Airavat, produced at the churning of the ocean, and holding in his hand the vajra or thunderbolt. He is depicted, like Argus, covered with eyes, and is thus called the thousand-eyed god: which distinction was not conferred upon him in consequence of his good deeds; for having become enamoured of Ahilya, the wife of the pious rishi Gotama, he endeavoured to seduce her. The rishi having discovered his intentions in time, bestowed on the god his curse, that his body should be covered in a very extraordinary manner, which, on the contrition of the offending deity, he changed into eyes.

The heaven of Indra is Swerga; a beautiful description of which has been given, in the English language, by a native Hindu youth (Kasiprasad Ghosh, educated at the Anglo-Indian College of Calcutta), who has not only made himself proficient therein, but has greatly distinguished himself, as a poet far above common pretensions. The opening lines of his description of Indra's heaven accord so well with the nature of this work, that the insertion of them here will need no apology. I will simply premise, that this heaven, made by Vishmakarma, the architect of the gods, is represented in the Mahabharat to be eight hundred miles in circumference, and forty miles high; its pillars are formed of diamonds, its palaces of gold, and it is said to be so resplendent with gems as to exceed in radiance the blended. brightness of a dozen suns. Flowers of delightful perfume shed their fragrance around, and all that can fascinate the oriental sensualist are to be found in the heaven, which the youthful Hindu poet thus describes :

In which by many a gurgling stream,
The God his time in pleasure whiles.

*

Here Vayu through the charming wood

For ever creeps in gentlest mood :
Now o'er the bowing grass he goes,
Now stirs the fragrance of the rose.
Here many a flower of lovely hue,
Famed in the love of former time,
Blooms glittering wth the diamond dew,
And sweetening the heavenly clime.
Young roses through the passing breeze,
To taste their sweets invite the bees.
Here fountains round the heavenly bowers
Perpetual fall, and glittering showers
Of diamonds, pearls, and stars descend,
And sweet celestial music lend
Unto the ears of mortals, blessed,
For pious deeds, with heavenly rest.
The garden's edge is compassed round
With trees with lasting verdure crowned,
And in the garden's centre stands

A palace built by heavenly hands;
With sapphires decked, the golden walls
Of Satakratu's courtly halls,
Reflecting fling their beauteous light,
And glisten round all fair and bright.
The snow-white pavements made have been

Of chrysolites of brightest sheen,
Where sweetest flowers of lovely hue
Are strewed upon with drops of dew;
The outer wall is smooth all o'er
With rubies glittering more and more,
And through the garden's trees appear,
Like morning's light in winter's sky,

*The north-west wind.

Ere the resplendent Surya rears

His glorious face of light on high.

As if in floods of ruby light,

The court is bathed and made so bright.

But lo! a throng afar appears,

Like vanished joys of former years;

So indistinct, that scarce the eye

Its faint progression can descry.
As when at morning's dubious light,
A star or two appears in sight;
And now behold, and now no more,
The glimmer in the growing shine;
So like a mass of dim light o'er
The garden move the gods divine;
And 'midst them those who greater are

Shine like so many stars afar.

Now more and more advance they nigh,
With breast erect and statues high,

With steps majestically slow,

With looks cast on the ground below.

Before them Indra, dignified

With royal mien and royal pride,
Proceeds."

This Olympus of Indra is on Mount Meru, or the North Pole. He is the Jupiter Fulminator of the Romans; and is thus betokened by the vajra or thunderbolt in his hand.

Indra, however, performs a secondary part only among the gods of the Hindu Pantheon, the omnipotent Jupiter being the Triad, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Indra was frequently deprived of his kingdom in the wars between the gods and the demons, and obliged to wander about the world in a state of mendicity. But the imperial Jove himself was once compelled to hide from the persecution of his enemies. To account for these various transitions, astronomy, the ready expounder of mythological extravagancies, has been called in aid, and found highly useful in solving many of these heterogeneous enigmas.

Indra is the regent of the east, and the supreme ruler of winds and showers.* Among the magnificent sculptures in the cavern temples at Ellora, he is represented on his elephant Airavat. The animal is reclining under a tree, which shades Indra. Upon the branches of this tree are four peacocks; two attendants with chawries are in the back ground. Another sculpture represents his consort, Indrani, seated on a lion under a tree, with a child in her arms, and four attendants with chawries in the back ground. Figs. 5 and 6, plate 23, exhibit them in a similar manner, but without the trees, or attendants. Fig. 4 represents them on the elephant Airavat.

The character of Indra is not in accordance with his dignified situation among the Hindu deities. In addition to the profligate attempt made by him on the virtue of Ahilya, the wife of Gotama, as already related, he availed himself of another opportunity and succeeded in seducing her, which drew upon them the curse of the Rishi. Indra, in consequence, became an eunuch; which part of the anathema was, on the intercession of the gods (as occurred on a former occasion), mitigated, and his virility was graciously restored. The frail Ahilya was condemned to lie in ashes, in pain, and invisible, for a long series of years, till the coming of Rama. On beholding that deity without desire, she was purified, and restored to the bosom of the sage Gotama.

Numerous other instances are related of the profligacy of Indra. He stole a horse from king Suguru as he was about to perform the aswamedha, or sacrifice of a horse, for the hundredth time; which ceremony would have deposed Indra, and elevated Suguru to the sovereignty of the immortals in his place. On another occasion, in the form of a shepherd's boy, he robbed the garden of a peasant. In this theft he was detected and bound with cords, but released by the aid of the subordinate genii of the winds. This incident is thus beautifully related by Sir William Jones. The peasant

"Seized, and with cordage strong

Shackled the god,† who gave him show'rs.
Straight from seven winds immortal genii flew:
Varunat green, whom foamy waves obey;

* This would appear to be an encroachment upon the attributes of Pavana.

+ Indra, the regent of showers and of the east wind.

Varuna, regent of the west.

Bright Vahni,* flaming like the lamp of day;
Kuvera+ sought by all, enjoyed by few;
Marut, who bids the winged breezes play;

Stern Yama,§ ruthless judge, and Isa,|| cold ;

With Nairit, mildly bold;

They, with the ruddy flash, that points his thunder,

Rend his vain bands asunder.

Th' exulting god resumes his thousand eyes,

Four arms divine, and robes of changing dyes.”

Indra is worshipped on the fourteenth of the month Badra, accompanied by numerous festivities; after which the image is thrown into the water. His worshippers solicit from him riches and the various enjoyments of life, together with a future residence in his celestial abode.

Indra has a variety of names. He is called Sakra, in consequence of being the evil adviser of the demons or Asuras, by whom he was so often driven from heaven; and, with true mythological inconsistency, Pakushasani, he who governs the gods with justice; Shatkratu, he to whom a hundred sacrifices are made; Vajra Pani, the bearer of the thunder bolt; Vitraha; Bularati; and Numuchisadana, the destroyer of the giants; Vrisha the holy; Meghusadama, he who is borne on the clouds, &c. &c. Indra possesses the following blessings, produced at the churning of the ocean. Kamdenu, the all-yielding cow; Pariyataka, the tree of plenty; and Oochisrava, the eight-headed horse. The princes of Kangti, the rajahs of Asam, and other chiefs in the eastern parts of India, pretend to have derived their origin from Indra.

Nairit, of the south-west.

Marut, of the north-west.

Isa, or Isani, of the north-east.

This account will be found to vary slightly from other descrip

tions of the regents of the winds or eight points of the earth; but the several accounts differ in a very trifling degree, introducing Agni instead of Vahni; Surya instead of Nairit: Chandra for Kuvera; and Chandra also, or Prithivi, for Isa.