A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1232

c5.1232

NAMUCHI. A demon slain by Indra with the foam of water. The legend of Namuchi first appears in the Rig-veda, where it is said that Indra ground “the head of the slave Namuchi like a sounding and rolling cloud,” but it is amplified by the commentator and also in the Satapatha Brāhmana and Mahā-bhārata. When Indra conquered the Asuras there was one Namuchi who resisted so strongly that he overpowered Indra and held him. Namuchi offered to let Indra go on promise not to kill him by day or by night, with wet or with dry. Indra gave the promise and was released, but he cut off Namuchi’s head at twilight, between day and night, and with foam of water, which was, according to the authorities, neither wet nor dry. The Mahā-bhārata adds that the dissevered head followed Indra calling out “O wicked slayer of thy friend.”