Vritra
Vritra ( Sanskrit वृत्र vṛtra m. "Enemy, thundercloud") is in Vedic mythology a dragon, cloud or serpentine demon ( asura ) and enemy of gods and humans, who is fought by Indra . In the Vedas it is also known as Ahi ("snake").
myth
Vritra is called the son of the Danu . He presses all three worlds (Triloka) and holds the waters captive. Indra is raised to fight Vritra, which is why he is also called Vritrahan ("Vritra slayer "). First he destroys his 99 fortresses. In the meantime he is devoured by Vritra, but the other gods force him to spit out Indra again. But then he kills the demons with his club Vajra and thus frees the waters of truth, which were enclosed by Vritra and run to the sea in the form of cows. He gives shape to the chaos, creates life and lets the sun shine again. In doing so, he also creates the dawn and the sky, which he separates from the earth. His victory over Vritra can therefore also be interpreted as a creation myth, or rather as a world creation myth.
Vritra is a central part of Indramythology and embodies the destructive, dark and chaotic forces of nature (indolence, winter and drought), while Indra embodies the productive forces.
Indo-European similarities
Since in the Iranian Avesta the god Verethragna , whose name fits exactly to Sanskrit Vritrahan, has similar functions to Indra, it can be assumed that the myth of the fight with the serpent demon is at least of Indo-Iranian origin. Since similar myths are also spread elsewhere, such as the fight of the Greek hero Herakles with the water snake Hydra or the Germanic thunder god Thor against the Midgard snake , it is assumed that this is a Urindo-European myth .
literature
- Vritra. In: Gerhard J. Bellinger: Knaurs Lexikon der Mythologie . Droemer Knaur, Munich 1999.
- Vritra . In: John Dowson : A classical dictionary of Hindu mythology and religion, geography, history, and literature. Trübner & co., London 1879, p. 369 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
- Indra. In: Jan Gonda: Veda and older Hinduism (= The religions of mankind . Volume 11). W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1960.
- Hans Wilhelm Haussig (Ed.): Gods and Myths of the Indian Subcontinent (= Dictionary of Mythology . Department 1: The ancient civilized peoples. Volume 5). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-12-909850-X , p. 197.
Individual evidence
- ↑ vṛtra . In: Monier Monier-Williams : Sanskrit-English Dictionary . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1899, p. 1007, col. 2 .
- ↑ Indra. In: Jan Gonda: Veda and older Hinduism (= The religions of mankind. Volume 11). W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1960.
- ↑ Indra. In: Jan Gonda: Veda and older Hinduism (= The religions of mankind. Volume 11). W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1960.
