Indian mythology · asura · drought, obstruction
The cosmic serpent-demon who coiled around the mountains and held back all the waters of the world, until Indra split him open with the thunderbolt, the Rig Veda's central act of creation-by-combat.
Vritra coils around the mountains and holds every river of the world inside him. Indra, strengthened by soma, splits the dragon open with the thunderbolt, and the waters rush out like bellowing cattle; the Rig Veda counts creation itself from this blow.