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Indra

This article is about the deity in Indian religions. For the Buddhist deity, see Śakra (Buddhism). For other uses, see Indra (disambiguation).

Indra
King of the Devas
King of Svarga
God of Weather, Lightning, Thunder, Storms and Rain
Indra, Parjanya
Painting of Indra on his elephant mount, Airavata, c. 1820.
Other namesDevendra, Mahendra, Surendra, Surapati, Suresha, Devesha, Devaraja, Amaresha, Parjanya, Vendhan,
Devanagariइन्द्र
Sanskrit transliterationIndra
AffiliationAdityas, Deva, Dikpala, Parjanya
AbodeAmarāvati, the capital of Indraloka in Svarga[1]
MantraOm Indra Devaya Namah
Om Indra Rajaya Vidmahe Mahaindraya Dhimahi Tanno Indraya Prachodayat
WeaponVajra (thunderbolt), Astras, Indrastra, Aindrastra, Vasavi Shakti
SymbolsVajra, Indra's net
DaySunday
MountAiravata (white elephant), Uchchaihshravas (white horse)
TextsVedas, Puranas, Upanishads
GenderMale
FestivalsIndra Jatra, Indra Vila, Raksha Bandhan, Lohri, Sawan, Deepavali
Personal information
ParentsKashyapa and Aditi (according to the Puranas)[2][3][a]
SiblingsAdityas including Surya, Varuna, Bhaga, Aryaman, Mitra, Savitr and Vamana
ConsortShachi
ChildrenJayanta, Rishabha, Midhusha, Jayanti, Devasena (Shashthi), Vali and Arjuna
Equivalents
Greek equivalentZeus
Roman equivalentJupiter
Norse equivalentThor
Slavic equivalentPerun
Canaanite equivalentBa‘al
Indo-European equivalentPerkwunos
Celtic equivalentTaranis
Japanese equivalentSusanoo-no-Mikoto
Nuristani equivalentGreat Gish, Sudrem
Egyptian equivalentAmun
Buddhist equivalentŚakra

Indra (/ˈɪndrə/; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas[4] and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war.[5][6][7][8]

Indra is the most referred deity in the Rigveda.[9] He is celebrated for his powers based on his status as a god of order,[4] and as the one who killed the great evil, an asura named Vritra, who obstructed human prosperity and happiness. Indra destroys Vritra and his "deceiving forces", and thereby brings rain and sunshine as the saviour of mankind.[8][10]

Indra's significance diminishes in the post-Vedic Indian literature, but he still plays an important role in various mythological events. He is depicted as a powerful hero[11]

According to the Vishnu Purana, Indra is the title borne by the king of the gods, which changes every Manvantara – a cyclic period of time in Hindu cosmology. Each Manvantara has its own Indra and the Indra of the current Manvantara is called Purandhara.[12][13][14][15]

Indra is also depicted in Buddhist (Pali: Indā)[16][17] and Jain[18] mythologies. Indra rules over the much-sought Devas realm of rebirth within the Samsara doctrine of Buddhist traditions.[19] However, like the post-Vedic Hindu texts, Indra is also a subject of ridicule and reduced to a figurehead status in Buddhist texts,[20] shown as a god that suffers rebirth.[19] In Jain traditions, unlike Buddhism and Hinduism, Indra is not the king of gods, but the king of superhumans residing in Svarga-Loka, and very much a part of Jain rebirth cosmology.[21] He is also the one who appears with his consort Indrani to celebrate the auspicious moments in the life of a Jain Tirthankara, an iconography that suggests the king and queen of superhumans residing in Svarga reverentially marking the spiritual journey of a Jain.[22][23] He is a rough equivalent to Zeus in Greek mythology, or Jupiter in Roman mythology. Indra's powers are similar to other Indo-European deities such as Norse Odin, Perun, Perkūnas, Zalmoxis, Taranis, and Thor, part of the greater Proto-Indo-European mythology.[8][24][25]

Indra's iconography shows him wielding his Vajra and riding his vahana, Airavata.[26][27] Indra's abode is in the capital city of Svarga, Amaravati, though he is also associated with Mount Meru (also called Sumeru).[19][28]

  1. ^ Dalal, Roshen (2014). Hinduism: An alphabetical guide. Penguin Books. ISBN 9788184752779 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Dalal, Roshen (2010). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide. Penguin Books India. ISBN 978-0-14-341421-6.
  3. ^ Mani 1975.
  4. ^ a b Bauer, Susan Wise (2007). The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome (1st ed.). New York: W. W. Norton. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-393-05974-8.
  5. ^ Gopal, Madan (1990). India Through the Ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 66 – via Internet Archive.
  6. ^ Shaw, Jeffrey M., Ph.D.; Demy, Timothy J., Ph.D. (27 March 2017). War and Religion: An encyclopedia of faith and conflict. Google Książki. ISBN 9781610695176.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) [3 volumes]
  7. ^ Perry, Edward Delavan (1885). "Indra in the Rig-Veda". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 11 (1885): 121. doi:10.2307/592191. JSTOR 592191.
  8. ^ a b c Berry, Thomas (1996). Religions of India: Hinduism, Yoga, Buddhism. Columbia University Press. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-0-231-10781-5.
  9. ^ Gonda, Jan (1989). The Indra Hymns of the Ṛgveda. Brill Archive. p. 3. ISBN 90-04-09139-4.
  10. ^ Griswold, Hervey de Witt (1971). The Religion of the Ṛigveda. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 177–180. ISBN 978-81-208-0745-7.
  11. ^ "Ahalya, Ahalyā: 15 definitions". Wisdom Library. n.d. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dalal2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Dutt, Manmath Nath. Vishnu Purana. pp. 170–173.
  14. ^ Wilson, Horace Hayman (1840). "The Vishnu Purana". www.sacred-texts.com. Book III, Chapter I, pages 259–265. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  15. ^ Gita Press Gorakhpur. Vishnu Puran Illustrated With Hindi Translations Gita Press Gorakhpur (in Sanskrit and Hindi). pp. 180–183.
  16. ^ "Dictionary | Buddhistdoor". www.buddhistdoor.net. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  17. ^ Helen Josephine Baroni (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Zen Buddhism. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-8239-2240-6.
  18. ^ Lisa Owen (2012). Carving Devotion in the Jain Caves at Ellora. BRILL Academic. p. 25. ISBN 978-90-04-20629-8.
  19. ^ a b c Robert E. Buswell Jr.; Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. pp. 739–740. ISBN 978-1-4008-4805-8.
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference donigerindra was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Naomi Appleton (2014). Narrating Karma and Rebirth: Buddhist and Jain Multi-Life Stories. Cambridge University Press. pp. 50, 98. ISBN 978-1-139-91640-0.
  22. ^ Kristi L. Wiley (2009). The A to Z of Jainism. Scarecrow Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-8108-6821-2.
  23. ^ John E. Cort (22 March 2001). Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India. Oxford University Press. pp. 161–162. ISBN 978-0-19-803037-9.
  24. ^ Madan, T.N. (2003). The Hinduism Omnibus. Oxford University Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-19-566411-9.
  25. ^ Bhattacharji, Sukumari (2015). The Indian Theogony. Cambridge University Press. pp. 280–281.
  26. ^ Cite error: The named reference Daniélou1991p108 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  27. ^ T. A. Gopinatha Rao (1993). Elements of Hindu iconography. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 111. ISBN 978-81-208-0878-2.
  28. ^ Wilkings 2001, p. 52.


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