Indra: The Thunder God

Thunder and lightning image.

Before he departed to the Land of the Asuras to take on Vritra, Indra required that each village make a sacrifice to him to increase his power. Though they were already low on supplies, each village found what it could in order to help their only chance of survival. One village in particular was only able to offer up a small amount of boiled rice. Their livestock had been consumed by the people long ago, and now, they were slowly draining the remainder of their crops. Indra was offended by the weak sacrifice, proclaiming that he would be their only hope of survival, and that all of India relied on him.

He made his way back to the Vritra’s domain, creating thunderstorms behind him as he went. The winds howled past him, and deep in the Himalayas, one might barely be able to make out the silhouette of a peak; however, clouds swirled around the range of mountains, and lightning cracked across the sky every minute. Vritra was especially concerned. Throughout their lives, all Asuras had witnessed powerful storms that had destroyed forests, villages, and even all of India. But the storms had all been followed by the soothing power of rain. If lightning struck a tree and burned down a forest, the rain later put it out and allowed new life to blossom.

This storm was different- the lightning flashed across the dry land, and the thunder was amplified by the lack of any sound absorption in the water. Lightning and thunder ruled the storm, simulating only a fraction of the power of the Vajra that would be unleashed on Vritra. When Indra finally arrived to Vritra’s home, he gave Vritra one more chance to return the rains to the people. Vritra refused, confident that while the Vajra might have given Indra more power, the lightning would not be able to strike down Vritra. Thus, the fight began.

Indra had hoped to land a haymaker bolt on Vritra, and he began raining down strike after strike on the battlefield; however, each one was absorbed by Vritra, seemingly not making him any weaker. Vritra had the advantage as well. The constant flashes of lightning were disorienting Indra, enabling Vritra to get a great surprise attack in, and he broke Indra’s jaw. Wounded again, Indra started to falter. Vritra began bragging and released some of the rains, causing all of India to experience its second rain of the day. The monsoon continued as Vritra ruthlessly attacked Indra. The other Asuras, while timid at first, began openly heckling Indra, claiming that soon, all of India would be theirs.

Indra tried to summon lightning bolts from the sky to assault Vritra, but his power was fading. During one last attempt, he exhausted himself of energy to form one of the largest bolts in the history of India. The entire continent was awake as the bright flash signaled to the villagers the death of Vritra. While Vritra had been able to absorb some of the bolts before, he had simply allowed them to discharge through him into the ground. Now, it was different. The rain had coated his skin, and it puddled around his feet. The sparks treated him as a circuit, looping around his entire body, and within seconds, Vritra had perished.

The Asuras fled as quickly as they could; Indra released the rains and strike down anyone within sight using his newfound electrical power. India began to rejoice as their village began to receive the rain. Indra had saved them.

As he departed from the tops of the mountains, Indra reflected on how he had acted before and after the storm. He wondered what the purpose of the sacrifices was, and why he should even make villagers suffer more. What's more, there was a longing in his heart to disappear from India for a while. He remembered his home being in a different area, one not so near the clouds, but upon a high mountain...

Indra snapped out of it. He hated when these things happened and his mind seemingly wondered off to a complex, made up land of different friends. Recently he had thought that he was having visions. He could see his father eating all of his siblings, and he saw giants attacking a far away land. Pantheons and pillars crumbled as a godly archer and God of Seas fought back. These visions were becoming more frequent and more intense, but Indra left them to be. He had a celebration to be a part of.

Author's Note:

In this story, I changed a few important details. The first is that within the battle itself, while Vritra does break Indra’s jaws, Indra does not use electrical capacitance to kill Vritra. Instead, Indra merely throws him down onto fortresses that cause his untimely death. However, one complaint that I have had with many of these stories is that the death generally doesn’t make sense to me, such as a giant in the Ramayana that arrows and swords could not beat, but being stuck in a hole was somehow enough. Though the electrical death does have its logical flaws, I think it was better than making a character that was immune to lightning but could die if thrown onto the ground.

Another interesting point is the force of sacrifice that we see at the start of this story. While sacrifices to the Gods are common, Indra not only forces villages to sacrifice what little food they have left, he chastises on village for not being able to give enough. While this might seem odd for a God that saves his people, in the next story, we will gain more insight into who Indra is as a person, and why he makes these selfish choices.

Finally, I left a little teaser where he reverts to being Zeus, if only briefly.

Bibliography:

• Vritra, Wikipedia