darbha

[Srikrishna Ghadiyaram]

Hari Om !!

I feel unhappy to see the interpretations of ice-age
etc. for the story of Vritra. These wild maginations
are of no help to heart or head. Can anybody link
atleast a few words from the Rigveda to the speculated
story of Vritra connected to ice-age ?  I guess, the
RigVedic sages knew the words for 'ice', well enough.

Based on the Book VI of Srimad Devi Bhagavatam, here
is the account of Vritra:

Tvasta is another name for Viswakarma, who is the
architect of the Devas, and a Brahmana, and a great
tapasvi. He had a son 'Trisirsha (Trisira) Viswarupa'.
He was a great acetic, and performed very very severe
tapasya. With one of his head he would recite Vedas,
with the other he would drink nectar, and with the
third head he would see all the quarters. Afraid that
Trisira would usurp his position owing to his tapasya,
Indra killed the Trisira engaged in Tapasya. This was
a great sin of Brahmahatya and he paid dearly for
this. Viswakarma becoming very sorry for his noble
son's death, performed a great sacrifice and 'Vritra'
came out of the fire. He was like a mountain,
unconquerable. As this powerful son of Viswakarma was
to save him from his troubles (Vrijina), he named his
son 'Vritra' (Vri-Tra).  Viswakarma created very
powerful armour with his tapasya and asked his son to
avenge Indra. Owing to the sin of Brahmahatya of
Indra, and the might of Vritra, Indra along with other
devas, lost the battle and ran away.

On the suggestion of Viswakarma, Vritra performed
severe tapasya invoking Lord Brahma and obtained a
boon that he would not be killd by iron or wood, and
by dry or wet weapons.

Owing to the power of Vritra, the devas ran away and
suffered very much. They prayed to Lord Vishnu, and
Lord Vishnu asked them to wait for some time.  With
the negotiations of the sages Vritra agreed to be a
friend of Indra and started spending his time in
tapasya, trusting Indra. Viswakarma cautioned his son
that Indra was not to be trusted. But, as if his time
was nearing, Vritra treated Indra as a friend and
forgot all enimity with the devas. But, Indra was just
waiting for a time. The devas prayed to the Goddess to
help them restore the power and position and She
blessd them.

On one evening when Vritra was lone at the ocean side,
Indra thought it was the best time to kill Vritra. He
prayed to Lord Vishnu and Lord Vishnu entered in
subtle form into the Vajra of Indra (which was made of
the bones of Dadhichi). Maha Maya entered into the
foam of the waters,foam being not dry or wet. The foam
covered the Vajra. When struck by such a Vajra, Vritra
was killed.

For this treachery of cheating and killing a friend
Indra spent a long long time in the stem of a lotus in
the Manasa lake. The story continues .....


Om Namo Narayanaya !!

Srikrishna

--- KRISHNA RAO <braos at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>
> It is very interesting to hear the Ice Age
> interpretation from the Rig Veda.
> Vrtra was a demonic apparition raised by the penance
> and yagna sadhana of the sage Twasta who wanted to
> avenge his son' s death[i don't remember the name]
> at the hands of Indra. This son was a temporary guru
> of Indra when the sage Brihaspati had left Indraloka
> in disgust with Indra's vanity. This temp guru who
> had asuric origins while performing a yagna uttered
> hymns to benefit the asuras. Hence Indra killed
> him..Thus the angry Twasta invoked Vrtrasura.
> I remember reading from my past that Indra was not
> able to kill Vrtra and hence sought the counsel of
> Dadichi muni who for the benefit of the Devas gave
> up his mortal body and merged with the Absolute.
> The Ashwini Kumaras/Vishwakarma and others then took
> the bones of Dadichi and designed a powerful mace
> and Indra used that to kill Vrtra...
> -Krishna
>  Shrinivas Gadkari wrote: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
>
>
> ---------------------------------
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