Indra : Deva or Rshi?
Prerequisites :
- Devas: Human or Divine? : Vaishnava writers in english use the word demigod or man-god to refer to the devas. It is possible to interpret the devas in human, astronomical, spiritual, extra terrestrial, divine and so many other ways. This article discusses that.
- Deva Bhashas : Sanskrit And Tamil? : There is evidence in the the puranas well as sthala puranas to indicate that the deva-home was the south-eastern coast of India. This article consolidates exploration of all that data.
- Aditi and Kasyapa, Adityas – Suras, Daityas, Danavas : To understand the relationships between all the kulas.
- Indra : This article looks at the human, heroic, natural, divine as well as astronomical interpretations of Indra.
Discussion :
Many (4 to 12) of the important Devatas of the Rg Veda Mantras were Adityas ie sons of Aditi and Kasyapa., for eg Indra, Viwaswan, Varuna and Mitra. Aditi was the daughter of Daksha and granddaughter of Brahma. Kasyapa rshi was the son of Marici and the grandson of Brahma. (See : Daksha : He named the fixed stars!, Brahma)
So Indra and his brothers including his Daitya step brothers were genetically 100% brahmans. Contrast this with his second cousin Ravana, Ravana and his siblings were half brahman, 1/32 rakshasa, 3/32 deva, 3/8 gandharva. (See Rakshasas for the detailed lineage of Ravana).
While Indra is the Devata of many of the Veda Mantras and his great-uncle Vasishtha was the rshi of some of these mantras, there is one mantra in which, Vasishtha is the devata and Indra is the rshi.
- (Click here for the devatAs of Vasishta’s Veda Mantras : 7th Mandala : “trayastrims’am sUktam : vasiSTaputrAh, vasiSTah devatah : Please note that the Devatah for these mantras are Vasishta’s sons and Vasishta himself. Thus we learn that the Devata is the luminary who is the object of worship. The rshis for these mantras are vasiSTah for his sons and vasiSTaputrAh indrah va rSayah for Vasishta himself. That means that Vasishta’s sons and Indra worshipped Vasishta and Vasishta worshipped his sons”, See Also Difference between Mantram – Slokam)
So both genetically and from the Veda Mantras, we see that Indra was a brahman and a rshi.
- Contrast with Ravana who was half-brahman and not a rishi at all. (Please also bear in mind that in the Krta (Satya) Yuga, there was only one varna, so when I say brahman, I refer to jathi and not to varna. See : Indian Caste System: Then and Now: Jati, Varna, Kula.)
In movies and paintings we see Indra with a golden crown and jewellery, clean shaven, unlike the rshis of his time whom we see with long beards, matted hair in a top knot and wearing only the yajnopavitam. We also see that he is the king of the devas.
- From the puranas and itihasas we know that Indra was a heroic fighter and a strategist who did a lot of the back ground planning such that Sri Rama, the descendant of his brother Viwaswan (Surya), could defeat his (Indra’s) cousin Ravana. See Indra.
- We know that Indra fought and killed Vrtra with a weapon made from dadIci maharshi’s backbone. We know that Indra was defeated by Ravana’s son Meghanath, who then took on the title Indrajit. We know that Jambavantha and Indra fought alongside each other.
- While shaving is a waste of time for rshis, flowing beards are a nuisance for warriors. Perhaps this why we perceive Indra as clean-shaven.
It is also interesting that Brhaspati, (the son of Angiras and grandson of Brahma) was the guru of the devas and therefore of Indra also, and that his son Bharadwaja is rishi of many mantras of which Indra is the luminary.
- As I was struggling yesterday to understand Bharadwaja Maharshi’s mantras to Indra, I prayed to my (our) forefather Bharadwaja to help me understand what all this was all about and all this is was what was revealed to/or struck my mind.
- Brihaspati was a grandson of Brahma and thus an uncle of Indra. Bharadwaja was thus Indra’s cousin.
- One of the many possible interpretations of these Veda Mantras might be that Bharadwaja was reminding his cousin Indra of his great strength and heroism so that he could defeat their common enemies and protect their godhana, and other forms of wealth etc. “win! protect us! you can do it!”. (No wonder then that Pandu selected Indra to father one of his sons! It makes me very curious about what mantras Durvasa taught Kunthi.. but that is a whole other matter!)
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See Also : Chandra Deva, Atri’s son and Indra’s Uncle
Om Tat Sat.
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