ABSTRACT
As is fairly well known, several of the gods familiar from Vedic and Purāṇic myths, as well as from the two great epics (Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa), are included in Buddhist and Jain cosmology and, in some cases, narrative. One god in particular occupies a significant place in the narratives of all three traditions, in which he shares some motifs and varies in others. That is the god Indra, also known as Śakra (or, in Pāli and Prākrit, Sakka).1 Because of his widespread presence,2 as well as his mixture of common characteristics and local adaptations, Indra is the ideal candidate for our first exploration of a character that is shared between Brahmanical, Jain and Buddhist traditions. As a god who is also a king and a warrior hero, he also fits all the major generic roles that are the focus of this book. That he is shared by all three traditions, despite his dubious associations with drunkenness, womanising and warmongering, demonstrates Indra’s significance within the narrative imagination of early South Asia. The different ways in which Jain and Buddhist authors, as well as Brahmanical ones, chose to include and adjust the king of the gods, reveal much about both the challenges and the opportunities of working with a shared character.
