darbha

[Shrinivas Gadkari]

On Tue, 8 Oct 2002 10:53:43 -0400, Subrahmanian, Sundararaman V [IT] <>[No
mention about which puraaNam this story occurs] Indra once hurled his
>vajraayudha at vR^traasura.  But the weapon had no impact on him.  Sri
>Brahma saw this and took the weapon and dipped it in his kamaNdalu and gave
>it to Indra and asked him to use it after that.  When Indra used the weapon
>against vR^traasura this time, the weapon was very powerful and wounded him
>in several ways and was cutting his various limbs and organs of the body.
>Seeing that his end was near, he wanted to take his revenge before his
>death.

Namaste,

vRtra was the Asura killed by Indra using vajra. This event
is celebrated in the Rg veda. It has been pointed out that vRtra
is the name for the glaciers of the last ice age. (I have seen this
mentioned by David Frawley.)

A probable account of what happened ...

vRtra, had covered vast regions of the Earth, especially those at high
altitudes. (The name vRtra means one which covers). As a consequence of
the large quantity of water being trapped in the glaciers (vRtra), the
rainfall had dramatically reduced and draught like conditions prevailed all
over the Earth. Indra took upon himself to restore the rains. He performed
severe yoga sAdhanA to gain control over the clouds, in particular, the
lightening. On acquiring this power, he set out to conquer vRtra. Using his
yogic powers he amassed clouds and showered lightening on vRtra, breaking
the glaciers into pieces. This released water that in turn fed the clouds
and helped Indra generate more lightening. Using this strategy repeatedly
he broke up most of the glaciers on the Earth, ending the ice age.

Best regards
Shrinivas Gadkari