Which traditions do they belong to?

Indra belongs to the Hindu Pantheon; Perun belongs to the Slavic Pantheon.

Side by side

Indra vs Perun

Ivanov and Toporov's reconstruction of a Perun-vs-serpent combat draws its structure from the Vedic Indra-vs-Vritra myth, part of the comparative case for a shared Indo-European storm-god-versus-serpent motif.

At a glance

Hindu Pantheon

tradition

Slavic Pantheon

thunder, rain, storms, heaven, war

domains

thunder, lightning, war, oaths

thunderbolt, elephant, rainbow

symbols

axe, oak tree, thunderbolt

Shakra, Purandara

also called

Perunŭ

Where they meet

Both are gods of thunder, war.

shared symbolsthunderbolt

Where they part

Indra alone

rain, storms, heaven

Perun alone

lightning, oaths

How each was worshipped

Indra

Cult sites: Few living Hindu temples; Indra Jatra at Kathmandu, Vedic fire-altars rather than a house of his own.

Festivals: Indra Jatra in Nepal, Vedic soma rites in the older layer.

King of the Rigveda, then crowded out by the Trimurti. Nepal still raises his pole. In India the honest note is decline: weather and war moved to other names.

Perun

Cult sites: No enclosed temple building is attested for Perun among the East Slavs; worship was in the open air. An excavated horseshoe-shaped ditch and central post-pit at Peryn, near Novgorod, is widely interpreted by archaeologists as a Perun sanctuary, matching the First Novgorod Chronicle's report that Bishop Akim had Perun's idol thrown into the Volkhov there in 989..

Oaths of state were sworn on Perun's name alongside weapons (907, 945, 971 treaties). Procopius describes cattle and other animals sacrificed to the Slavs' supreme thunder-god in general terms. In later East Slavic folklore, Perun's thunder role and his midsummer date were partly absorbed into the feast of the prophet Elijah (Ilyin Den) — a post-Christian folk continuation, not a pagan-era practice.

Indra

Hindu Pantheon

King of the gods (Devas) and lord of heaven (Svarga). God of thunder, rain, and war. Slayer of the dragon Vritra. Rides the white elephant Airavata.

Indra was born to the sky god Dyaus and earth goddess Prithvi. He became king of the gods by defeating the dragon Vritra. His weapon is the thunderbolt (Vajra).

Indra is the king of the **Devas** (gods) and ruler of **Svarga** (heaven). God of **thunder**, **rain**, and **war**, he was the most important deity in the Vedic period. He wields the thunderbolt **Vajra** and rides the white elephant **Airavata**.

Read the full Indra entry

Perun

Slavic Pantheon

The thunder god of the Kievan Rus', sworn by in treaties and installed at the head of Prince Vladimir's official pantheon in 980 before Vladimir himself had his idol destroyed in 988.

Perun is the best-attested of the Rus' gods. The *Russian Primary Chronicle* has the Rus' swear by him and by their weapons in the treaties of 907 and 945, and again in 971; under 980 he stands first among the six idols Vladimir raises on the hill outside his Kiev palace, with a head of silver and a moustache of gold. Procopius, writing in the 550s, describes the early Slavs sacrificing cattle to an unnamed god who alone is "master of all" and "the maker of lightning" — not a named source for Perun, but read by most historians as the same figure centuries earlier.

Read the full Perun entry

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How each was worshipped

Indra

Cult sites: Few living Hindu temples; Indra Jatra at Kathmandu, Vedic fire-altars rather than a house of his own.

Festivals: Indra Jatra in Nepal, Vedic soma rites in the older layer.

King of the Rigveda, then crowded out by the Trimurti. Nepal still raises his pole. In India the honest note is decline: weather and war moved to other names.

Perun