[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879) › c5.679 # A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.679 A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.679 - **Language:** English ### [c5.679](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.679) In the later mythology Indra has fallen into the second rank. He is inferior to the triad, but he is the chief of all the other gods. He is the regent of the atmosphere and of the east quarter of the compass, and he reigns over Swarga, the heaven of the gods and of beatified spirits, which is a region of great magnificence and splendour. He retains many of his Vedic characteristics, and some of them are intensified. He sends the lightning and hurls the thunderbolt, and the rainbow is his bow. He is frequently at war with the Asuras, of whom he lives in constant dread, and by whom he is often worsted. But he slew the demon Vritra, who, being regarded as a Brāhman, Indra had to conceal himself and make sacrifice until his guilt was purged away. His continued love for the soma juice is shown by a legend in the Mahā-bhārata, which represents him as being compelled by the sage Chyavana to allow the Aswins to partake of the soma libations, and his sensuality has now developed into an extreme lasciviousness. Many instances are recorded of his incontinence and adultery, and his example is frequently referred to as an excuse in cases of gallantry, as by King Nahusha when he tried to obtain Indra’s wife while the latter was hiding in fear for having killed the Brāhman in the person of the demon Vritra. According to the Mahā-bhārata he seduced, or endeavoured to seduce, Ahalyā, the wife of the sage Gautama, and that sage’s curse impressed upon him a thousand marks resembling the female organ, so he was called Sa-yoni; but these marks were afterwards changed to eyes, and he is hence called Netra-yoni, and Sahasrāksha ‘the thousand-eyed.’ In the Rāmāyana it is related that Rāvana, the Rākshasa king of Lankā or Ceylon, warred against Indra in his own heaven, and that Indra was defeated and carried off to Lankā by Rāvana’s son Megha-nāda, who for this exploit received the title of Indra-jit (q.v.), ‘conqueror of Indra.’ Brahmā and the gods had to sue for the release of Indra, and to purchase it with the boon of immortality to the victor. Brahmā then told the humiliated god that his defeat was a punishment for the seduction of Ahalyā. The Taittirīya Brāhmana states that he chose Indrānī to be his wife in preference to other goddesses because of her voluptuous attractions, and later authorities say that he ravished her, and slew her father, the Daitya Puloman, to escape his curse. Mythologically he was father of Arjuna (q.v.), and for him he cheated Karna of his divine coat of mail, but gave Kārna in recompense a javelin of deadly effect. His libertine character is also shown by his frequently sending celestial nymphs to excite the passions of holy men, and to beguile them from the potent penances which he dreaded. - [Previous: c5.678](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.678) - [Next: c5.680](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.680) - [Up: c5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5) ## Cites (2) - [Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.taittiriya) — Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.679](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.679) · Pramāṇa