Indra
Indra (god of war) became jealous of a well loved, studious boy and sent seductive girls to tempt him without success.
The boy had three heads and Indra, annoyed at the failure of his plot, cut off each of the three heads. Flights of doves emerged from the corpse.
The boy's father summoned the demon Vritra and sent him against Indra. They battled and the demon swallowed Indra. The other gods rushed to the god's aid and forced Vritra to open his mouth for long enough for Indra to escape. Vishnu managed to get the god and the demon to agree to a truce on Vritra's terms that Indra would not attack him with any weapon of stone, wood or iron, wet or dry, or by day or night.
Indra found the demon at dusk on the sea shore and hurled surf at him (surf being neither entirely wet or dry) and Vritra fell dead as the surf foam held the power of Vishnu.
Indra is warlike, intemperate, selfish, prideful and unaware of fairness or justice. He is the embodiment of aggressive action who controls thunderbolts and rides the sky either in his chariot or on his elephant 'Airavata'.
Some believed that Indra was the twin of Agni and his wife is sometimes Indrani or Urvara.
Adapted from 'A guide to the Gods' by Richard Carlyon
