The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c17.s1.19

v1.c17.s1.19

Of the other gods Indra is closely connected with his troop, the Maruts, with Agni whom he generates or finds in the waters, and to whom he is akin in nature, with Varuṇa, Vāyu, Soma, Bṛhaspati, Pūṣan, and Viṣṇu, whose relation to him becomes in some passages a close one. With Sūrya he is actually here and there identified, he receives the epithet Savitṛ, and the Çatapatha Brāhmaṇa¹ declares him to be the sun and Vṛtra the moon. But he differs from all the gods in his physical magnitude which makes the two worlds but half of him, heaven and earth insufficient for his girdle, and ten earths not equal to him. No language is too strong for the Vedic poets in expressing his greatness: Sūrya and Varuṇa are made inferior to him, he is invoked to destroy the foes of Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman, he makes broad space for the gods in battle: he is an independent ruler *par excellence*, and occasionally, like Varuṇa, a universal ruler. He is the mighty (*çakra*), an epithet rarely used of any other god. He practically alone is styled 'of a hundred powers' (*çatakratu*); he is strong, young, immortal, and ancient.