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Indra and Vrethraghna
Hi!
Rig Vedic Indra has been a continuous fascination of mine.Sometime
back,I read somewhere that Indra is known to the Zoroastrians as a symbol of
evil.I also read that they have a God by the name of Vrethraghna.I feel that
this Vrethraghna is the same as Indra.Indra's arch enemy is Vritra,the demon.I
think that 'Vrethraghna' in Sanskrit might mean something like 'the one who has
defeated Vritra'(like Shatrughna - the one who has defeated his enemies or
something similar),but I hav'nt come across any mention of Vritra in
Zoroastrian legend.What I'd like to clarify is,is Indra evil according to
Zoroastrian religion(Is he known to be evil by the name "INDRA"?or is it
someone's mistaken information)?and if so,who is Vrethraghna that has so much
resemblence to Indra(as some have pointed out).If Vedic Devas have become evil
'Daevas' to the zoroastrians,I feel that they were still worshipping Indra by
another name(Vrethraghna).
What I'm driving at is this:
The Rig Veda mentions many battles and that the defeated people were
driven out.Western scholars have interpreted this as the invading Aryans
driving out the Dravidians.But the Rig Veda also says that 'Indra is invoked by
both sides in battle' which indicates that both the warring people were of
related race or atleast the same religion.I feel that the Indo-iranians might
have been one of these Aryan people driven out of India(The Aryan homeland
according to the Rig Veda) and thus might have had a similar religion,which
Zarathushtra reformed.This explains to me the parallels in both the religions
and why Vedic Gods became demons to the Zoroastrians.
INDRA is the most prominent of the Rig Vedic gods and has around 300
hymns to himself in the Rig Veda and continued to be worshipped by the
Zoroastrians by a different name(but the same meaning and attributes).Indra is
also probably the most vilified god in later Puranic literature for unknown
reasons.
May Indra the mighty protect the true Aryan.
--Aditya.
