Page:A history of Sanskrit literature (1900), Macdonell, Arthur Anthony.djvu/98

 hymns which celebrate the conflict of Indra with the demon (i. 32):—


 * I will proclaim the manly deeds of Indra,
 * The first that he performed, the lightning-wielder.
 * He smote the dragon, then discharged the waters,
 * And cleft the caverns of the lofty mountains.


 * Impetuous as a bull, he chose the soma,
 * And drank in threefold vessels of its juices.
 * The Bounteous god grasped lightning for his missile,
 * He struck down dead that first-born of the dragons.


 * Him lightning then availed naught, nor thunder,
 * Nor mist nor hailstorm which he spread around him:
 * When Indra and the dragon strove in battle,
 * The Bounteous god gained victory for ever.


 * Plunged in the midst of never-ceasing torrents,
 * That stand not still but ever hasten onward,
 * The waters bear off Vṛitra's hidden body:
 * Indra's fierce foe sank down to lasting darkness.

With the liberation of the waters is connected the winning of light and the sun. Thus we read that when Indra had slain the dragon Vṛitra with his bolt, releasing the waters for man, he placed the sun visibly in the heavens, or that the sun shone forth when Indra blew the dragon from the air.

Indra naturally became the god of battle, and is more frequently invoked than any other deity as a helper in conflicts with earthly enemies. In the words of one poet, he protects the Aryan colour (varṇa) and subjects the black skin; while another extols him for having dispersed 50,000 of the black race and rent their citadels. His combats are frequently called gavishṭi, "desire of cows," his gifts being considered the result of victories.

The following stanzas (ii. 12, 2 and 13) will serve as a