In Vedas, Indra is the king of the gods, who rides horse-drawn chariots to find lost cows. In later epics, he is imagined as riding a white coloured elephant, battling dark rain clouds and releasing rain with his thunderbolt (vajra). In Purana, Indra is a luxury loving god who lives in paradise. Stories of this later Indra are not very flattering. He is always scared of losing all that he has.
In one story, Indra kills his priest. His victim, Vishvarupa, is a three-headed sage who has a Brahmin father and an Asura mother. He uses one head to drink milk (human?), one to drink wine (Tantrik?), and the third to drink Soma (Vedic?). When Indra asks him to conduct a ritual to destroy the Asuras, Vishvarupa decides to make offerings to both sides, since he is related to both sides. This annoys Indra who raises his sword, and beheads the sage. They turn into three birds (pigeon, sparrow, partridge), each proclaiming his guilt: “Brahmahatya” — the crime of killing a Brahmin.
With blood on his hands, Indra runs away and hides under water, inside a lotus stalk. But sages who seek lotus stems to eat find him eventually. Desperate, Indra strikes a deal. One third of his guilt will be carried by the earth, one third by the trees, and one third by women. That is why, the story says, the land is ploughed, trees are cut, and women bleed every month.
A grateful Indra thanks the three who bear the burden of his suffering. He gives them each a boon. The holes on earth will always get refilled, cut trees will always regrow, and women will be able to have sex whenever they wish, even during periods, unlike other mammals. Thus, balance is being created.
These are stories seeking to explain biological phenomena. These are beliefs hence myths. However, if we tell children that myth is history then this story should be part of history and science textbooks. This can be presented as the Vedic science explanation of female reproductive biology.
In later epics, Indra is shown as a lascivious god, who keeps seeking the company of women who are alone. Gautama catches Indra in the arms of his wife Gautama. Furious, he castrates Indra, as per Valmiki Ramayana. Others say he caused Indra’s whole body to be covered with a hundred vulvas, each bleeding every month. Metaphors for open sores, probably. Indra begs for forgiveness. These openings turn into eyes. Indra then gives these “eyes” to the peacock.
In Mahabharata, when his guru is away, a student called Vipula finds Indra trying to woo his guru’s wife. Using yogic powers, he enters the mind of his guru’s wife and prevents her from moving towards him. Once again, Indra is shown as a god who loves to seduce lonely married women.
Yet there are stories in Upanishads (Vedanta) that try to salvage Indra’s reputation. Prajapati, father of the god-king Indra and the demon-king Virochana, presents a mirror to both and asks them what they see reflected. Virochana says, “I see myself.” But Indra says, “I see my body that contains my true self.” Prajapati declares that Indra is wiser and so deserves to live in the sky while Virochana is deluded by his body, hence must live below the earth.
The author writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times. Reach him at devdutt.pattanaik@mid-day.com