Vedic Mythology c5.s2.10

c5.s2.10

Indra is often spoken of as having been born. Two whole hymns (3, 48; 4, 18) deal with the subject of his birth. Once (4, 18¹· ²⁠) he is represented as wishing to be born in an unnatural way through the side of his mother⁸. This trait may possibly be derived from the notion of lightning breaking from the side of the storm-cloud. On being born he illuminates the sky (3, 44⁴). Scarcely born he set the wheel of the sun in motion (1, 130⁹). He was a warrior as soon as born (3, 51⁸; 5, 30⁵; 8, 45⁴. 66¹; 10, 113⁴) and was irresistible from birth (1, 102⁸; 10, 133²). Through fear of him when he is born, the firm mountains, heaven and earth are agitated (1, 61¹⁴). At his birth heaven and earth trembled through fear of his wrath (4, 17²) and all the gods feared him (5, 30⁵)⁹. His mother is often mentioned (3, 48²· ³ &c.)¹⁰. She is once (4, 18¹⁰) spoken of as a cow (*gṛṣṭi*), he being her calf; and he is spoken (10, 111²) of as a bull, the offspring of a cow (*gārṣṭeya*). He is once (10, 101¹²) called the son of Niṣṭigrī, whom Sāyaṇa regards as synonymous with Aditi (cp. § 41). According to the AV. (3, 10¹²· ¹³⁠) Indra’s (and Agni’s) mother is Ekāṣṭakā, daughter of Prajāpati. Indra has the same father as Agni (6, 59²), who is the son of Dyaus and Pṛthivī (§ 35). According to one interpretation of a verse in a hymn (4, 17⁴) in which his father is twice mentioned, the latter is Dyaus. A similar inference may be drawn from a verse in an Indra hymn (10, 120¹) where it is said that ‘among the worlds that was the highest from which this fierce (god) was born’, and from a few other passages (cp. 6, 30⁵; 8, 36⁴ with 10, 54³, and 10, 138⁶ with 1, 164¹¹). His father is said to have made his thunderbolt (2, 17⁶), which is elsewhere generally described as fashioned by Tvaṣṭr (§ 38). Indra drank Soma in the house of his father, where it was given to him by his mother (3, 48²). He drank Soma in the house of Tvaṣṭṛ (4, 18³), Indra having at his birth overcome Tvaṣṭṛ and having stolen the Soma, drank it in the cups (3, 48⁴). Indra seizing his father by the foot crushed him, and he is asked in the same verse who made his mother a widow (4, 18¹²). From these passages it is clearly to be inferred that Indra's father whom he slays in order to obtain the Soma, is Tvaṣṭṛ¹¹ (cp. 1, 80¹⁴). The hostility of the gods, who in one passage (4, 30³) are said to have fought against him, is perhaps connected with the notion of his trying to obtain Soma forcibly.¹²