The Origins of Indra

[Krishna Kalale]

I dont know whether my views add to the confusion here or helps you in this
regard.  Philosophically speaking the term "indra" has several meanings.
 Indra is the name of the king of devas. This is the usual meaning.
 However, in Rgveda, there are statements such as :

vayam indra tva sakhitvam arabhamahe - "O Indra let us start our
friendship"

indra, here represents the highest diety or Brahman.

indro mayabhihi pururoopa iyate - Indra takes many forms by his maya or
powers.  Here also indra means "Brahman".  This meaning ascribed to term
indra makes the study difficult.  Such a meaning given to indra is
supported in the Brahmasutras - sakshat api avirodhat jaiminihi -   which
means "the terms such as indra, rudra, agni etc. can directly mean
brahman".  Hence, I personally feel that the study of development of gods
such as Indra / rudra / shiva is quite a difficult task, since one needs to
determine whether the direct meaning as the diety or brahman is meant in
every occurrence of these terms.

In kenopanisat,  indra is understood as a lower diety compared to shiva,
 since Uma, consort of Shiva explains the secret knowledge of Brahman to
Indra who is the head of devas.

Whatever may be the development in the vedas,  the summary of such
development is summarized in Bhagavadgita - adityanam aham vishnuh ......
 rudranam samkarashcasmi... etc.  (see Sri Ramanuja Bhasya or Tatparya
chandrika for 10th chapter of Gita).  Here,  the commentators club indra as
one of the 12 aditya deities of which Vishnu is the highest.  Shiva or
Samkara is the highest of the Rudra deities which are 11 in number.  Hence
from the perspective of such a classification,  Shiva and Indra belong to
different sets of dieties - rudras and adityas respectively.  Shiva is said
to be "god of gods" in the sense, superior to Indra as per shatapatha
brahmana verse - "hutvatmanam mahadevo deva devo babhuva".   The
 bhagavadgita verse (adityanam aham vishnuh..), obviously assigns the
position of antaryami or indwelling lord of all to Krishna.

I am sure that  I have not helped here to trace the development of these
dieties in various scriptures. Hope this throws some more light on the
subject.

Krishna Kalale

-----Original Message-----
From:   Daniel George [SMTP:strixspiral at YAHOO.COM]
Sent:   Saturday, September 25, 1999 3:01 PM
To:     INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK
Subject:        The Origins of Indra

It is my understanding that the devolopment of the gods Indra, Soma, and
Agni precede that of Shiva and Vishnu. I have been unable to persuade a
friend that this was how the religions of India evolved. Showing her a
refence she discarded it as a "Western" source and quoted Sanskrit
scripture. I have dropped the subject with her but suspect her
understanding is derived froma devotional disposition, in contrast with my
more philosophical approach. Since the mythology of India absorbed and
adapted preceding aspects as it evolved, I am assuming that texts which
refer to Shiva represent a religion which already absorbed Indra into its
pantheon and placed him in a lower loka. Thus, whether older texts refer to
Indra without Shiva would not convice a devotee of Shiva that Indra
preceded Shiva. In any case, I need to get this clear in my own mind and if
anyone has particular knowledge on the chronology of the evolution of the
pantheon as it relates to Indra, I would much appreciate the information.