INDRA

Real Name: Indra (also spelled Indr)

Occupation: God of storm and thunder, Leader of the Maruts (Rudras) and the Vasus

Legal Status: Citizen of Amaravati in the cosmology of the Hindu God

Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of the existence of Indra except as a mythological character.

Other Aliases: Indera (Balinese name), Kuara (Altaic name), Batara (Filipino name), Iswara (Balinese name), Kadaklan (Tinguian name)

Place of Birth: Unrevealed

Marital Status: Separated

Known Relatives: Dyaus (father), Gaea (mother, alias Prithivi), Tvashtri, Surya, Vayu (brothers), Ushas, Ratri (sisters), Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva (half-brothers), Dharma, Skanda, Ganehsa, Yama (nephews), Padma, Saranyu, Kali (nieces), Lakshmi-Sri, Sarasvati, Parvati (sisters-in-law), Indrani (wife), Puloman (father-in-law), Jayanta (son), Arjuna (son by Kunti), Varuna (paternal grandfather)

Group Affiliations: The Gods of India

Base of Operations: Swarga

First Appearance: Thor #301

History: Indra is a member of the Adityas, an extra-dimensional race of beings who were worshipped as gods by the people of Ancient India and who became the ancestors of the later Devas, the Gods of Hindu. Indra was revered as one of the most important gods of the earlier Vedic Pantheon. His birth was concealed by Prithivi from his grandfather, Varuna, the Ruler of the Vedic Gods, but as an adult, Indra supplanted his father, Dyaus, as god of the sky. With powers of storm and thunder, Indra seemed to earn his place in the pantheon by defending the Vedic gods from their enemies, often invigorating himself on soma, the drink of the gods, in order to do so. He became leader of the Maruts, gods of storm, and the Vasus, gods of wind, but he also became close friends of Vishnu, who was then a minor sun-god in the pantheon. However, Indra eventually became so drunk that he slew Vritra, one of the Danavas or serpent-gods in the Vedic Pantheon. Vritra had coiled up at the bottom of Mount Himavat preventing rain from falling to earth and had been enchanted that he was impervious to weapons. In order to slay him, Indra turned the sea to foam and drowned the serpent -god in the depths of the sea. Vritra had been close friends of Vishnu, and his death brought great sadness over the Vedic gods. As punishment, Indra had to surrender his elephant-mount, Airavata; it's life-force being used to revive Ganehsa, the slain son of Shiva, to life. (Later myths claimed that Airavata's head was used to replace Ganehsa's missing head, contributing to the god's appearance).

Vishnu, however, rose through ascension to supplant Varuna at the head of the pantheon and with his brothers, Brahma and Shiva as the Holy Trimurtri, developed from the tenets of Hinduism on earth out of the fading Vedic religion with themselves at the head of the new pantheon. Indra's friendship with Vishnu became estranged as a result. Under Hinduism, he no longer had as many worshippers as he once did, but Varuna became identified as Ormazd, the divine lord in Zoroasterism worshipped in ancient Persia. As one of the Persian gods, Indra was worshipped among the Kafirs, but he still had a few worshippers left in India. When the Hindu King Pandu was under a curse they prevented him from having children, his wife Kunti sought a boon from the gods and shared her bed with five separate deities. Among them, she was loved by Indra and bore him a son, Arjuna, who became charioteer to Krishna, one of the mortal avatars of Vishnu.

As several pantheons of gods lost worshippers or waned in power, Hinduism continued to become one of the largest religions on Earth. Indra and Vishnu seemingly buried their hostilities with Indra sometimes possibly taking a place in the Trimurtri during Shiva's moments of self-imposed ascetic isolation. When Thor came to Nirvana, the cosmology of the Hindu gods, to seek a portion of the life energies to revive his fellow Asgardian gods, Indra challenged Thor considering him to be a deity with waning power. Indra had decided to vote against donating the energies to revive the Asgardians, even engaging Thor in battle, but upon realizing the passion of Thor's conviction, Indra relented and eventually donated the energies required. Sometime later, when Yama, the Vedic god of the dead accidentally released Demogorge while working in a coven with other gods of the dead, Indra reunited with Thor and a host of other warrior gods to subdue it. Although the combined force of gods were insufficient against the power of the primeval entity, Thor managed to appeal to Atum, its true personality, and reversed its palate, freeing all the gods that had been consumed by Demogorge. 

Height: 6' 5"
Weight: 325 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

Unusual Physical Features: In his godly form, Indra has gold skin and four arms.

Strength Level: Indra possesses Class 100 level strength enabling him to (lift) press well over a hundred tons under optimal conditions.

Known Superhuman Powers: Indra possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Devas or Hindu gods. Like all Olympians, he is exceptionally long-lived, but he is not immortal like the Olympian gods. He has not aged since reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. He is immune to all Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If he were somehow wounded, his godly life force would enable him to recover with superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of his bodily molecules to cause him a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for a god of significant power, such as Vishnu, Varuna or Mithras or for a number of Hindu gods of equal power working together to revive him. Indra also possesses superhuman strength in excess of most of the Hindu gods and his Deva metabolism provides him with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Deva flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the superhuman strength and weight of the Hindu Gods.)

Indra has greater strength, stamina and resistance to harm than the majority of the Hindu gods, with the possible exception of Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. He has incredible superhuman strength, stamina, longevity and resistance to harm enabling him to perform strenuously for long periods of time with little or no signs of fatigue. He can also conjure and create storms and rain. He can command the weather to create thunderstorms and generate lightning bolts which he can fire with stunning precision. He can also channel other lightning from gods like Thor and use it against them. He also has other skills of a mystical nature which are as yet unrevealed. 

Abilities: Indra is an accomplished warrior, often seen carrying a variety of weapons including swords, sikhs (daggers) and a bow and arrow. In his true godly form, he can be particularly ruthless, equipped with multiple weapons from each hand capable of felling several opponents at once.

Weapons: Indra's weapon of choice was his vajra, a long curved sword. He also carried a number of other weapons including hammers, swords, daggers and a bow and arrow.

Pets/Transportation: In ancient times, Indra rode upon Airavata, an elephant-mount possibly born from earlier even more ancient Vedic deities, but its life force was forfeited to Ganehsa. He is sometimes accompanied by his dog, Sarama, also known for being the progenitor of Sarameyau, the guard dog at the gates of the underworld. Sarama was known as Kimat in Indonesian myth.

Base of Operations: Indra presides in the heaven of Swarga, an other-dimensional realm within the cosmology of the Hindu Gods connected to earth near Mount Meru, identified with Mouth Himavat (modern Mount Everest) on Earth.

Comments: Indra so far has only appeared in the Marvel Universe.

Last updated: 02/10/12

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