indra

over a quarter of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda mention Indra
making him the most referred to deity than any other

these hymns present a complex picture of Indra
but some aspects of Indra are oft repeated

of these, the most common theme is
where he as the god with thunderbolt
kills the evil serpent Vritra that held back rains
and thus released rains and land nourishing rivers

e.g. hymn 1.32

even though Indra is declared as the king of gods in some verses
there is no consistent subordination of other gods to Indra

in Vedic thought, all gods and goddesses are equivalent
and aspects of the same eternal abstract Brahman
none consistently superior, none consistently inferior

all gods obey Indra
but all gods also obey Varuna, Vishnu, Rudra and others
when the situation arises

further, Indra also accepts and follows the instructions of Savitr (solar deity)

Indra, like all Vedic deities, is a part of henotheistic theology of ancient India


~wikipedia~