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1.(This is a hymn from Rig veda. It describes LORD INDRA'S greatness.)
What poet now, what sage of od,
The greatness of that god hath told,
Who from his body vast gave birth
To father Sky and mother Earth;
Who hung the heavens in empty space,
And gave the Earth a stable base;
Who framed and lighted up the sun,
And made a path for him to run;
Whose pwer transcendent, since their birth
Asunder holds the heaven and earth,
As chariot-wheels are kept apart
By axles framed by workmen's art?
In greatness who with Him can vie,
Who fills the earth, the air, the sky,
Whose presence unperceived extends
Beyond the world's remotest ends?
A hundred earths, if such there be,
A hundred skies fall short of thee;
A thousand sun would not outshine
The effulgence of thy light divine.
The worlds, which mortals boundless deem,
To thee but as a handful seem.
THou, Indra, art without a peer
On earth, or younder heavenly sphere.
Thee, god such matchless powers adorn,
That thou without a foe wast born.
Thou art the universal lord,
By gods revered, by men adored.
Should all the other gods conspire,
THey could not frustrate thy desire.
The circling years, which wear away
All else, to thee bring no decay;
Thou bloomest on in youthful force,
While countless ages run thier course.
Unvexed by cares, or fears, or strife,
In bliss serene flows on thy life
2.(This is a hymn from Rig veda. It describes Indra's conflict with Vritta a.k.a vrittasura. vritta is a demon who personifies drought, and is also call sushna and Ahi)
Who is that, without alam,
Defies the might of Indra's arm;
That stands and sees without dismay
The approaching Maruts dread array;(maruts is considered as a source of shiva's cult origin including Agni and Rudra.)
That does not shun, in wild affright,
The terrors of deadly fight?
This vrittra, he whose magic powers
From earth withhold the genial showers,
Of mortal men the foemalign,
And rival of the racedivine,
Whose demon hosts from age to age
With Indra war unceasing wage,
Who, times unnumbered, crushed and slain,
Is ever newly born again,
And evermore renews the strife
In which again he forfeits life.
Perched on a steep aerial height,
Shone vrittra's stately fortress bright.
Upon the wall, in martial mood,
The bodl gignatic demon stood,
Confiding in his magic arts,
And armed with store of fiery darts
And then was seen adreadful sight,
When god and demon metin fight.
His sharpest missiles vrittra shot,
His thuderbolts and lightining hot
He hurled as thick as rain.
The god his fierces rage defied,
His blunted weapons glanced aside,
At Indra launched in vain
When thus he long had vainly toiled,
When all his weapons had recoiled,
His final efots had been foiled,
And all his force consumed-,
in gloomy and despairing mood
The baffled demon helpless stood,
And knew his end was doomed.
The lightnings then began to flash,
The direful thunderbolts to crash,
By Indra prudly hurled
The gods themselves with awe were stilled
And stood aghast, and terro filled
The universal world.
Even Tvashtri sage, whose master-hanu
Had forged the bolts his art had planned,
WHO well their temper knew,-
Quailed when he heard the dreadful clang
That through the quivering welkin rang,
As o'er the sky they flew.
And who the arrowy shower could stand,
Discharged by Indra's red right hand-
The thundrbolts with hundred joints,
The iron shafts with thousand points,
which blaze and hsi athwart the sky,
swift to their mark unerring fly,
And lay the proudest foeman low,
WIth sudden and resistless blow,
Whose very sound can put to light
The fools who dare the Thunder's might?
And soon the knell of vritta's doom
Was sounded by the clang and boom
Of Indra's iron shower;
pierced, cloven, crushed, with horrid yell.
The dying demon headlong fell.
Down from his cloud-built tower.
Now boudn by sushana's spell no more.
The clouds discharge their liquid store;
The rivers swell, and sea-ward sweep
Their turbid torrentz broad and deep.
The peasant views, with deep delight
And thankful heart, the auspicious sight.
His leafless fields, so sere and sad,
Will soon with waving crops be clad,
And mother Earth, now brown and bare,
A robe of brilliant green will wear.
And now the clouds disperse, the blue
Of heaven once more comes forth to view.
The sun shines out, all nature smiles,
Redeemed from Vrittra's power and wiles;
The gods, with gratulations meet,
And loud acclaim, the victor greet;
While Indra's mortal votaries sing
The praises of their friends and king.
The frogs, too, dormant long awake,
And floating on the brimming lake,
In loud responsive croak unite
And swell the chorus of delight.
Anupamaa
