Indra and the Ants

Finally, I had done it. These were the first words that came into my mind when I defeated Vritra. As I looked around me I saw the faces of the other Devas in awe and reverence. Immediately a cheer rose up from the group and everyone was jubilant at our victory. After the fight there was a lot of talk to make me the King of Svarga, but this was not something I really wanted as I always thought it would be too much work. However, after I realized how much effort I put into defeating Vritra I decided to treat myself and accept the position of king.

Being a king was great. I never had to do anything by myself. I would just snap my fingers and servants would bring me anything I need. The only thing I was missing was a great palace that would match my extraordinary stature. I enlisted the help of Vishwakarma, the great architect of Svarga, and put him to work to design me a new bigger and better palace. When he showed me his final design I was excited to see the product, but it took over a year for the massive palace to be built. When I saw it a year later I was very much disappointed. I expected it to be bigger and more grand, but in my eyes it was just mediocre.

I told Vishwakarma this and he assured me that he would rebuild my palace into a home I would love. The second palace that he built for me was much more grand, but it still was not enough for me. I wanted something that no one else could have because I thought I deserved it. I was the Vanquisher of Vritra of course. Why should I not have the best?

After the third time Vishwakarma was tired of my childish antics and he went Brahma weeping. He informed Brahma that my status had gone to my head and that if this was allowed to continue then he and I would be in an endless cycle of mediocrity. Brahma took this to Shiva and Vishnu, so together they made a plan to teach me humility.

The next day, I was walking around the grounds of my palace and I ran into a young Brahmin boy. I told him all about my palace and the treasures inside, but nothing satisfied me and I wanted more. All he said to me was that this was the biggest palace built by any Indra so far. At this I became more interested, and slowly asked him what he meant by any Indra so far. He explained that there have been many Indras in the past created by Brahma. This hurt me a lot. I was baffled as to how there were other Indras. I believed that I was unique and that no one else could do what I did, but now my whole world was spinning.

All of a sudden the boy started laughing as he pointed to a long parade of ants marching along. I asked him why he laughed and he looked at me like I was crazy. He stated that these ants are all past Indras. They start as lowly beings and become enlightened until one day they defeat a monster and their head becomes too large and over-confidence takes control of them, and then they go back to being tiny ants. Hearing this shook me to my core and I thought that it could not get any worse until an old ascetic came up to us with a circle patch of hair on his chest, but only the outer parts of the patch had hair. The boy stared at the patch inquisitively and asked why it looked that way and the old man replied saying every time a hair falls off it means an Indra has died, so when all of the hair is gone Indra ends as well.

Now this was just too much for me to handle. I could not believe what they were saying to me and I cried out asking them to stop and that I had learned my lesson of having greed. In a flash of light the boy and the old man were gone and Vishnu and Shiva were standing in front of me instead. I was on my knees in supplication telling them of how wrong I was and that I would be leaving my position of king and going on a hermitage to find peace. This is not the end of my story yet. Next time I will tell you of how I changed and how I had to save the day once again.

Author's Note: In this re-telling of Indra's interaction with the ants I wanted to convey how Indra felt at all times. He has always been a character with a large ego and many times this has gotten the best of him, but now that ego gets him into a predicament that he cannot fight out of and there is no one to help him. He must rely on himself so he is forced to be introspective and realizes that he is the problem and the only way for him to solve the problem is to step down and go on a journey that will help him become a better person. I wanted to highlight how childlike Indra is, and the original story does this really well by using an actual child to show Indra the error of his ways. One of Indra's biggest fears is that he is replaceable and when he realized that he is just a cog in the machine Indra experiences ego death which starts his journey to enlightenment.

Bibliography: Story Traveler: "Lord Indra and the Parade of the Ants" by Gioia Timpanelli