Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/192

 176 The Religion of the Veda

But it would be a mistake to suppose that Indra is a more coarse embodiment of the jingo valor of a superior race exercised against a weak enemy fated to subjection. Indra's character is not even trans~ lneent, that is, we can no longer define his origin with certainty, but there is no doubt that he originated somewhere in visible nature. The difﬁculty is to tell where. To begin with, there is no belittling the fact that Indra’s origin is prehistoric. His name occurs in the Avesta (Andra) where, is often the case with earlier Aryan divinities, he is degraded to a demon. But his chief Vedic epithet, Vritrahnn, “Slayer of Vritra,” is the same name as that of the abstract genius of Victory, Verethraghna in the Avesta, and the Armenian dragon slayer Vahagn.‘ On the other hand there is no real Indra literature outside of India. If then we are forced to turn to India in order to explain Indra, we must not forget that his origin is outside of India. and precedes Hindu history.

The following specimen, Rig~Veda i. 32, is done into prose, rather than into metre, in order to show clearly how Indra and his principal exploit, namely, the slaughter of the dragon Vritra and the liberation of the waters, really presents itself to the mind of the poets:

I See Hillebrandt, Vodka/Ea MyMologis, vol. iii., p. 188 j“:

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