delightful house. In Ṛg. X. 26.7 god Pūṣan is said to shake his beard. In Ṛg. IV. 53.2 Savitṛ is said to put on a yellowish *drāpi* (armour) and in Ṛg. I. 25. 13 Varuṇa is said to wear a golden *drāpi*. It is not necessary to multiply examples. It is possible to argue that all these descriptions are poetic and metaphoric. But there are two passages of the Ṛgveda that cause much more difficulty than the above. Ṛg. IV. 24. 10 asks ‘who will¹⁶⁸⁹ purchase this my Indra for ten cows and might return it after he (Indra) has killed enemies'? Ṛg. VIII. 1. 5 says 'O Indra! I shall not give thee for even a great price, not even for a hundred, a thousand or an *ayuta* (ten thousand)'. It may be argued that here there is a reference to an image of Indra. But this is not convincing. It is equally possible to hold that these are hyperbolic or boastful statements of the great devotion of the worshipper to Indra and that there is no reference to an image of Indra.