Indra Garvabhaṅga

This is the narrative of how Indra, the king of the devas, became proud and fell into one wrong after another. It is told in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa. Indra insulted his guru Bṛhaspati, wronged Ahalyā, and killed two brāhmaṇas. The weight of brahmahatyā (the dosha of killing a brāhmaṇa) drove him into hiding. In the end Bṛhaspati freed him with the Rādhā Kavaca, and a small brāhmaṇa child broke the last of his pride.

How the account is told

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa tells this account to Rādhādevī. They are sitting together under a banyan tree at the foot of Malaya Parvata after their divine play. Rādhā has already heard how the pride of Bhagavān Śiva and the pride of Pārvatī were broken. Now she asks to hear of Indra’s garvabhaṅga (the breaking of pride), and then of the others in order. Nārāyaṇa Maharshi repeats Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s words to Nārada Muni, within the larger frame of the Purāṇa.

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa gives this in the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 47.

Indra’s pride after the hundred yajñas

In ancient times Indra performed one hundred great yajñas (fire rituals). For this he won the name Śatamakha, “the one who has performed a hundred yajñas”. He grew proud and drunk on the wealth and power it brought him.

His guru Bṛhaspati had also given him a siddha-mantra by dīkshā (initiation). Indra recited this mantra for a full hundred years at Pushkara Kshetra and reached mantra-siddhi (mastery of the mantra). These gains did not make him humble. They made him careless. He began to ignore Prakṛti, the primal creative power, and so he received her śāpa (a curse). His mind became clouded.

Then Bṛhaspati came to Indra’s royal assembly. Indra was proud, and his mind was already clouded by Prakṛti’s śāpa. He did not rise from his seat. He did not bow to his guru. Bṛhaspati saw this great disrespect from his own śishya (disciple), in the middle of the court, and was angry. He said nothing and left. He went home and spoke these words before Tārādevī: “May Indra’s wealth be taken from him.” Then he went into the forest to perform tapas (austerity).

The wrong done to Ahalyā

Indra’s wealth left him. His mind cleared a little, and he ran in shame and sorrow to find his guru. But Bṛhaspati was gone. Tārādevī was a faithful wife, and she spoke firmly to Indra: “Child, go home. These are your bad days. Bear the fruits of your own actions. When the dark days pass, you will find your guru again and win back your wealth.” Indra bowed to her and left.

He went to bathe in a sacred river. There he saw a woman of rare beauty bathing. She was Ahalyā, the wife of the great ṛshi Gautama Muni. Indra was overcome by kāma (desire). He gave up his bath, took the form of Gautama, and went to her. They came together, and both fell into a swoon of desire and lay without movement.

At that moment Gautama Muni came back from his tapas. He saw the two of them together, and his anger blazed like fire. By the knowledge his tapas gave him, he understood everything. Indra was terrified and clung to the muni’s feet. Gautama spoke his śāpa:

“Indra! Fool! Scion of Kaśyapa and Diti! You are learned, yet desire has destroyed you. A thousand yonis will appear on your body. For a full year their foul smell will cling to you at all times. Only by worshipping Sūrya will these yonis turn into a thousand eyes. From now on you will be known as sahasra-netra, the thousand-eyed. Your wealth is already gone through your guru’s anger. Now this śāpa is added to it.”

Then Gautama spoke to Ahalyā, strictly, as dharma requires. She had received another man’s touch without desire of her own, he said, so she could be purified through prāyaśchitta (an act of atonement). He told her to take the form of a stone in the forest for sixty thousand years, to work off the karma she had gathered. After that time the touch of Śrī Rāmachandra’s feet would make her wholly pure. Ahalyā wept, bowed to her husband, and went into the forest. In time Śrī Rāmachandra’s feet touched that stone. Ahalyā rose from it, shining with her old beauty, and returned to Gautama’s side.

Indra meanwhile carried out hard Sūryārādhana (worship of Sūrya) at Pushkara Kshetra. He received release from the ṛshi’s śāpa. The thousand yonis became a thousand eyes. They remained as the lasting sign of his old wrong.

The first brahmahatyā: the death of Viśvarūpa

Bṛhaspati was away and the daityas were pressing hard on the devas. Indra had no guru to guide him, and he took refuge in Brahmā. On Brahmā’s advice Indra made Viśvarūpa his new purohita (priest). Viśvarūpa was the son of Tvashṭṛ, the divine craftsman. But Viśvarūpa’s mother was a daitya woman, and although he seemed to serve the devas, Indra suspected him of working against them. Acting in haste, Indra cut off Viśvarūpa’s head with a single arrow, almost in play, in a moment of poor judgment. This was brahmahatyā, the killing of a brāhmaṇa.

The second brahmahatyā: the death of Vṛtra

Tvashṭṛ had lost his son. He performed a great yajña with a fierce saṅkalpa (resolve): “May the enemy of Indra grow strong!” From the sacred fire rose the asura Vṛtrāsura. He was terrible, and he brought all the devas under his rule without effort. The devas could do nothing.

Then Dadhīchi Muni gave up his own body, and the Vajra (thunderbolt) was made from his bones. With that Vajra Indra killed Vṛtra. This was the second brahmahatyā.

The weight of the two brahmahatyā-doshas now took a form. A terrible being rose up and chased Indra. She wore blood-red clothes and had the form of Vṛtra’s wife. She was seven palm-trees tall, with a dry throat and lips and huge fang-like teeth, and she carried a sword. She was the brahmahatyā-śakti (the power of the brahmahatyā), and she showed no mercy. Indra ran from her in terror.

In his mind Indra repeated the name of his guru. He slipped through the hollow of a lotus stalk and hid in Mānasa Saras, the divine lake. Brahmā’s power kept the brahmahatyā-śakti from entering the lake. She sat on a branch of a banyan tree on the bank and waited.

The Nahusha episode

With Indra gone, the three worlds needed a ruler. The human king Nahusha was raised to the place of Indra of the three worlds. But he grew drunk with his new power, and soon he demanded that Śachīdevī, Indra’s own queen, be given to him. The devas were under his rule and could not refuse him openly. They did not know what to do. Śachī was very afraid. She took refuge with Tārādevī, the wife of Bṛhaspati. At Śachī’s plea Tārā urged her husband to act. Bṛhaspati comforted Śachī and then went to Mānasa Saras himself. He stood at the water’s edge and called in his own voice:

“Child! Rise! Do not be afraid. I, your guru, am here. Know my voice. Put your fear aside.”

Indra knew the dear voice of his guru. He gave up his hidden subtle form, took his true body, rose from the lotus stalk, and fell at Bṛhaspati’s feet with great joy, trembling. The guru embraced his weeping disciple with deep love, and the two wept together at their meeting. Indra praised Bṛhaspati and surrendered to him completely. Bṛhaspati was moved and blessed him: “Rise. Be steady. Go now to Amarāvatī, with wealth four times greater than before. Kill your enemies and see your faithful Śachī again.”

As they began to leave, guru and disciple saw the terrible form of the brahmahatyā blocking their way. Indra ran back to his guru’s side in fear. Bṛhaspati was also afraid, and he began to meditate on Madhusūdana. At that moment an ākāśavāṇī (a voice from the sky) spoke to Bṛhaspati: “O Guru! Hear this word. Teach your disciple the Saṃsāra-vijaya, the teaching that destroys all that is inauspicious. By it, protect your śishya now.”

The Rādhā Kavaca destroys the brahmahatyā

Bṛhaspati obeyed the voice. He loved his disciple, and he gave Indra the Rādhā Kavaca as the highest upadeśa (teaching). Then, with a single hūṃkāra (a sound of power) filled with the force of that kavaca, Bṛhaspati burned the brahmahatyā to ash with no effort. The dreadful form that had chased Indra was gone.

Guru and disciple went on together to Amarāvatī. Śachīdevī heard that her husband had returned, and she ran to meet him with great joy. She bowed to both Bṛhaspati and Indra. All the devas gathered and were filled with happiness. Indra asked Viśvakarmā to rebuild the divine city completely. The celestial architect worked for a hundred years and built a wonder of jewels and divine craft, beyond all comparison. Even so, it did not fully please Indra’s eye. The work always seemed to him unfinished, because the last of his pride had not yet been crushed.

The brāhmaṇa child

Brahmā knew that Indra’s pride still lived. He went first to Vaikuṇṭha, bowed to Lakshmīdevī, and told Bhagavān Vishṇu. Bhagavān Vishṇu honoured Brahmā and sent him home. Then Bhagavān Vishṇu took the form of a small brāhmaṇa child. The child carried one staff and an umbrella and wore white clothes and a bright tilaka. He was short and fair, with a row of white teeth and a sweet smile that never left him. His form was that of an infant, but his wisdom was vast. He stood at Indra’s gate and said to the doorkeeper: “A brāhmaṇa is waiting at the door. Tell your king that he has come.”

Indra came out. He saw the beautiful brāhmaṇa child, with boys and girls around him, shining with tejas (radiance). He bowed with respect and honoured the child with madhuparka (a welcome offering of honey and curd) and other gifts. Then he asked, “Where have you come from?” The child answered in a voice deep as thunder clouds: “I heard of the wonderful building of this city, and I came to see it. I wonder how many years you have planned for it, and how long Viśvakarmā will work. No Indra before you ever built such a thing. And perhaps Viśvakarmā is not equal to this task.”

Indra laughed. He was still full of his wealth. He asked, “How many Indras have you seen or heard of, little one? And what kind of person is Viśvakarmā?”

The child smiled and began to speak the truth about karma and the length of time.

“I know your father Kaśyapa. I know the great treasure of tapas, Marīchi, who was greater even than your father. I know Brahmā, born in the lotus of Vishṇu’s navel, whom Vishṇu saved from danger after Brahmā praised him. I know the Dissolution, that terrible emptiness when even a single ocean stands alone. I have seen many kinds of creation, many kalpas and countless Indras. Who can count them? O king of the Suras, if one could count the dust-grains of this earth, there would still be no number for the Indras. Each Indra’s time lasts seventy-one mahā-yugas. When twenty-eight such Indras have left their thrones, that span equals one day and night of Brahmā. Brahmā’s own life is one hundred and eight such years. And even for Brahmās there is no fixed number. How much less for Indras?”

The child then made his form grow to one hundred bow-lengths. He looked down at a long line of ants marching in a procession, and he laughed aloud. Indra stared in silence. His mouth was dry and his heart was suddenly unsure. He asked what the laugh meant. The child replied: “The line of ants has a hidden meaning. I will not explain it, for it is the root of your grief. This knowledge is hidden in all the Vedas. Even siddhas cannot reach it. It is as dear as life to yogīs, and it breaks the ahaṃkāra (pride of self) of fools.” He paused with a smile.

Indra asked again: “You came as a child, yet you hold an ocean of knowledge. Who are you? Tell me, O brāhmaṇa-brahmachārī, what is this eternal, ever-new lamp of knowledge?” Then the brāhmaṇa child spoke plainly:

“O Indra, every ant in that line was once an Indra. Brahmā himself appointed each one to rule the three worlds. By their own karma they went down through every kind of birth, through the worlds of the devas, of humans and of animals, and now they have become ants. By karma alone one reaches Vaikuṇṭha, free from all grief. By karma alone one reaches Brahmaloka or Śivaloka. By karma alone one reaches svarga or the pleasant realms of the earth. By karma alone one reaches Pātāla. By karma alone one reaches terrible naraka. By karma one is born a pig, by karma a worm, by karma an ox or bull or buffalo or bird, by karma a tree or a creeper. By his own karma alone a person is happy or sad, master or servant. Birth as a brāhmaṇa, as a deva, as a preta (a restless spirit), as a Brahmā: all are by karma alone. Disease and beauty, a missing limb and an extra limb: all by karma alone. The Creator gives every creature its fruits by the thread of its own karma. This whole world, O Indra, is as fleeting as a dream. Death stands over every head at every moment. All good and bad fortune are bubbles on water, gone in a moment. So the wheel of pleasure and pain turns and turns. The truly wise person never steps onto this wheel.”

Lomaśa Muni arrives

While the child was still speaking, a very old muni arrived. He was a great yogī, old in body and in wisdom. He wore a black antelope skin, had blazing matted hair and a bright tilaka on his forehead. His chest was remarkable. In the middle of the swirl of hairs on his broad chest, some hairs were missing. Only a few were left, as if they had just been pulled out. The brāhmaṇa child stood still as a pillar among the many Indras gathered there. Indra bowed to the muni and honoured him with madhuparka. The child politely asked the muni who he was and what the thinning tuft of hair meant.

The muni answered: “I am called Lomaśa. I have no home anywhere. I have no wife and no worldly support. I live on bhikshā (alms). As for the tuft of hair on my chest, listen, for this answer will give both fear and viveka (clear understanding) to all people of the world. This swirl of hairs measures my life. Each time an Indra finishes his time and falls from his office, one hair falls from this swirl. That is why some hairs are gone and some remain. My death is fixed for the halfway point of Brahmā’s day. Countless creators have already died before my eyes, and more will die. In so short a time that remains, what use is a wife, a son or a house? When one Brahmā falls, it is only one blink of Mahāvishṇu’s eye. So I stay always in meditation on His lotus feet. Dāsya (service) to Śrī Hari is rarer and greater than devotion that seeks liberation. The wealth you see here is as empty as a dream. It is only a block to that highest devotion to His feet. My guru Śaṅkara taught me this highest knowledge.”

With these words Lomaśa Muni went to the presence of Bhagavān Śiva. The brāhmaṇa child vanished from that place.

Indra’s pride is broken

Indra watched all this as if he were seeing a dream. He thought: “In all this wealth and delusion, there is not even a blade of grass’s worth of devotion to Parameśvara in my heart.” His pride fell away completely. He called Viśvakarmā, honoured him richly with jewels, and sent him home. Then Indra gave Śachīdevī, his kingdom and all his wealth to his son. He saw clearly that all things pass away. He turned to the Supreme and began to prepare to take refuge at the feet of Parameśvara.

Śachīdevī saw that knowledge had risen in her husband, and she was deeply alarmed. She went weeping to Bṛhaspati and told him everything. Bṛhaspati went to Indra, and together with Śachī he first taught Indra the essence of dharma-nīti (the way of right conduct) and the śāstra. Then he showed him the sweetness of a household life that follows dharma together with devotion. Indra learned the guru’s rāja-nīti-śāstra (teaching on the rule of a kingdom) and had Śachī’s faithful company. He went back to ruling, and now he ruled wisely, with his pride broken and his heart humble.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa then said to Rādhā that she had herself seen Indra’s pride broken in the Govardhana Dhāraṇa episode. There Indra’s whole pride of kingship was crushed when Bhagavān Kṛshṇa lifted the mountain.

Sources

• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 47