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Indra

There is perhaps no Hindu god except the members of the great triad so often mentioned in eastern works as Indra. He is the god of thunder and of the firmament, chief of the Devati, and an ancient and powerful rival of Vishnu and the other chief gods. The attributes of Indra correspond somewhat to those of the Roman Jupiter and the Scandinavian Thor. As Indra is the personification of celestial phenomena, he is called the king of immortals and lord of the firmament. He is oftenest represented as a white man, sitting upon his celestial valian, or vehicle, the elephant; his body is covered with eyes, which he is said to have received as a punishment for certain very Jove-like adventures; he wears about his neck a triple necklace and on is head a crown, or decorated cap; in his two right hands (he is a four-armed deity) he carries varying symbols, while his two left hands are empty. Indra is a very jealous god, and is said to be wroth when he observes sacrifices made to other deities. Some fanciful legends charge him with stealing the sacrificial objects offered to his rivals.

The antelope-eyed Apsara — the nymphs who, with Rembha their queen, the popular Venus of the Hindoos, were churned out of the sea by Vishnu during the Tortoise Avatar — disport themselves, shedding the light of their inconceivable loveliness upon the happy dwellers in the celestial city of Amravati, where Indra's palace is situated in the garden Nandana. The Apsara bear some resemblance to the Norse Valkyrs, for. according to the belief of the worshipers of Krishna, they bear to Indra's heaven the souls of warriors slain in battle.

In the garden Nandana grow the all-yielding trees; and Hindus make drawings of a curious tree of Indra's garden which bears men as fruit. Among Indra's other treasures are the all-yielding cow, the eight-headed horse, and the elephant Iravat, with three proboscides, which is Indra's own especial vehicle. These, also, were churned out of the ocean by Vishnu during the Tortoise Avatar. It seems worth while to say in passing that a study of the symbolism of this much-sung Kurma Avatar will repay any one seriously interested in religious symbolism, though this is not the place to enter into details with regard to it.

Indra, as god of the sky and first of firmamental deities, is regent of the east, while the other points are ruled as follows: Agni (god of fire), the southeast; Yama (god of death), the south; Nairitti (the dread earth-goddess), the southeast; Varuna (god of waters), the west; Vayu (god of winds), the northwest; Kuvera (god of wealth), the north; Isani (variously described, but generally as the earth-mother), the northwest; Brahma, the above; Sesh Naga (king of serpents), the below; and Rudra (a manifestation of Siva), the center — the "here " of the aboriginal American. Some accounts vary slightly from the foregoing; but the order here given is the one most generally accepted. Indra, by virtue of his office as god of the firmament, is lord of these deities when regarded as regents of the various points, and they have been referred to as his vassals.

The forty-nine Maruts, so often spoken of in connection with Indra, are personifications of the forty-nine winds. They are described as a child divided by Indra into forty-nine portions. Indra, like most Hindoo gods, has many names, and the innumerable legends about him vary in many of their details.