The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c24.3

v1.c24.3

The Indians of the Rigveda, from even the comparatively scanty traces of their ordinary activities to be gathered from that collection, were essentially an active, energetic, warrior people, engaged indeed in struggles with the aborigines, and even among themselves, but in the main prosperous, and contented with their life. The tone of the great gods reflects, therefore, the character of the people, and in no case better than in that of Indra. Indra is the victorious warrior: he is also the jovial and human god: he is a great drinker, a mighty eater, and the poets do not scorn to tell how he drank over much and required skilled tendance as the result. He is hot-tempered, as befits a god who wars ever with demons: there are signs of a quarrel with the gods, of interference with Sūrya, of an onslaught even on Uṣas, and, worst of all, of killing his father for the sake of the Soma. But the presence of such traits is only incidental and occasional: they cannot have formed any serious element in his character, save in so far as they gave rise to the feeling which is frankly expressed in one hymn,¹ that Indra is changeable, that he is inconstant in his friendships, that he makes the first last at pleasure, and that he is angry with the man who has wealth. We must be careful not to overestimate the force of such remarks: the wealthy against whom the god is wroth are the Paṇis, who withhold treasures from men and gods alike: we have nothing of Herodotos's doctrine of the jealousy of heaven. But it must be owned that Indra by these traits seems to have created misbelief, for we find here and there firm assertions in his divinity, which is proved when he manifests his great deeds and which refutes the sayings of men who deny Indra's existence. Of no other god have we any such doubt expressed in the Rigveda.¹ In the main, however, Indra is a kind and generous friend to his votaries, and the Rigveda does not seem to know the legend which makes him seduce Ahalyā by assuming as a disguise the form of her husband, a performance more in accord with the ways of demons than of a great god.