Agastya, who becomes angry when the
king, deep in meditation, fails to greet
the sage with proper respect. After much
pleading, Agastya decrees that the curse
will be broken when Vishnu touches the
elephant on the back. As a result of this
curse, Indradyumna roams the earthas
an elephant for many years.
On one occasion when he is drink-
ing at a lake, his hind leg is seized by a
giant crocodile. The crocodile is actual-
ly a gandharvaor celestial musician
named Huhu, whom another sage had
cursed to become a crocodile. Their
struggle lasts for a thousand years, with
the elephant unable to get free, and the
crocodile unable to overpower the ele-
phant. Finally Vishnu himself appears,
kills the crocodile, and restores
Indradyumna to his previous form. The
release of Indradyumna from both the
curse and the crocodile is known as
Gajendramoksha, the “release of the
elephant king.”
Indrajit
(“Conqueror of Indra”) In the Ramayana,
the earlier of the two great Indian epics,
Indrajit is the sonof the demon-king
Ravanaby his wife Mandodari. In some
later versions of the Ramayana, he is
portrayed as the son of the god Shiva
himself, born after his mother had mar-
ried Ravana. Like his father, Indrajit is a
great devotee (bhakta) of Shiva, and
because of his devotion Shiva teaches
Indrajit how to make himself invisible.
For a warrior, this power is obviously
very valuable, and through it Indrajit is
able to conquer Indra’s heavenly realm
and take Indra as a prisoner back to
Lanka, hence his name.
The god Brahmagoes to Lanka, the
kingdom of Ravana, to arrange for Indra’s
release, in return for which Indrajit
demands physical immortality. When he
is told that this is impossible, Indrajit
requests a different power—that when he
performs a certain sacrifice he will
receive horses and a chariot so that he can
kill whatever enemy he faces, and while in
the chariot he cannot be killed.
When the god-king Ramaand allies
are storming Lanka, in an effort to
regain Rama’s kidnapped wife Sita,
Indrajit begins to perform this sacrifice.
Warned about this danger by Brahma,
Rama sends his brother Lakshmanato
interrupt it. Lakshmana successfully
disrupts the sacrifice, and in the ensuing
battle kills Indrajit.Indrani
(Feminine form of Indra) The wife of
the god Indra, the ruler of heaven.
Perhaps reflecting Indra’s diminished
status in later Hindu mythology, Indrani
is not a prominent figure. Her only
important role is as an object of desire
in the story of Nahusha, who through
his meritorious deeds has displaced
Indra as the king of heaven. Nahusha
assumes that he is entitled to Indrani as
well as Indra’s throne, and makes
advances toward her. For his hubris, the
sage Agastya curses Nahusha to be
reborn as a giant serpent.Indraprastha
The name given to the earliest of the
cities built on the site now occupied
by modern Delhi; Indraprastha was
built on the banks of the Yamuna
River, in the southeastern part of
modern Delhi.
In the Mahabharata, the later of the
two great Hindu epics, Indraprastha is
named as the capital of the Pandavas,
the five brothers who are the epic’s pro-
tagonists. According to the epic, the
city is built after their uncle, King
Dhrtarashtra, has divided his kingdom
between the Pandavas and his own
sons, the Kauravas.
Although the epic is replete with
descriptions of Indraprastha, there is
little hard connection between the
archeological site and events described
in the epic.Indus
River whose source lies in the high
Himalayas, but which flows throughIndus