INDRA  , in

early Hindu mythology, god of the clear sky and greatest of the Vedic deities . The origin of the name is doubtful, but is by some connected with indu, drop . His importance is shown by the fact that about 250 hymns celebrate his greatness, nearly one-fourth of the total number in the Rig Veda . He is represented as specially lord of the elements, the thunder-god . But Indra was more than a great god in the ancient Vedic pantheon . He is the patron-deity of the invading Aryan race in India, the god of battle to whose help they look in their struggles with the dark aborigines . Indra is the child of Dyaus, the Heaven . In Indian art he is represented as a man with four arms and hands; in two he holds a lance and in the third a thunderbolt . He is often painted with eyes all over his body and then he is called Sahasraksha, " the thousand eyed." He lost much of his supremacy when the triad Brahma, Siva and Vishnu became predominant . He gradaally became identified merely with the headship of Swarga, a local vice-regent of the abode of the gods . See A . A .

Macdonell, Vedic Mythology (Strassburg, 1897) .