Topic Research: Indra, the Thunder God

This week, I am working on deciding a few possible stories that I could write about related to the topic of Indra, the Thunder God. Three possible stories that came to my mind after doing some research are: his weapon, the Vajra, his identity compared to other Thunder Gods, and finally, a retelling of defeating the drought serpent, the Vritra.

First, the Vajra. The vajra often shows up in use, and it is stated that an instrument maker, Tvastra, created it for him, but it might be interesting to retell a story of how it was created, or to give another look into modeling the Tvastra as we do modern day cars, where there are many considerations made for common uses and more economical uses as well.

Next, I could compare Indra to other gods. In the Heroes of Olympus stories, by Rick Riordan, there is mention that the gods Ares and Mars are actually the same god, they just embody a different persona based on culture and times. I would be interested in perhaps comparing two cultures (such as Norse and Indian) and defining which parts of culture defines Indra and which part defines Thor. It would be a great opportunity to learn more about Indra and Indian culture as a whole.

Finally, there is Indra's defeat of the serpent, Vritra. I would be interested in reading and retelling this story in modern day or from the serpent's point of view, as I believe it to be an interesting idea in the first place. I would likely want to learn more about Asura's backstory in general, how it ties to Vritra, and how Indra defeated him.

As a bonus, one story I could tell is how the Vajra was made, Indra defeating the serpent, Vritra, then afterwards, he "switches" personalities, as does the Vajra.

These are just three preliminary ideas though, and as I learn more about Indian Epics and the Ramayana, I presume the idea will change.

Vritra, often a serpent, was the embodiment of drought. Source: Wikipedia

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