Vedic Mythology c8.s2.1

c8.s2.1

This fiend, who is mentioned about forty times in the RV., is the chief enemy of Kutsa, for or with whom Indra vanquishes him (4, 16¹²; 5, 29⁹, &c.). He is horned (1, 33¹²). He has eggs (8, 40¹⁰. ¹¹), i. e. a brood (cp. 10, 22¹¹), from which it may be inferred that he is a serpent. He is described as hissing (*śvasana*: 1, 54⁵)². He is six times spoken of as *aśuṣa*, a term which is otherwise only once applied to Agni and perhaps means 'devouring'³. He has strong forts (1, 51¹¹) or a fort (4, 30¹³), which is moving (8, 1²⁸). Indra releases the waters in shattering Śuṣṇa's forts (1, 51¹¹), obtains the receptacle of waters (*krivi*) in smiting Śuṣṇa (Vāl. 3⁸), or wins heavenly (*svarvatīḥ*) waters when he destroys the brood of Śuṣṇa (8, 40¹⁰). The name of Śuṣṇa is four times accompanied by the epithet *kuyava*, ‘causing bad corn or harvest’. In the two passages in which this word is used independently as the name of a demon (1, 103⁸. 104³), it may refer to Śuṣṇa. The result of the conflict between Indra and Śuṣṇa is not always the release of the waters, but is also the finding of the cows (8, 85¹⁷), or the winning of the sun (cp. § 58). Śuṣṇa in his conflict with Indra moves in darkness, is a ‘son of mist’, *miho napāt*, and a Dānava (5, 32⁴). In the Kāṭhaka (IS. 3, 466) Śuṣṇa is called a Dānava who is in possession of the *amṛta*.