Vedic Mythology c8.s1.1

c8.s1.1

Of the individual atmospheric demons by far the most important and the most frequently mentioned is Vṛtra, who is the chief adversary of Indra and for whose slaughter that deity is said to have been born or grown (8, 78⁵; 10, 55). Hence the most distinctive epithet of Indra is *vṛtrahan*, ‘Vṛtra-slayer’. This compound is analyzed in two passages of the RV.: ‘May the Vṛtra-slayer slay Vṛtra’ (8, 78³) and ‘Vṛtra-slayer, slay the Vṛtras’ (8, 17⁹). Indra’s conflict with Vṛtra is also frequently referred to with *vṛtrahatya*, ‘slaughter of Vṛtra’ and sometimes with *vṛtratūrya*, ‘conquest of Vṛtra’.