The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c17.s1.1

v1.c17.s1.1

INDRA is the greatest god of the Rigveda, with the solitary exception of Varuṇa, who may be deemed to equal him in might.¹ His connexion with the Soma offering is, however, far closer than that of Varuṇa; he is the subject of 250 hymns, or almost a quarter of the whole of the collection, and he shares with other deities at least fifty more. He is, however, like Varuṇa in one thing: he is not a god whose physical nature overwhelms the anthropomorphism of the poets: he has, therefore, become the subject of many myths, which it would be idle to seek to bring into any connexion whatever with the normal basis of his nature.