Rig Veda · 990 of 1027
Mandala 10: HYMN CLIII. Indra.
1.SWAYING about, the Active Ones came nigh to Indra at his birth, And shared his great heroic might.
2.Based upon strength and victory and power, O Indra is thy birth: Thou, Mighty One, art strong indeed.
3.Thou art the Vṛtra-slayer, thou, Indra, hast spread the firmament: Thou hast with might upheld the heavens.
4.Thou, Indra, bearest in thine arms the lightning that accords with thee, Whetting thy thunderbolt with might.
5.Thou, Indra, art preeminent over all creatures in thy might: Thou hast pervaded every place.
Asked of Guide
Why does this hymn keep calling Indra 'mighty' and listing his deeds so bluntly?
The hymn insists on Indra’s might to place him at the center of cosmic order: his birth brings the Active Ones near, he is “based upon strength and victory,” and his actions—slaying Vṛtra, spreading the firmament, upholding the heavens—are the concrete facts that justify that status. The repeated epithets and deeds work like legal proof in poetry; the community affirms his authority by recounting what he has already done for the world.
This way of praising resembles other Vedic hymns that build divinity by recounting mythic acts, as in the Ṛgveda hymns to Agni and Varuṇa which also list functions to establish role and power. The emphasis is on function: Indra’s might is shown in specific acts—wielding lightning, whetting the thunderbolt—so devotion and social order have a narrated foundation.
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