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Vala

The holder of the cave in the Rigveda. The cows, and with them the dawn and the sun, are shut inside his rock until Brihaspati and the Angirases break it open with a hymn (RV 10.67-68, 2.24, 4.50). The hymns call him a reviler and say he mourned for his cows like trees stripped by winter. In the Mahabharata 'slayer of Vala' is a standing name of Indra.

Sources: Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer; The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer · see Vala's web

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Stories 1

Brihaspati breaks open the cave of Vala
Legend · as the holder of the cave · 3 tellings

Cited

Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer § 10.67 Primary text (translation)
Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer § 10.68 Primary text (translation)
Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer § 2.24.3 Primary text (translation)
The Mahabharata, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883-96), sections read for the Vedic layer § udyoga.16 Primary text (translation)