Indra Statue / Two Color Oxidized Statue

Description

Indra is the King of God and is regarded as a God of rain in Hinduism along with his capital city Amaravati and the Devas.  He is the deity of the heavens, lightning, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. He is celebrated for his powers, and as the one who kills the great symbolic evil 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. He also commits (like Zeus) many kinds of mischief (kilbiṣa) for which he is sometimes punished. He has many epithets, notably vṛṣan the bull, and vṛtrahan, slayer of Vṛtra and maghavan “the bountiful’. Indra appears as the name of an arch-demon in the Zoroastrian religion, while his epithet Verethragna appears as a god of victory.

Whereas in Buddhism and Jainism, Indra is commonly called by his other name, Śakra or Sakka, ruler of the Trāyastriṃśa heaven. However, Śakra is sometimes given the title Indra, or, more commonly, Devānām Indra, “Lord of the Devas”. The ceremonial name of Bangkok claims that the city was “given by Indra and built by Vishvakarman.” The provincial seal of Surin Province, Thailand is an image of Indra atop Airavata.