Tvashtar, the creator god, a most skilled craftsman who created many wondrous things and sculpted the bodies of people and animals, was the eleventh son of Aditi. But his wife was a demoness from the family of asuras. She bore him a monster son, the three-headed dragon Vishvarupa, and a daughter, the divine mare Saranya, who later became the wife of Vivasvat and the mother of Yama, Yami and the Ashvins. Vishvaruna, the son of Tvashtar, was a terrible figure. One of his faces was like the sun, another like the moon, and the third like a flame. Some of his lips uttered the hymns of the Vedas, others drank wine, and still others were ready to devour everything around him. And he possessed extraordinary wisdom and was a great ascetic. Previously, before Brihaspati, the high priest of the gods was Vishvarupa, and among the asuras before Ushanas, Vasishtha, the son of Urvashi, was the high priest and mentor.
When the first war broke out between the gods and asuras, Vishvarupa secretly took the side of his mother's relatives and plotted treason against the gods. Hiranyakasipu, the son of Diti, who was then the king of the asuras, promised Visvarupa to make him his high priest; Having learned about this, Vasishtha became angry and left the asuras.
Indra did not trust Vishvarupa and was afraid of the power that he acquired through his great asceticism. And in order to deprive Vishvarupa of his strength, the king of the gods called to himself the most beautiful of the apsaras, the dancers of the heavenly abode, and commanded them: “Go to the son of Tvashtara and by singing, dancing and the charms of your beauty, incline him to the pleasures of love. No one can resist your charm. Decorate yourself with flowers, precious necklaces and bracelets, anoint your bodies with incense. Let him break his asceticism and, forgetting about everything in the world, surrender to your caresses.”
And, obeying Indra’s command, the apsaras approached Vishvarupa’s abode and began to tempt him with seductive movements, full of bliss and amorous longing. But, devoted to severe asceticism, the son of Tvashtara only once looked at the lovely messengers of Indra, and their beauty did not awaken excitement in him. Master of his passions, he remained motionless in contemplation, like a deep lake on a windless day.
The Apsaras returned to Indra's heavenly palace empty-handed and told the king of the gods about their failure. Having dismissed the divine maidens, Indra plunged into deep thought. He understood that the son of Tvashtara was betraying the gods in their fight against the asuras, but he could not kill Vishvarupa, for he was a priest, and killing a priest is a grave sin, and the ruler of the heavenly kingdom could not take it upon himself.
And then Indra called the god Trita to him. No one knows the true origin of this deity, born in the primordial waters, and his abode is distant and unknown to anyone. But there, to the distant and mysterious abode of Trita, all evil and sins are sent by the power of prayer, all troubles, illnesses, and bad dreams go there from the righteous. God Trita forgives the sins of immortals and mortals, taking upon himself all guilt and all evil.
And the king of the gods, with the knowledge and consent of Trita, killed Vishvarupa, cutting off all his three heads, and laid the blame on Trita. When Indra cut off the first head of the son of Tvashtar, the lips that read the Vedas opened and partridges flew out of them; when the second head was cut off, sparrows and hawks flew out of the mouth that was pouring wine, and a flock of quails flew out of the third head.
Having learned about Indra's deed, Tvashtar became furious:
“How dare he kill my son?” At that time, Tvashtar was the guardian of soma; and when he called the gods to his house to drink the sacred moisture, he did not invite Indra and deprived the lord of the immortals of his share. But Indra appeared uninvited and poured out the pure soma that was in the tub, according to the right of the strong, encroaching on the property of the weak. This time he drank so much soma that it was of no use to him and flowed back out of all his holes; but the Ashvins healed him again.
Tvashtar became even more angry and exclaimed: “Truly, he drank my soma without asking!” And he promised to take revenge on Indra for everything and punish him cruelly.
The time came, and Tvashtar created a terrible monster from soma and fire - the giant dragon Vritra.
Legless and armless, a huge snake lay down on the mountains, curled into ninety-nine coils. He closed the paths of the rivers, swallowed up all their waters and imprisoned them in his belly. “Grow,” Tvashtar told him, and he began to grow with extraordinary speed, pushing aside the Western and Eastern oceans and devouring countless amounts of food; within a day it grew in each direction the length of an arrow's flight and threatened to devour the entire universe, the gods, and all living beings.
The gods were afraid and called to Indra. They asked him to stand at the head of the heavenly army and lead them against the dragon. Brahma himself appealed to Indra, urging him to fight the serpent, and Shiva gave him impenetrable armor for the fight. And so, led by the mighty Indra, the gods rushed towards Vritra to kill him. Seeing the attackers, the dragon let out a terrifying hiss and breathed flames at them from its huge mouth. Then trembling seized the gods, and they fled headlong from his destructive breath. Like powerless elders, the gods retreated before Vritra, leaving Indra on the battlefield. Only the brave Maruts, the sons of Rudra, remained with Indra, and Vishnu also remained with him. “Strike, O lord! Razi! Show your courage! - exclaimed the Maruts. And fearless Indra rushed alone towards the dragon.
And then Vritra opened his monstrous mouth and in the blink of an eye swallowed Indra. After that, he fell asleep - no one else dared to attack him. But then Shiva sent Yawn to him. And Vritra yawned in his sleep, and the king of the gods immediately got out of his womb. Vishnu put power into Indra's weapon. Swinging widely, the brave conqueror of the asuras dealt Vritra a terrible blow with his crushing vajra and cut his head. The sky shook with the roar of a mortally wounded dragon. Indra himself was seized with fear, and he fled without looking back over ninety-nine rivers, to the very edge of the world, and there, not yet knowing whether he had struck his enemy to death, he hid in the lake, in a lotus stem. And all the gods hid in fear, and no one dared to approach the dragon. Finally Indra sent the Maruts to find out if Vritra was alive, and they went and saw that Vritra was lying prostrate on the ground, dead. The waters trapped in his belly broke free and rushed to the ocean. And the Maruts, rejoicing, began to dance around the body of the defeated dragon.
This was the greatest of Indra's feats. He then made a cup for himself from Vritra’s skull, and cut his body in two; the good part of him, the one that was created from soma, rose into the sky and became a magnifying glass, while the demonic part of Vritra, by the will of Indra, became a part of living beings - their womb. Therefore, gluttons are said to offer sacrifices to Vritra, the belly. And from the shed blood of the dragon roosters were born; That is why to this day brahmins and pious hermits do not eat roosters.
But the killing of Vritra was also the greatest of Indra’s sins. For Vritra, like his brother Vishvarupa, was a Brahmana and the king of the gods was guilty of the gravest of sins - the murder of a priest. Therefore, frightened by his sinful act, Indra did not immediately return to his kingdom; he remained in exile for a long time at the end of the world, hiding in a lotus stem.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru