The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c10.57

c10.57

To begin with, negatively speaking, there are at a very early time traces of scepticism. The old mythological gods in strong flesh tints are just the least bit disconcerting. There are those who begin to say of the gods: "They are not," and, doubtless, there is a growing number of those who begin to weaken in that faith (*çraddha*) which means monotonously sacrifice, and gifts to the Brahmans. The way in which the Veda insists upon this faith shows that it could not always be taken for granted. Especially the god Indra who is a good deal of a Bombastes Furioso must have presented himself to the eye of the more enlightened as a brummagem god, tricky, braggart, drunken, and immoral. Indra, like Zeus, will have his fling. There is a story about himself and a lady by the name of Ahalyā in which he assumes the outer form of that lady's august priestly husband for his own purposes, and this as well as other treacherous acts are a fruitful source of moralising in the later Veda. Even in the Rig-Veda, if we read between the lines, there are those who mock Indra, and those who apologise for him: