Vritra
Hindu · deity · vedic · Recorded classification
The most-repeated narrative in the Rigveda, and the Indo-Iranian pair of the Tishtrya-and-Apaosha fight that lane 15 completed two days of work ago: in both, a drought-being holds the waters and a god has to be strengthened to release them. The two traditions are next to each other in this corpus and each held the god and not the drought. Lane 15 supplied Apaosha; this supplies Vritra.
Domains
- drought
- obstruction of the waters
Relations
- slain by: IndraNon-symmetric, so nothing is written onto the pre-existing Indra record. Indra's standing epithet in the Rigveda is Vritrahan, 'slayer of Vritra' — the god is named after this killing, and the registry held the god and not the killed.Reference treatment: Indra, armed with the vajra, waged a fierce battle against the demon and succeeded in slaying Vritra. (secondary)
Sources
- Vritra is the Vedic serpent-asura who imprisons the waters of the world and causes drought, slain by Indra with the vajra.: Reference treatments of Vritra and of Indra's slaying of him. (secondary)