The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c17.s1.42

v1.c17.s1.42

In other cases there may be a more mythic basis. The demon Uraṇa is described as having ninety-nine arms which is rather inhuman:² Arbuda is so little specified as to be of doubtful origin. Çuṣṇa seems from his name to be the hisser,³ in which case he would have analogies with Vṛtra, whose snorting (*çvasatha*) so frightens the gods that they run away, leaving Indra to fight alone with the monster. He is also called a wild beast⁴ and he seems to be horned, which may of course merely refer to the head-dress of a chief of the aborigines. His chief rival is Kutsa, who appears as battling against him, and as victor by the aid of Indra, who for his sake tore from the sun a wheel, prolonging the daylight and thus enabling, it may be assumed, Kutsa to turn the issue of battle. The feat of Indra is several times mentioned, and the fact that Kutsa is a real hero is suggested, though not proved, by the fact that elsewhere he appears in hostile relation to Indra,⁵ just as Atithigva, who is normally the protégé of Indra, in one or two places appears in the reverse relation. It is true that it is not to be expected that a god, or a hero of divine dimensions, would be thus placed in opposition to the god, though, as the god is the uncertain Indra, the argument is by no means conclusive. Kutsa in the case of his real personality must be a king, and this is not inconsistent with his being called a seer: royal seers are not unknown. The Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa makes him born from Indra's thigh and disloyal to him. No other god has anything like the same place as Indra in the overcoming of the Dāsas for the sake of the Aryans: the feat is ascribed elsewhere only to Agni, the Açvins, and the gods generally.