*** Welcome to piglix ***

Lord Indra

Indra
King of the Gods
God of Lightning, Thunder, Rains and River flows
King of Heaven
Indra, Parjanya
Painting of Indra on his elephant mount, Airavata.
Affiliation Deva (Hinduism, Jainism)
Abode Amarāvati in Svarga, Indraloka, Mount Meru
Weapon Vajra (Thunderbolt), Vasavi Shakthi
Symbols Vajra
Mount Airavata (White elephant), Uchchaihshravas (White horse)
Texts Vedas, Puranas, Epics
Personal information
Consort Shachi (Indrani)
Children Vali (Ramayana), Arjuna and others
Parents Kashyapa and Aditi or Dyaus Pita and Prithvi
Greek equivalent Zeus
Roman equivalent Jupiter
Norse equivalent Thor or Odin
Slavic equivalent Perun

Indra (/ˈɪndrə/, Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is a Vedic deity in Hinduism, a guardian deity in Buddhism, and the king of the highest heaven called Saudharmakalpa in Jainism. His mythologies and powers are similar, though not identical to those of the Indo-European deities such as Zeus, Jupiter, Perun, Thor, and Odin (Wotan).

In the Vedas, Indra is the king of Svarga (Heaven) and the Devas. He is the god of the heavens, lightning, thunder, storms, rains and river flows. Indra is the most referred to deity in the Rigveda. He is celebrated for his powers, and the one who kills the great symbolic evil (Asura) named Vritra who obstructs human prosperity and happiness. Indra destroys Vritra and his "deceiving forces", and thereby brings rains and the sunshine as the friend of mankind. His importance diminishes in the post-Vedic Indian literature where he is depicted as a powerful hero but one who is getting in trouble with his drunken, hedonistic and adulterous ways, and the god who disturbs Hindu monks as they meditate because he fears self-realized human beings may become more powerful than him.

Indra rules over the much sought Devas realm of rebirth within the Samsara doctrine of Buddhist traditions. However, like the Hindu texts, Indra also is a subject of ridicule and reduced to a figurehead status in Buddhist texts, shown as a god that suffers rebirth and redeath. In the Jainism traditions, like Buddhism and Hinduism, Indra is the king of gods and a part of Jain rebirth cosmology. He is also the god who appears with his wife Indrani to celebrate the auspicious moments in the life of a Jain Tirthankara, an iconography that suggests the king and queen of gods reverentially marking the spiritual journey of a Jina.


...
Wikipedia

...