position in the Hindu pantheon of a later period, it is necessary to bear in mind that, however much the Ye- dic poets call Indra the protector of the pious and vir- tuous, he is in their songs essentially a warlike god, and gradually endowed by imagination not only with the qualities of a mighty, but also of a self-willed king. The legends which represent him in this light seem, it is true, to belong to a later class of the Eig-Veda hymns, but they show that the original conception of Indra excluded from his nature those ethical considera- tions which in time changed the pantheon of element- ary gods into one of a ditterent stamp. Whether the idea of an incarnation (q. v.) of the deity, which, at the Epic and Puranic periods, played so important a part in the history of Vishnn, did not exercise its influence as early as the composition of some of the Vedic hymns in honor of Indra, may at least be matter of doubt. He is, for instance, frequently invoked as the destroyer of cities — of seven, of ninety-nine, even of a hundred cities — and he is not only repeatedly called the slayer of the hostile tribes which siurrounded the Aryan Hindus, but some of the chiefs slain by him arc enumerated by name. The commentators, of course, turn those 'robbers' and their ' chiefs' into diemons, and their cities into celestial abodes ; but as it is improbable that all these names should be nothing but personifications of clouds destroy- ed by the thunder-bolt of Indra, it is, to say the least, questionable whether events in the early history of In- dia may not have been associated with the deeds of In- dra himself, in like manner as, at the Epic period, mor- tal lierocs ^vere looked upon as incarnations of Vishnu, and mortal deeds transformed into exploits of this god. •• The purely kingly character of Indra assumes its typical shape in the Aitareya-Brdhmana, where his in- stallation as lord of the inferior gods is described with much mj'stical detail; and from that time he continues to be the supreme lord of the minor gods, and the type of a mortal king. During the Epic and Puranic pe- riods, where ethical conceptions of the divine powers prevail over ideas based on elementary impressions, In- dra ceases to enjoy the worship he had actiuired at the Vedic time, and his existence is chiefly upheld by the poets, who, in their turn, however, work it out in the most fantastical detail. Of the eight guardians of the world, he is, then, the one who presides over the east, and he is still the god who sends rain and wields the thunderbolt ; but poetry is more engrossed by the beau- ty of his paradise, Sivarga, the happy abode of the in- ferior gods, and of those pious men ^vho attain it after death in consequence of having, during life, properly discharged their religious duties; bj^ the charms of his heavenly nymjjhs, the Apscn-asas, who now and then descend to earth to disturb the equanimity of austere penitents ; by the musical performances of his choris- ters, the Gandharvas; bj' the splendor of his capital, A marucati ; by tlie fabulous beauty of his garden, iV«?;- ddiKi, etc. A remarkable ti'ait in this legendary life of Indra is the series of his conflicts with Krishna (q. v.), an incarnation of Vishnu, which end, however, in his becom- ing reconciled with the more important god. As the god who is emphatically called the god of the hundred sacrifices (iS'atakrafu), Indra is jealous of every mortal who ma\' have the presumption of aiming at the per- formance of that number of sacrifices, for the accom- plishment of such an intention would raise the sacrificer to a rank equal to that which he occupies. He is, therefore, ever at hand to disturb sacrificial acts which may expose him to the danger of having his power shared by another Indra. According to the Purana-s, the reign of this god Indra, who is frequently called also tS'akra, or the mighty, does not last longer than the first Mann-ankira, or mundane epoch. After each suc- cessive destruction of the world, a new Indra was cre- ated, together with other gods, saints, and mortal be- ings. Thus the Indra of the second Manwantara is Vipaschit ; of the third, Susdnti ; of the fourth, Ski ; of the fifth, Vibhu; of the sixth, Munojavu; and the
Indra of the present age is Piirandcva" (Chambers, s. v.). In works of art, Indra is generally represented as riding on an elephant. In paintings, his eyes are veil- ed. See also Ilardwick, C/irisf and other Masters, i, 173. (J.II.W.)
Induction (Lat. hulnctio, from duco, I lead) is a term in ecclesiastical law for the act by which a clergyman in the Church of England, having been presented to a benefice by its patron, is brovght in to the possession of the freehold of the church and glebe. This is usually done by a mandate, luider the seal of the bishop, ad- dressed to the archdeacon, who either in person inducts the minister, or commissions some clergyman in his archdeaconry to peiform that office. ThV archdeacon, or his deputy, inducts the incumbent, by laying his hand on the key of the church as it lies in'the lock, and using this form: "I induct you into the real and actual possession of the rectory or vicarage of J\I., with all its profits and appurtenances." The church door is then opened; the incumbent enters, and generally tolls a bell, in token of having entered on his spiritual duties. In Scotland the Presbytery induct the minister. — Eden, Theol. Dictionary, s. v.