re: Deities in Hinduism and Buddhism, "swords represent cutting ignorance but to someone unfamiliar with the symbolism, it could represent some sort of violence. A sword is a symbol of enlightenment used to destroy ignorance which is the enemy of liberation from the bonds of wordly attachments." In regards to Indra and his thunderbolts, aren't they a metaphor for a meteoric weapon coming from the heavens as opposed to an actual weapon which no mortal could possess? unless they had reached the same spiritual realm, of course?
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