Vedic Mythology c5.s2.30

c5.s2.30

Though the main myth concerning Indra is his combat with Vṛtra, various other stories attached themselves to him as the performer of heroic deeds. Some passages describe Indra as coming into conflict with Uṣas. He struck down the wain (*anas*) of Dawn (10, 73⁶). He shattered the wain of Uṣas with his bolt and rent her slow (steeds) with his swift (mares: 2, 15⁶). Terrified at the bolt of Indra, Uṣas abandoned her wain (10, 138⁵). Indra performed the heroic manly exploit of striking and crushing the female meditating evil, Uṣas, the daughter of the sky; her wain lay shattered in the river Vipāś and Uṣas fled away in terror (4, 30⁸⁻¹¹). The obscuration of the dawn by a thunderstorm is usually regarded as the basis of this myth. Against such an interpretation Bergaigne urges that it is not Indra who obscures the sky but a demon, and that the application of the bolt, Indra's characteristic weapon, need not be restricted to the Vṛtra-fight. He concludes that the sunrise overcoming the delaying dawn (cp. 2, 15⁶; 5, 79⁹) is here conceived as a victory of Indra bringing the sun³⁰.