Ice shield
So the size of Vritra – mountains of 300 yojanas in a circle (4800 km.) corresponds to 1528 km. in length and width, which is equal to the established size of the Barents Sea ice sheet. The Barents Sea glacier occupied the entire shelf of the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea, the Bolshezemelskaya and Malozemelskaya tundra, adjoined the Scandinavian and Kara shields and had an area of 2.1 million km, an ice thickness of up to 3.5 km (an average of 1.870 km.) And an ice volume of 4 million cubic km.
An altitude of 500 yojanas (8,000 km.) May mean that something happened at that altitude. In this regard, a fragment of Indra’s anthem (PB. IV, 17), which speaks of his birth, is very interesting:
«The sky shook from the flash at your birth,
The earth shook with fear of your fury.
Strong mountains swayed
Deserts parted, water flows…
When you are born, you are first of all
He terrified all these peoples, O Indra.
Snake damming stock
You cut the vajra, oh generous.»
The same hymn says that Indra «set in motion the wheel of the sun», he stopped the sage Etasha, who ran through the sky, and threw him, furious, «to the bottom of the hide, dark space, into his bosom», i.e. into the depths of the earth.
The further description of the battle is extremely interesting. After a meeting at an altitude of 500 yojan: «from the skies of Vtyra, a hail of stones fell upon the lord of the gods with lightning speed, and the angry crowds of the gods began to shoot arrows, stone rain everywhere, beating off, brought down by Vritra in battle.»
When the battle of the gods and the Danavs, the defenders of Vritra began to boil, then «it was visible… how the heads fell from the heavens, like fruits ripped from cuttings… Armed with clubs, with iron spikes of kalea, gold armor, they were approaching the gods, as if covered the flames of a mountain forest fire. «But Vritra did not help «neither lightning, nor thunder, nor the fog that he spread, nor hail» – the gods moved south to the Sarasvati River, and then returned, armed with a heavenly thundering mace – the vajra, and:
«When Indra and the Serpent Fought
For (all) future times, generous defeated.»
Already as Indra returned and the host of gods with a blazing vajra to continue the battle with Vritra, the last «fever» penetrated and completely enveloped him. «He was terribly pale, his mouth was inflamed, a strong trembling gripped his body, his breathing became very frequent, his body hair rose, he breathed quickly and hard… A blazing flame burst from his sides in a fire…»