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Side by side, from the sources

Thor vs Indra

These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Thunder-wielders who fight the serpent — the Germanic and Indic reflexes of one pattern.

Deity · Norse · c. 1270 CE

Thor

also called Þórr, Donar, Ðunor, Thunor, Þunor

The defender who kills giants and will meet Jormungandr at Ragnarok. Whatever the poems give Odin, Thor was by far the more widely worshipped.

Alignment
Disputed
Rank
Thunderer
First attested
Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum · c. 1075
Named there as
Thor
Texts naming it
4
Powers attributed
4
72attestedNorse

Deity · Vedic · c. 1400 BCE

Indra

also called Ahihán, Indran, Ahihan, Indiran, Meghavahana, Vritrahan, Sakra, Sakka, Vajrapani, Vasava, इन्द्र

The thunderbolt-wielding king of the gods, who slays the serpent Vritra and releases the pent waters. It is the Indo-European form of the same combat myth as Baal against Yam.

Alignment
Celestial
Rank
King of the Devas
First attested
Rigveda · c. 1500-1200 BCE
Named there as
Indra
Texts naming it
4
Powers attributed
3
100attestedVedic & Hindu

Where do they actually overlap?

Texts naming both

None. The two never appear in the same text in this corpus, which is worth knowing before accepting any confident claim that they are one figure.

Powers credited to both

Grants Victory in WarCauses Tempests

Common questions

Are Thor and Indra the same figure?

These two are identified with one another in the record, which is not the same as being the same figure. Thunder-wielders who fight the serpent — the Germanic and Indic reflexes of one pattern. ColossiansOne records the link rather than asserting the identity: where texts disagree about whether two names denote one figure, the disagreement is what gets shown.

Which is older, Thor or Indra?

Indra is the older name: first attested around c. 1400 BCE, against c. 1270 CE for Thor. Where the two dates are far apart, that gap is the whole reason the pair is worth comparing.

Do any texts name both Thor and Indra?

No text in this corpus names both. That is not proof they were considered the same figure, but it is why the identification has to be traced through the scholarship rather than read off a page.
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