The Indian God of the visible Heavens is called _Indra_, or the King; and _Divespetir_, Lord of the Sky. He has the character of the Roman _Genius_, or chief of the Good Spirits. His consort is named _Sachi_; his celestial city _Amaravati_; his palace _Vaijayanta_; his garden _Nandana_; his chief elephant _Airevat_; his charioteer _Matali_; and his weapon _Vajra_, or the thunder-bolt. He is the regent of winds and showers, and, though the East is peculiarly under his care, yet his Olympus is Meru, or the North Pole, allegorically represented as a mountain of gold and gems. He is the Prince of the beneficent Genii.--Sir W. JONES. A distinct idea of Indra, the King of Immortals, may be collected from a passage in the ninth section of the Geta. {164} "These having, through virtue, reached the mansion of the king of _Suras_, feast on the exquisite heavenly food of the Gods; they, who have enjoyed this lofty region of SWERGA, _but_ whose virtue is exhausted, revisit the habitation of mortals." He is the God of thunder and the five elements, with inferior Genii under his command; and is conceived to govern the eastern quarter of the world, but to preside, like the _Genius_ or _Agathodæmon_ of the ancients, over the celestial bands, which are stationed on the summit of MERU, or the North Pole, where he solaces the Gods with nectar and heavenly music. The _Cinnaras_ are the male dancers in SWERGA, or the Heaven of Indra, and the Apsaras are his dancing girls, answering to the fairies of the Persians, and to the damsels called in the Koran _hhúru lûyùn_, or, _with antelope's eyes_.--Sir W. JONES. _I have seen Indra tremble at his prayer,_ _And at his dreadful penances turn pale._--VI. p. 52. Of such penances Mr. Halhed has produced a curious specimen: "In the wood, Midhoo, which is on the confines of the kingdoms of Brege, Tarakee selected a pleasant and beautiful spot, adorned with verdure and blossoms, and {165} there exerted himself in penance and mortification, externally, with the sincerest piety, but, in reality, the most malignant intention, and with the determined purpose of oppressing the Devetas; penances such as credulity itself was astonished to hear; and they are here recounted:-- 1. For a hundred years, he held up his arms and one foot towards heaven, and fixed his eyes upon the sun the whole time. 2. For a hundred years, he remained standing on tip-toe. 3. For a hundred years more, he nourished himself with nothing but water. 4. For a hundred years more, he lived upon nothing but air. 5. For a hundred years more, he stood and made his adorations in the river. 6. For a hundred years more, he made those adorations buried up to his neck in the earth. 7. For a hundred years more, enveloped with fire. 8. For a hundred years more, he stood upon his head with his feet towards heaven. 9. For a hundred years more, he stood upon the palm of one hand resting on the ground. {166}