The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c17.s1.70

v1.c17.s1.70

The existence of Indra in the period of Indo-Iranian unity, which was rendered probable by the existence of a demon Indra, and of the god of victory Verethraghna,⁶ who is clearly equivalent to Vṛtrahan, is made practically certain by the discovery of the name of Indra along with those of Mitra and Varuṇa and the Nāsatya among the gods of the Mitanni. While the name is of quite uncertain origin,⁷ the parallelism of the myth of the finding of the cows proves that part of the conception of the god is Indo-European.