His passion for soma goes even to intemperance, and when this illimitable drunkard staggers the whole earth staggers with him!
But, like a simple mortal, after repeated libations he is not always exempt from a certain queasy discomfort. Then the Asvins, assisted by Sarasvati, take from the body of a demon a certain specific that restores the body and the wits of the divine drinker.
Good and generous to his faithful followers, he multiplies their herds in peace and aids them with his arms in war.
The struggle of Indra against the Dasas, is probably connected with memories of very ancient invasions. When his frienr Kutsa is at grips with Sushna (“the Witherer”), and the darkness threatens to interrupt the combat, it is again Indra who forces the chariot of the sun to slacken in its career, by wrenching away a wheel. He at once places it in the hands of his protégé, who use this wheel as a formidable weapon with which he subdues his foe.