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ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD 'ÍNDRA'Author(s): Uma ChakravartySource: Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. 76, No. 1/4 (1995), pp. 27-33Published by: Bhandarkar Oriental Research InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41694367

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ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD

'

ÍNDRA'

By

Uma

Chakravarty

0. An

attempt

o

get

the

etymology

f

the

word

indra

would focus

ight

on the

principal

and

basic

aspect

of

his

character,

which

o us is that

of a

war

god.

Before

oming

o our

point

of

view

n this

regard

we

would ike

to

make

a

survey

f

the

opinions

of our

predecessors

from

Yãska to Volker

Moller.1

1.

Of

the thirteen

erivations

f

the word

ndra

given

by

Yäska,2

we

pre*

fer

the

following

wo

: indater

vaišvaryakarmanah

indaüchatrünäm

ar

»-

yitã

vã

I

drãvayitã

vã3

"

Or,

the word

s derivedfrom the

root

ind,

mean*

ing

to

be

powerful,

.

e.

being

powerful

e

tears

the enemies

sunder,

or

puts

them

to

flight."1

YSska's

last

derivation f

indra

ãdarayitã

ca

yajvanãm

"

Or,

he

honours he

sacrificers

6

might

be

pointing

o the

growing

mpor*

tance

of

sacrifice

n

society.

The

Bfahaddevatã

oes not

say anything

irect*

ly

on

the

etymology

f

indra.

It

speaks

about the four

spects

of his

chara-

cter. Theyare : ( i ) he is thegod ofwaters, . e. the raingod, ( ii ) killer f

Vjtra,

and a

performer

f acts of

strength,*

iii

as he lords over

all,

so he

is

Indra,8

and

(

iv

he is

one of the

twelve

Ãdityas.9

The

Bfahaddevatã

notes hat hefeature f

super-eminence

f

ndra's laudation s his

accomplish*

mentof

every

kind of featof

strength.10

he

execution f

featsof

might

n

courseof timeentrusted

im with he

highest

unction

f

ruling

ver

all.

The

inclusion f Indra

among

the

twelve

Ãdityas

belongs

to a

period

when the

mythology

f

the Veda

was

more

developed

and

was

in

the

process

of

taking

a

definite

hape.

11.

Thirteen

ifferent

pinions

n the

etymology

f

theword

ndra

express-

ed

by twenty-five

r

more scholars

re

reviewed elow

in a

nutshell.

1

Volker ollers the

uthor f he

rticle,

Die

mythologie

er

edischen

eligion

nd

Hinduism,"

n

Götter

nd

Mythen

es ndischen

ubkontinents

ed. Hans Wilhelm

Haussing,tuttgart,

984.

1

Hirukta

X.

8

,

ed.

Lakshman

arup,

art

II,

Motilal

anarsidass,

1st d.

1926

reprint967, p.

175-6.

*

ibid.

Part

II, p.

176.

*

ibid,

Part

I,

p.

156.

B

ibid.PartII, p.176.

8

ibid.PartI, p. 156.'

Brhaddevatn

II. 6

,

ed.&

tr.

y

A.

A.

Macdonell,

OS vol.

V

,

p.

12.

*

ibid.

I.

35,

p.

14.

»

ibid.

V.

146-48,

p.

61-62.

10

ibid.

I.

6.,

p.

12.






28

Annals

BORI

,

LXXVi

(

1995

(

i

)

Roth

and

Böhllingk

t

the conclusion f their

rticle

n

Indra

say

" Man wird u keinerbefriedigendenösungdes WortesKommen, so lange

mandas

^

als

wurzelhaft

etrachted.

Geht man

dagegen

von der

Wurzel

aus,

an

welcher ich das

Suif.

?

mittelst ines

epenthischen

r

anfügt

so

ergibt

ich

der

vollkommen

utreffendeinn

Bezwinger,

Bewältiger

der

Vermögende

zu

weiterer

estätigung

gl.

".n

So

long

as

^

is

consi-

dered

part

of

the

root t is

not

possible

to arrive t

a

satisfactory

olution.

Contrarily,

f

one

starts

with

he

root

^

and

adds

the suffix

to

it

aftej

the

nsertion f the

epenthetic

,

then one reaches at

the

perfectly

orrect

meaning

'

the

conqueror

€

the

master

,

*

the

powerful

".

Withreference

to the above viewCharpentiereferso Jacobi,whoobserves hatone cannot

speak

of

a

root

ike

n

all

the

formations

na,

-nu

nd

inv-a

re derived rom

the

root

z'.12

We,

however,

would

point

out

that,

the root

nj

im

exists

very

much

n the

Samhitãs.

Many

words

have

been formed rom

his

root.

Some of

themare

invathah

I.

119.7b),

invatu(RV

I.

162,

6d 12d

IV. 53.

7d

e

al

),

invasi

RVV.

28.

2c

;

VIII.

13. 32c

et

al

),

invire RV V.

6.

6c

. Only

a

few

nstanceshave

been

quoted

above.

It

is,

however,

to be noted that ti

the

above

examples

the

root

in

(

v has

not

been

necessarily

sed

in

the

sense of

'

to

conquer

or

ť

to

overpower,

In

some verses t

means

'

to

co-

ver in others to go Our pointof view s thattheroot n v has been

used

by

the Vedic

Poets.

(

ii

Benfey13

ollowing

very

complicated

process

concludes

that

Indra

has

been formed

rom

sind

+

ra

which

n its

part

has

been

originated

from

yand

meaning

drop Regarding

Benfey's

opinion

Charpentier

om-

ménts:

"

allerdings

original

aber

ganz

unannehmbar"14

by

all means

original

but not

acceptable.

(iii)Max Müller holds, indra s exclusivelyn Indian word and is

derived

rom

he

same root

from

which

indu

€

drop

*

juice

*

has

been

for-

med.16

Max Müller reminds

one

of

Yãska

:

Indave dr

vail

ti

vã

/

indau

ramata

ti

vã

(

X.

8

)

"

he

ruas for

the

ake of

soma

(

indu

+

dra

,

or

he

takes

delight

n

soma

(

indu

ram

Muir,

Macdonell,

Fick,

Kirste

hare

Max Müller's

opinion.

11

St.

Petersburg,ictionary

ol.

.

p.

804.

M

Le Monde

riental

ol.

XXXV,

os.

1-3.

1931

Leipzig,

tto

Harrassowitz

,

pp.

1-2

••

Dazu

bemerkte

acobichon

ängst

mit

echt,

man

önne

on

iner

Wurzel

n

-

nicht

sprechen,a nurPräsenbildungen-nat ~nuundt-nva allenatürtichon, iner

Wujzel

#-

orliegen

"

M

Opinions

f

Benfey,

ax

Müller,

Muir,

Macdonell,

oy,

Kirste,

rassmann,

ezzen-

berger,

nd

Jacobi ave

een

ollectedrom

harpentier's

rticle

entioned

bove.

u

op.

oit

p.

2Ň

16

op.

cit.

p.

2.






Čhakravrty

i On

the

Etymology f

the

word

índra

Ž9

(

iv

Grassmann

maintains,

Die

Ableitung

st

sehr

unsicher.

Das

wahrscheinlichstest wohl noch, da es wie indu, von der Wurzel iridh

stammte n

dem der

Nasal

biswilen

..

eine

Umwandlung

der

Aspirate

in

die Media

veranlasst.

16

"

The derivation

s

very

uncertain.

Thè

highest

possibility

ies

in that it

as

indu

originates

from the

root

indh

in

which

the

nasal

causes an

occasional

change

of

aspirate

in

the

middle".

(Tr.

by

us. In

Grassmann's

interpretation,

s has

been

already

pointed

ut

by

Charpentier,

we observe

hat he

two of

the

thirteen

nterpretations

f

Yäska,

i. e. indra

has

been

formed

rom

ndu

as

well

as

from

ndh9

ave

been

com-

bined nto

one.

Bergaigne,

Bollensen

hold more or

less the

same

opinion

as Grassmann.

(

v

Bezzenberger

uts

Zend

andra

(indra),

Pehl. andar and

Slav.

indra

on

the

same

par.

He

opines

that

*

ant

=

Skt.

nad

(

from

which

indra

has

been derived

.

But

Bezzenbergeťs

iew

has not been

supported

by any

other

cholar.17

(

vi

Charpentier

inds

Jacobi's

view

i-nr

18 ccepable,

but at

the

ame

time

puts

forward

is

own

hypothesis

(

vii

"

Also

wäre

ndra

möglicherweise

us

alterem

in

-

ra zu

erklä-

ren,

was

sich dann

ist

einwardfreimit

avýp, vSp

zusammenstellen

iesse.

Auch

der

Bedeutuug

wegen

wäre

eine

derartige

usammenstellung

ut

verwa-

ndbar,

wus

sich besonders

durch das

abgeleitete

ndriya

,

Manneskraft

.beweisen

lässt"19

ťť

ndra

aiso could

possibly

be

interpreted

o

be

formed

■

from

n-ra,

hen t can

satisfactorily

a

grouped

with

àvrjp,

vSp-.

For

the

sake

of

meaning

lso such

a

grouping

s

well-thought

f

which

particularly

lets

tself

rove through

ndriya

c

manlyvirility

derived

from

t.

"

(

Tr.

by

us. Charpentier hinksmoreor less in thesamelightas Roth and Böht-

lingk.

That

Charpentier,

nlike

many

cholars,

hinks hatthe

word

ndra

s

originally

ot

Vedic

and

may

be linked

up

with

parallel

Greek

works

gives

t

a

much

broader

perspective.

(

viii Hermann

Güntert20

olds

that

the

basis of

indra

lies

in

*

old

meaning

to swell

and he also

gives

plausible

explanation

f

n and

r occurr-

ing

n the

word.

R. N.

Dandekar

finds

Gilntert's iew

the

most

convincing.21

18 op.oit p.3. 17 op, it,pp.4-5.

18

Already

eterredo.

19

op

cit

p.

5.

20

See

Hermano

üntert

Der

arische

Weltkönig

nd

Heiland,

Haale

(Saale)

1923,

pp.

13-14.

81

See

R.

N. Dandekar

Vedio

Mythological

racts

Delhi,

979,

.

186#






3Ó

Annals

BORI,

LXXVI

(

1995

)

(ix)

Hillebrandt

efers o the

opinions

of

several

cholars

n

this

egard

but prefersnotto give anyof his own : " Mythologischatall dies wenig

Wert.

Indras Name ist der

Inbegriff

ller

Kraft.

22

"

Myhologically

ll

these

have little alue. Indra's

name

is

the

embodiment

f

all

strength

9

.

(

Tr.

by

us.

(

X

For Benveniste's

iew

we

quote

Keith

"

Benveniste

uggests

with

Kretschmer

hat

the

name of Indra

is

borrowed

rom

Hittite

r

Luwi,

but

asserts

thatthere

s

no

proof

that

ť

Innara

*

in Hittite

was

a

divine

name."23

Keith

refuses

to

accept

Benveniste's

view

and

comments,

If

the base

of

Indra is Indo-European, itseemswholly nnecessary o find n it a Hittite

loan-word."24

(

xi

L.

A. Waddel observes

a

link between

Sumerian

King

In-Dar

*

ln-Duru

or In-Dur with

he

Vedic

Indra.

u

His

(

i.

e.

King's personal

name

in Sumerian

was Dur

or Tur

with

he

prefix

f

'

King

or

Lord

*

(

In

or Ash

or

An),

it

was

In-Dar,

In-Duru or

In-Tur

. e.

the

ť

King

Dar,

King

Dur

or

Tur.

"25

aa

Alfred

illebrandt

Vedische

MythologieI, Breslau,902, .

148.

83 ForBenveniste'siewA.B. Keith's Indra ndVrtra ( IndianCulturevol.1,1934-

5

)

has

been onsulted.

u

op.

cit.

p.

463

Benveniste's

pinion

uggests

hat he

ifferent

eoples

f the rchaic

orld

the

Hittites,

he

Mittannis,

he

umerians,

he

ndo-Europeans

tc.

were

ot

estranged

from

ach

ther

ut,

n the

ontrary,

here as

nter-trafficking

etween

hese

eoples.

One

s,

however,

ound o be

surprised

nd

imultaneously

empted

o

be

drawn

towards

he

onclusion

hat

heHittite

nnar

and

ndian

ndra

have

inguistically

common

ase.

But,

ne s

definitely

arred

rom

rawing

uch

conclusion

s

so far

no

inguistic

videnceasbeen

oundn ts avour. e

quote

elow

Annalies

ammen-

huber

ho

while

lassifying

ifferent

ods

elatedo the

Hittite

nnorauutar

KALA-

TAR observes: Der indische ott ndra R HA 46.118) istmitgutem echt

aus

der

Diskussion

erbannt

orden,

Münchener

tudium

zur

Sprachwissens

chaft

Heft

, 1953,

958,

.

28

"

The

ndian

od

ndra

R H

A

46.

118

has

been

rightly

xcluded

rom

his

iscusión.

(Tr.

by

us.)

Also

ee

Edward

ietz

Otto:

Reallexikon

er

Assyriologie

nd

Vorderasia

tischen

rchäologie

vol.

V,

New

York,

erlin,

976-80,

.

96

.

From

aan

uhvel's

Hittite

tymological

ictionary

vol.

,

Mouton

ublishers,

erlin,

New

York,

Amsterdam,

984

is shown elow

he

imilarity

f

meaning

nd

ound ffect

etween

Hittite

nnar

n ts ifferent

erivativesnd ndian

ndra

Innara

"

explicitly,

illfully,

urposely,

n

one's own

account

,

of

one's wn ccord

"

p.

366.

In(n)arah(h)~

"

maketrong,trengthen

"

p. 367Innarai- ?) or nnarawai ? " bestrong "p. 367

Innarauwah(h)-

"

make

trong,

trengthen

"

p.

370

Innarawant

seems omean

sexually

otent

"

p.

372

85

L.

A.

Waddel,

he

Makers

f

Civilisation

n

Bace and

History

S.

Chand&Co

1968, .

79).






Chakravrty

s

On

the

Etymology f

the

word

índra

31

(

xii

Mayrhofer

hinks

hat

índra

is

originally

n

adjective meaning

' strong, owerful and links tup with heserbocroatedar *full,powerful,

strong

Wegen

indriyam

nd

indra

in der

Bedeutung,,

Fürst,

Erster

scheint

ndrah

ein

altes

Adejektivum

für...

„

stark,

mächting"

zu

sein,

weshalb

ich

Zusammestellung

it

serbokroat

edar

voll, kräftig,

tark

aksL

*

jedr

<

*

indro

s

?

>

empfielt.

26

(

xiii

Volker

Moller

says

that

ndra

originally

means

'

strong,

power-

ful

*

and

has

been

derived from

noti

stimulating, verpoweing

He also

observes

hatthe

basic

nature

f

Indra

is

thatof

a

war

god

'

"

Indra

urspr.

wohl, " starkmächtig auch von inoti" treibend " bewältigend abgelei-

tet

.

Der

hervorragendste

ott

der

vedischen Zeit in seiner

ursprünglichen

Naturbedeutung

ie

auch

als Gott

der

Krieger

st er

Gegenstand

iner

Vielfalt

von

Mythen

nd

wird n

uber

250

Hymmen

es

RV

gepriesen.

27

III.

0.

Of the

thirteen

pinions

on

the

etymology

f the

word

indra

six

are

in

favour

f

establishing

hat

the root

fromwhich

indra has

been derived

has

the

meaning

to infuse

trength,

nvigorate

and

the

ike.

We can

men-

tionthe

names

of

Roth-Böhthingk,

harpentier,

Mayrhofer,

nd

Moller

in

thisconnection. HermmanGüntert nd R. N. Dandekar also observe that

from

the

root

id-*oid>

ť

to

swell

9

,

indra

"

swelling

manly virility

99

has

been

formed.

III.

I.

Our

conjecture s,

índra

has

been formed

rom

he

root

in(y)

with

the

suffix

a and

with

the

epenthetic

d

(in

+

d

+

ra).

Such

linguistic

phenomenon

s

not

rare in

the

Vedic

literature38^

nd is

probably

ommon

36

Mayrhofer,

urzgefasstes

tymologisches

örterbuch

es

AltindisohenB^nát1i

Heidelbeeg,956, .88.'*

Because

indríyam

and

ndra

signify

the

eader

"

the oremostit s

ikely

that

ndrahs

an

old

adjective

eaning

strong,

owerful

and so

its

classificado

with

erbocroat.

edar

full,

owerful,

trong

(

aksl.

jedr

*

ndro s

?

is

recom-

mended,

(Tr.

by

us.).

op.

cit

p.

112.

88

Not

only

n

theVedic

anguage,

his

s

rather

common

inguistic

henomenon,

bser

ved

ong

efore

y

Leonard

loomfieldn

his

work

anguage

George

llen

Unwin

Ltd., London,

957:

1st

d.

1933

.

He

observesn the

chapter

ntitled

Types

f

Phonetic

hange

on

p.

383;

"

In a

good many

anguages

efind n

intermediate

consonant

rising

n

cluster.

A

Primitive

ndo-European

sr

appears

s

(

str

in

Germanicnd nSlavic thus, rimitivendo-European(srow) compare anskrit

[

sravati

]

itflows

)

isreflectednPrimitiveermanic4

trawmaz

•stream

old

Norse

strawmrl

.

Old

English

stream

,

and in

old

Bulgarianstruja

•

stream

English,

t

more han ne

time,

as

nserted

[

d

in he

groups

f

(

nr,

l

and a

[b]

in he

roupsmr.

ml):

old

English

40uarian

(to)

thunder

Old

English

(

•

aire

(

accusative

ase

alder






Chakravrty

: On the

Etymology f

the word índra

33

indtamah

ccurring

n c

in

the

above

verse

has been

translated

y

Wilson as

" supremensway byGriffiths " the mostvigorous and byGeldner s

"

der

der

höchste

Gebieter

st

"

he

who

is

the

highest

master

The

word índrawas

initially

n

adjective,

a

very

pt epithet

for

the

leader of the

Vedic

Aryans,

leader who

vanquished

nemies nd released

waters,precisely,

ne who

fulfilledll the

dire

necessities f

ife

of his

people.

Later,

the

epithet, ollowing very

normal

course,

was

transformednto his

name.34

Such a

phenomenon

s

not unusual n

life.

The

very tymology

f

the word ndra

hints

t the

historical

ackground

he Vedic

Aryans

nd

their

leaderpassed through.

81

Krsna,

we

presume,

as

nitially

o

called

ecause

f

hit

dark kin, nd later bat

became

isname.

5

Annals

BORI

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