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Indra

In the Rig Veda, which is a collection of antique Hindu hymns, Indra is described as the king of the gods. He has authority over the sky and the power to make rain using his weapon, the thunderbolt. Indra is depicted as a man with four long arms riding a white elephant.

Indra is the god of battle. Before each battle, he drinks a vast quantity of soma which makes his belly enormous. The soma is a divine juice. It is said that this juice empowers him to accomplish his heroic missions. His strength defeated the serpent Vritra who had swallowed all the waters of the world bringing a tremendous drought.

Indra split the belly of the serpent with his thunderbolt, releasing the waters and generating life. By killing the serpent, Indra separated land from ocean, and caused the sun to rise. Indra was a parallel of the Greek sky god Zeus.

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