O Indra, slayer of Vṛtra, thou who didst slay the great dragon of chaos and disorder, who didst pierce through his many-coiled body with thy thunderbolt and bring forth the waters that nourish all the earth—we honor thee as the maintainer of cosmic order, the defender of ṛta itself.

In the ancient days, before the cosmos was fully formed, before the gods had established dominion over the worlds, Vṛtra the dragon did coil himself about the waters of creation and did prevent them from flowing. He sought to keep all things locked in a state of stasis, of unchanging death. The cosmos could not grow. Life could not flourish. The waters could not nourish the earth.

But thou, O mighty Indra, didst perceive this injustice and didst raise thy thunderbolt on high, the weapon forged by the celestial craftsmen in the fires of heaven. Thou didst advance upon Vṛtra in terrible combat. The battle raged across the heavens and the earth did tremble. The very foundations of existence shook at the impact of thy blows.

And then, in a moment of supreme triumph, thy thunderbolt found its mark. The dragon's body burst asunder. The waters were released from their imprisonment. They flowed forth in torrents across the earth, bringing life and fertility to all the lands. The rains came. The rivers ran full. The crops grew tall in the fields. Life itself was liberated from the bondage of chaos.

Yet thy victory was not merely physical, O Indra. It was a cosmic act of transformation. Thou didst restore the order of the universe. Thou didst make possible all subsequent creation, all growth, all evolution, all the becoming that characterizeth the cosmos.

We invoke thee now as the slayer of chaos, the establisher of order, the warrior who doth defend ṛta against all that would destroy it. Grant unto us thy strength to overcome the dragons of our own nature, the obstacles that prevent us from flowing forth into our fullest expression. Let us drink deep of the waters that thou hast liberated, and let us be nourished by thy eternal victory.