essay on hindu mythology

History Cooperative

Hindu Mythology: The Legends, Culture, Deities, and Heroes

Hindu mythology, alternatively called Indian mythology, involves the all-encompassing lore behind the world’s third-largest religion. As a contender for being the oldest religion in the world, Hinduism had a significant impact on some of Earth’s earliest cultures. For example, Hinduism acted as the socio-theological backbone for the Indus Valley civilization for centuries. While the religion’s influences can be seen in things such as the (controversial) caste system, Hinduism further acted to unite ancient India.

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What is Hindu Mythology?

Hindu mythology is a collection of myths and legends that belong to the Hindu faith. Its iconic (and ancient) religious texts are the Vedas, the oldest Sanskrit literature in history. Altogether, Hindu mythology dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE and is believed to have originated around the Indus River.

What is the Basic Hindu Mythology?

The bare-bone basic beliefs of Hinduism include samsara (cycle of life and reincarnation) and karma (cause and effect). Hindus also believe that all living things have a soul – called an “atman” – that is part of a supreme spirit. Therefore, there are animistic principles that are found within Hinduism. The basics of Hindu mythology can be found in the four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, and the Atharvaveda.

What is Hindu Mythology Called?

Practitioners of Hinduism have taken to calling the religion Sanātana Dharma, which denotes the religion’s primary principles and eternal truths. However, Hinduism has four major denominations: Shaivism, Shaktism, Smartism, and Vaishnavism. There are other, lesser-known sects within Hinduism as well, with their own interpretations of the mythology. On another hand, Hindu mythology has also been used interchangeably with Indian mythology.

Scholars believe that the religion originated in the Indus Valley civilization and its many cultures. The rock shelters of Bhimbetka offer insight into some of the region’s earliest societies, along with their cultural traditions and – perhaps – the threads of Hindu mythology.

READ MORE: Ancient Civilizations Timeline: The Complete List from Aboriginals to Incans

What is the Hindu Creation Myth?

In Hinduism, creation is credited to Lord Brahma . From himself, the universe came to be. He also created the dichotomy of good and evil, as well as the other devas, demons, and earthly creatures. In short, Brahma is the origin of all things.

In the Hindu creation myth, Brahma emerges from a golden egg. The existence of a gilded, cosmic egg is a motif prevalent in other world mythologies. The Brahmanda Purana goes into great detail to describe the cosmic egg and Brahma’s role in creation, along with his creation of mankind. You see, the creation of man came about when Brahma had kids with the goddess Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge.

Their (very human) son, Manu, would go on to marry the first human woman, Shatarupa, or Ananti, depending on the source. Translations get hazy, and Manu’s wife may or may not have been his sister, born at the same time as he was from Brahma alone. Together, they are the ancestors of all of humanity.

Why are There 14 Worlds in Hindu Mythology?

The 14 worlds in Hindu mythology represent varying levels of philosophical spiritual awareness, being more symbolic than anything. At least, that is the popular theory amongst theologists. The 14 realms could, honestly, just be the way the universe is divvied up per the way Hinduism developed.

In Hindu cosmology, there are 14 different worlds, or planes (lokas), which are discussed in the Atharvaveda . They are divided evenly, giving us seven upper worlds – known as the Vyahrtis – and the seven lower worlds, the Patalas. The lokas end up meeting in the middle, thus creating the earthly domain of Bhur-Loka. Major deities, such as Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva, have their own lokas that they lord over.

The Hindu Pantheon: Meet the Devas

Called devas, Hindu gods and goddesses are some of the oldest and most impressive divinities. Many gods have several aspects, avatars, or incarnations. These manifest in various myths and legends. Each major god has unmistakably iconography, to boot.

Hinduism and Hindu mythology are based on exuberant polytheism. There are countless devas and devis (goddesses), all of whom can influence the natural world. The Hindu pantheon is thought to be home to anywhere from 33 to 330 million gods and goddesses. It all comes down to religious texts and the different sects of Hinduism.

The most noteworthy deities include:

• The Dashavatara – the 10 Incarnations of Vishnu
• The Mahavidya – the 10 forms of Mahadevi
• The Navadurga – the 9 forms of Durga

*Shakti is the name of a goddess and the dynamic energies that flow throughout the universe at large; “shakti” may also refer to power and/or force, though it is primarily used to define cosmic energy 

The Trayastrinshata of the Rigveda

The Trayastrinshata is a collection of 33 Hindu deities that are referred to within the Rigveda and other prominent Hindu literature. However, they are not always 33 in number, and exactly who is a member of the Trayastrinshata changes between sources. The general consensus is that the Trayastrinshata are the children of Aditi, goddess of the cosmos, and the legendary sage Kashyapa, although this lineage does vary. In Buddhism , the Trayastrinshata are known as the Trayastrimsa.

The Adityas

The Adityas are twelve gods accounted for in the Brahmanas and the Rigveda . The deities are a portion of the offspring born between the goddess Aditi and the Vedic sage Kashyapa. They uphold moral righteousness and are, more or less, perfect beings. Each member of the Adityas is meant to represent the months as they are depicted in a solar year.

• Vishnu 

There are eleven Rudras, all of whom are a form of the Vedic deity, Rudra. How the Rudras came to depend on the source, with some – such as the Matsya Purana – citing their parents as the cow goddess Surabhi and Brahma. Other contenders for parents of the Rudras include the combination of Kashyapa and Surabhi, or the god of death alone, Yama. As the Hindu religion developed, Rudra became synonymous with the god Shiva.

The later Vishnu Purana describes how Shiva split into eleven separate selves while in the form of Ardhanarishvara. Thus, he created the Rudras. His other half (literally and metaphorically), Parvati, did the same and created the eleven wives of the Rudras, called the Rudranis.

The Vasus are eight attendants of the gods Indra and Vishnu. They embody fire, light , and heat. Rather than children of Kashyapa and Aditi, they have also been considered to be offspring of Manu or Yama and a minor goddess named Vasu.

The Ashvins

The Ashvins fulfill the divine twin facet of Hindu mythology. They are described as guardians and protectors, who swoop in on their chariots to save mortals from dire situations. Their parents are oftentimes said to be the sun god Surya and his consort, Saranyu. Unlike other members of the Trayastrinshata, the Ashvins are not known to have personal names.

The Trimurti and the Tridevi

Within Hindu mythology, the Trimurti and Tridevi are prominent deities. Also known as the Hindu trinity, the Trimurti is the divine triad of Brahma (Creation), Vishnu (Preservation), and Shiva (Destruction). Their wives and shakti are the Tridevi. The Tridevi are considered to be the feminine aspects of the masculine Trimurti.

The Matrikas

The Matrikas are seven Hindu mother goddesses. When depicted with an eighth member, they are known as the Ashtamatrikas. Potentially archaic interpretations of the danger that could beset children before adulthood, the Matrikas became associated with fertility, childbirth, and disease. Most notably, the Matrikas evolved to be the guardians of young children and infants.

The Navagraha

The Navagraha are nine celestial deities that represent nine heavenly bodies: the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The Navagraha also includes the two lunar nodes. In the Hindu Middle Ages, there were only seven identified heavenly bodies and, therefore, only seven deities to represent them. Each deity was associated with a weekday.

The Marutagana

The Marutagana were twenty to sixty storm deities. They are considered to be a part of Indra’s entourage, coming down from the north in a cacophony. Some scholars conclude that the Marutagana in the presence of Indra is the Hindu equivalent of a northern European Wild Hunt.

Who is the Indian God of Creation?

The Hindu god of creation is Brahma. As the creator of the universe itself, Brahma is a mighty god that is disconnected from popular Hindu myths. He does not toil over mortal affairs and exists more of an abstract belief than a deity.

It is thought that the lack of worship of Brahma is explained in a myth where Shiva, his brother and the “destroyer” god mutilates and curses him for developing an obsession with the first woman, Shatarupa. Otherwise, it is said that Brahma’s role ended when the world was created, and he went into an unofficial retirement – if that’s a thing gods could do. Hence, Vishnu and Shiva are still venerated because their roles are still being fulfilled.

Who is the Oldest God in Hinduism?

Brahma is the oldest god in Hinduism since he is the creator of the universe and the progenitor of all living things. Because of this, Brahma has been referred to as “grandfather” in some sects of the religion. Considering his seniority over other deities, it may be shocking to discover that the creator of all things isn’t heavily worshiped in modern Hinduism. The god of destruction, Shiva, is far more popular – especially within Hindu Shaivism traditions.

Brahma is associated with the ancient Vedic god of creation, Prajapati. As a Vedic creator deity, Prajapati could pre-date India’s Vedic Period (1500-1100 BCE) with origins in the Indus Valley civilization.

Why Do Hindu Gods Have So Many Arms?

Hindu gods have so many arms because, in short, more arms equals more power. The phenomenon of deities being presented with four arms in Hindu iconography actually has a name, chaturbhuja . Vishnu is most commonly depicted with the chaturbhuja , which is also an epithet of his, to show his supreme power over the universe.

It is safe to say that although the arms aren’t necessarily flexing, having more than two arms is undoubtedly a flex. A flex of power, that is.

Where Do Hindu Gods Live?

The Hindu gods live in Svarga, alternatively known as Svargaloka (Svarga Loka). It is one of seven higher planes (called lokas in Hinduism) in the religion’s cosmography. Svarga is described as the home of the devas, ruled over by the god Indra from its capital, Amaravati. As a realm of light and splendor, Svarga is a point of contention in the eternal conflict between the devas and the asuras.

Most deities of Hindu mythology reside within the plane of Svargaloka. Despite this, other prominent gods – namely members of the Trimurti – lord over their own respective realms. The god of death , Yama, likewise resides in and rules over his own separate plane, Naraka.

Ancient Vedic Religious Traditions and Hindu Beliefs

The Vedic religion of eld is thought to be the predecessor of present-day Hinduism. Though they have their key differences, the skeleton of Vedic practices still appears within Hindu mythology. In the Vedic religion, key gods included Indra, Agni, Soma, and Rudra, all of which appear in Hinduism. Vedic traditions also include the concept of a permanent afterlife, which challenges Hinduism’s belief in reincarnation.

Generally, it is thought that the Indian subcontinent transitioned from Vedic practices to Hinduism sometime in the sixth century BCE. This would be during the Late Vedic Period. Simultaneously, philosophical traditions began to lean into Hindu concepts, and the Vedic gods merged with newer, more unified Hindu divinities.

Sects and Cults

Today, there are four major sects of Hinduism: Shaivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism, and Smartism. Although it is easy to assume these sects were founded during the modern period, all four have ancient roots. Each believes in a supreme being, though who that being is changes between sects; in Smartism, who the higher power is varies between practitioners.

Indian folk cults are just as archaic and hold dominant traditions in certain regions of the Indian subcontinent. While veneration of all the gods was standard, their worship included Yakshas and Nagas. In some states, tutelary deities took precedence over other gods. Sacred groves became abundant and nature spirits became focal points of veneration.

Traditional Sacrifices

Sacrifices have a unique place in Hinduism, with myths in the Mahabharata and other Vedic texts addressing the religious practice. Animal sacrifices ( bali ) are amongst the most frequent sacrifices in Hinduism, as they date back to Vedic practices recorded in the Yajurveda . There are records of a horse sacrifice, called Ashvamedha , in the “ Ashvamedhika Parva” of the Mahabharata to establish a sovereign’s rule. Other animal sacrifices of cattle, oxen, goats, and deer are performed during ceremonies and festivals.

Many Hindus today are vegetarian, and bali is only performed by certain sects in some regions of India. This emerges from several later religious developments. The most influential is the 11th century CE Bhagavata Purana , wherein the god Krishna advises man to not perform animal sacrifices in the current age (Kali Yuga). Furthermore, the level of violence in bali caused the practice to become unfavorable in later periods when nonviolence became a cardinal virtue.

There is no real evidence of purushamedha , or human sacrifices, ever being performed in Hindu mythology. There’s a chance that Vedic religion called for it, but there has been no substantial evidence suggesting this. Scholars are sorely lacking both archaeological and literary evidence regarding the prevalence of purushamedha in Hinduism. The degrees of general blood sacrifices varied largely between the Vedic and Tantric Periods of India’s history.

Other sacrifices include food offerings and libations, which are given during rituals, festivals, and daily worship. The size and contents of the sacrifices offered may vary, with many facets of a sacrifice depending on the deity they are meant for.

Festivals and Holidays

Many present-day Hindu festivals have ancient roots. Indeed, today’s festivals and holidays rely on the myths and legends of ancient Hindu mythology. From veneration of the gods to celebrating historical folklore, the festivals of Hinduism are as culturally rich as they are mythologically significant.

• Chhath Puja
• Ganesh Chaturthi
• Ghadimai Festival
• Guru Purnima
• Krishna Janmashtami
• Maha Shivaratri
• Rama Navami
• Vasant Panchami

Legendary Heroes of Hindu Mythology

Indian mythological characters are amongst the most daring legendary heroes. Featured primarily in epic mythology and literature, the all-star heroes of Hinduism often display superhuman characteristics. To be fair, several Hindu heroes are incarnations of the gods. So, being super natural isn’t all that far-fetched.

A majority of Hindu heroes and heroines are found in the two great epics , the Mahabharata and the Ramayana . The Bhagavata Purana is additionally counted as one of India’s great epics. Besides being explored in the longest epic poem ever written, the stories of Hindu mythology’s legendary heroes are gripping, daring, and filled with inexplicable wonder.

• Dronacharya

Mythological Creatures in Hindu Myths and Legends

The mythological creatures of Hindu mythology range from everything between legendary creatures, namely vahanas , to entire species of beings. Where sacred stories discuss the presence of nature spirits and malicious demons, there are also tales of sea monsters and dragons. Within Hindu mythos, mythical creatures acted as tools for the gods.

While some entities actively aided and abetted the deities’ miraculous feats, others, like the Asura, hindered them. In all, mythological creatures provided a means to an end while furthering the belief in the existence of good and evil forces in the world.

• The Daityas
• Airavata, the white elephant of Indra
• The Yakshas
• Garuda 

Dragons in Indian Mythology

In Hindu mythology, the most famous dragon is the Asura Vritra. A being of drought that hoards water instead of wealth, Vritra was created as an opponent to Indra. While other dragons are not directly named, the role of Vritra and the serpentine Nagas suggests the unique associations early Hindus had between dragons, serpents, and water.

READ MORE: Who Invented Water? History of the Water Molecule

Hindu Mythology’s Many Monsters

Where there are gods, there are bound to be monsters. The monsters of Hindu mythology represent another, darker part of the religion’s beliefs surrounding dharma. That, where there was morality and righteousness, there was immorality and spiritual corruption. Hindu monsters do not challenge the gods as much as they challenge mankind.

*A famous rakshasa is the demon king Ravana, featured in the Ramayana epic; the demon king Ravana is a quintessential Hindu villain, acting on impulse while displaying perpetual ignorance through his actions

Mythical Items found in Hindu Mythology

The mythical items of Hinduism have a range. There’s an elixir of immortality sitting right next to…a celestial missile? Three celestial missiles?! Anyways, which items played an important role in the legends of Hinduism depended on their proximity to the gods.

Items were both personal artifacts and gifts, bequeathed to those deemed worthy. Alternatively, some of the most well-known items in Hindu mythology were legendary plants. These plants could do anything from producing powerful poisons to granting any wish. Although all of the above are considered to have mythical origins, it is thought that some fantastical foliage could be found in nature.

• Kalpavriksha
• Narayanastra
• Pashupatastra

Hindu Mythology in Literary Works

The most famous literary works that are attributed to Hindu mythology are the four Vedas , which are amongst the religion’s most known texts. There are also the Puranas , with major Puranic texts including Shiva Purana and Padma Purana . Additionally, the two great Hindu epics are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata . Overall, some of the most significant literary works that pertain to Hindu mythology are ancient texts that date to the Vedic Period.

Literature is the backbone of most world belief systems. The most popular religions in the world (i.e. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, etc.) still refer to ancient texts. Moreover, religious doctrines are fantastic sources for locating earlier myths that are otherwise lesser known.

• The Bhagavad Gita
• The Upanishads
• Sangam (Tamil) Literature

Which God is Important to the Hindu Epics?

Vishnu is the most important god in the Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana . He is the “preserver” god of the Trimurti and therefore acts as a divine judge to quell disagreements. In either epic, the god Vishnu’s avatars are central characters.

Within the Ramayana , the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, Lord Rama, acts as the epic’s protagonist. He is the ideal man and a glorious king, on a journey to save his wife, Sita, from the morally corrupt Ravana. Otherwise, his eighth incarnation, Lord Krishna, acts as a divine advisor to the character Arjuna throughout the legendary Kurukshetra War of the Bhagavad Gita in the Mahabharata . Both incarnations are major deities in their own right, especially in Vaishnavism.

Famous Artwork that Captures Hindu Mythology

Artwork depicting Hindu mythology is found most commonly in temples and architecture. There are votive lingas , auspicious imagery, and niches that show the gods in their many forms or achieving their most courageous feats. Art was created with a conscious effort to capture the gods at their greatest, thereby honoring them further.

The most compelling aspect of Hindu artwork is the presence of mudras . Mudras are found in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain art. As a type of iconography, mudras are symbolic gestures or poses. They are prevalent in some forms of yoga, traditional folk dance, and religious rituals.

Hindu Mythology in Film and Television

In India, Bollywood is the major film industry, and Bollywood films have an unmistakable charm. Bollywood has done the most justice for Hindu mythology through film and television. Films that delve into Hindu legends, from the Ramayana to the tale of Ashwatthama include:

• Arjun: The Warrior Prince
• Sita Swayamvar

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Ultimate Guide to Hindu Mythology

Deities of the Hindu pantheon throughout the millennia

Hinduism is a major world religion, with one of the longest-surviving pantheons in history. Within its rich mythology, elephant-headed gods clash with powerful demons and titans, preserver gods send out their avatars to restore the righteous order of the universe, and powerful sages challenge the gods themselves.

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Mythologist | Author | Speaker | Illustrator

First published August 18, 2005

Indian Mythology: Tales, Symbols and Rituals from the Heart of the Subcontinent

An exploration of 99 classic myths of India from an entirely non-Western paradigm that provides a fresh understanding of the Hindu spiritual landscape. Compares and contrasts Indian mythology with the stories of the Bible, ancient Egypt, Greece, Scandinavia, and Mesopotamia. Looks at the evolution of Indian narratives and their interpretations over the millennia. Demonstrates how the mythology, rituals, and art of ancient India are still vibrant today and inform the contemporary generation. From the blood-letting Kali to the mysterious Ganesha, the Hindu spiritual landscape is populated by characters that find no parallel in the Western spiritual world.

Indian Mythology explores the rich tapestry of these characters within 99 classic myths, showing that the mythological world of India can be best understood when we move away from a Western, monotheistic mindset and into the polytheistic world of Hindu traditions. Featuring 48 artistic renderings of important mythological figures from across India, the author unlocks the mysteries of the narratives, rituals, and artwork of ancient India to reveal the tension between world-affirming and world-rejecting ideas, between conformism and contradiction, between Shiva and Vishnu, Krishna and Rama, Gauri and Kali. This groundbreaking book opens the door to the unknown and exotic, providing a glimpse into the rich mythic tradition that has empowered millions of human beings for centuries.

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Why the love story of Radha and Krishna has been told in Hinduism for centuries

Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown College

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Jeffery D. Long does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Although it originated as a Christian holiday in honor of St. Valentine , Valentine’s Day has become a global celebration of romantic love, observed by people of many religions and of no religion.

Other religions have long had their own myths centered on love. I have observed, in my work as a scholar of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism , that in Hindu traditions, there are many stories of divine couples: deities who embody the ideal of love, and whose stories often contain lessons for the rest of us. One couple that has especially captured the imagination of Hindu devotees for centuries is Radha and Krishna.

Who is Krishna?

The story of Radha and Krishna is first found in the Bhagavata Purana, a text dated by scholars as somewhere between the fifth and 10th centuries. Their story is further elaborated in the Sanskrit devotional poem “ Gitagovinda ,” authored by Jayadeva, who lived in the 12th century in Eastern India.

Krishna, a highly popular and beloved Hindu deity, is regarded, depending on which textual tradition you read, either as an avatar or incarnation of the deity Vishnu, or as the Supreme Being himself. In Hindu belief, Vishnu preserves the order of the cosmos , often through taking on an earthly form to right some wrong and to set the world back on the correct course when chaos threatens to overwhelm it.

The life story of Krishna is an exciting one, full of adventure as well as tragedy. When Krishna is born, his evil uncle, a king named Kamsa, orders all of the male children of the kingdom who are born on that night killed, not unlike King Herod in the New Testament . This was due to a prophecy that one of those children would put an end to his reign. Krishna’s parents, however, are warned of this impending calamity, and the baby is spirited away to safety.

Krishna, therefore, who is born to royalty, has a humble upbringing, growing up amid the cowherds and cowherdesses, or gopis, of the bucolic region of Vrindavan. Stories of Krishna’s teenage years, in particular, are greatly beloved by his devotees. This was a relatively carefree time in Krishna’s life, when he engaged in all kinds of playful mischief with the gopis, and wandered the forests of Vrindavan playing his flute. All of the gopis fell in love with Krishna, and he with them, but the one with whom he fell in love the most deeply was named Radha.

The story of the love of Radha and Krishna is overshadowed by an air of tragedy. The two cannot be together, as Radha is already married and Krishna has a great destiny ahead of him. When the time comes, Krishna must leave Vrindavan and overthrow his wicked uncle, and also play a key role in the fight between two groups of warring brothers, the Pandavas and the Kauravas.

Divine love

This tragic story is dear to devotees not only because of the very real human feelings it evokes, but also because of its deep theological significance in the Vaishnava tradition – the Hindu tradition in which this story features most prominently.

To some, the love between Radha and Krishna might appear to be adulterous or scandalous, given that she is married. The focus of the tradition, though, is not so much on this scandal, but on the deep, spontaneous, genuine love that it illustrates. Radha’s love for Krishna is so strong that it is willing to fly in the face of social conventions. She is willing to risk the disapproval of her community for this love. And according to Vaishnava theology, this is how individuals’ love for God should be. True love for God – called bhakti, or devotion – should be characterized by wild abandon. It should be spontaneous and free.

In Vaishnava theology, the gopis represent the many jivas, or souls, that dwell in the universe, while Krishna is Ishvara, the Lord, the Supreme Being. A very popular and beautiful artistic depiction of the relationship between Krishna and the gopis is called the “Ras Lila.” It depicts the gopis dancing in a circle. Each of them has Krishna for a partner. He has used his divine power to multiply himself so he can dance with each gopi individually.

When Krishna finally has to leave Vrindavan, the pain of separation Radha feels is almost unbearable. When she asks Krishna why she has to feel such pain, he tells her that she must learn to see him in all beings, for he dwells in the hearts of all. The individual soul’s sense of separation from God is similarly painful, and is believed to be a particularly powerful manifestation of bhakti. But that separation can be overcome by seeing God in all beings and in one another.

As Krishna also says in the Bhagavad Gita , “I am never lost to one who sees all beings in me and who sees me in all beings, nor is that person ever lost to me.”

The story of Radha and Krishna can therefore be enjoyed on Valentine’s Day on two levels: as a sad and poignant tale of a past youthful love, remembered fondly but left behind by the call of adulthood, but also as an invitation to be open to love in all its forms.

• Bhagavad Gita
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Conclusions: Texts, Performances, and Hindu Mythological Culture

• Published: May 2015
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This chapter summarizes the findings of the book and arrives at larger theoretical conclusions regarding the dialogical cultural “work” of Hindu mythological culture, over the past three thousand years, in binding storyworlds to the real world. Special consideration is paid to the dynamic relationship between written literary texts and oral performances involved in the formation of the Hindu mythological tradition. The rest of the chapter then places these ideas themselves in dialogue with those of a modern Marathi kīrtan performer, Vaman Kolhatkar, regarding the power of Vedic mantras and the mediating role of purāṇic mythology in “translating” this sacred knowledge into the everyday cultural sphere of his contemporary kīrtan audiences.

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Visiting Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion?

You must join the virtual exhibition queue when you arrive. If capacity has been reached for the day, the queue will close early.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

Hinduism and hindu art.

Krishna Killing the Horse Demon Keshi

Standing Four-Armed Vishnu

Linga with Face of Shiva (Ekamukhalinga)

Standing Parvati

Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja)

Standing Ganesha

Standing Female Deity, probably Durga

Ardhanarishvara (Composite of Shiva and Parvati)

Vaikuntha Vishnu

Krishna on Garuda

Durga as Slayer of the Buffalo Demon Mahishasura

Seated Ganesha

Kneeling Female Figure

Hanuman Conversing

The Goddess Durga Slaying the Demon Buffalo Mahisha

Loving Couple (Mithuna)

Karaikkal Ammaiyar, Shaiva Saint

Vidya Dehejia Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University

February 2007

According to the Hindu view, there are four goals of life on earth, and each human being should aspire to all four. Everyone should aim for dharma , or righteous living; artha , or wealth acquired through the pursuit of a profession; kama , or human and sexual love; and, finally, moksha , or spiritual salvation.

This holistic view is reflected as well as in the artistic production of India. Although a Hindu temple is dedicated to the glory of a deity and is aimed at helping the devotee toward moksha , its walls might justifiably contain sculptures that reflect the other three goals of life. It is in such a context that we may best understand the many sensuous and apparently secular themes that decorate the walls of Indian temples.

Hinduism is a religion that had no single founder, no single spokesman, no single prophet. Its origins are mixed and complex. One strand can be traced back to the sacred Sanskrit literature of the Aryans, the Vedas, which consist of hymns in praise of deities who were often personifications of the natural elements. Another strand drew on the beliefs prevalent among groups of indigenous peoples, especially the faith in the power of the mother goddess and in the efficacy of fertility symbols. Hinduism, in the form comparable to its present-day expression, emerged at about the start of the Christian era, with an emphasis on the supremacy of the god Vishnu, the god Shiva, and the goddess Shakti (literally, “Power”).

The pluralism evident in Hinduism, as well as its acceptance of the existence of several deities, is often puzzling to non-Hindus. Hindus suggest that one may view the Infinite as a diamond of innumerable facets. One or another facet—be it Rama, Krishna, or Ganesha—may beckon an individual believer with irresistible magnetism. By acknowledging the power of an individual facet and worshipping it, the believer does not thereby deny the existence of many aspects of the Infinite and of varied paths toward the ultimate goal.

Deities are frequently portrayed with multiple arms, especially when they are engaged in combative acts of cosmic consequence that involve destroying powerful forces of evil. The multiplicity of arms emphasizes the immense power of the deity and his or her ability to perform several feats at the same time. The Indian artist found this a simple and an effective means of expressing the omnipresence and omnipotence of a deity. Demons are frequently portrayed with multiple heads to indicate their superhuman power. The occasional depiction of a deity with more than one head is generally motivated by the desire to portray varying aspects of the character of that deity. Thus, when the god Shiva is portrayed with a triple head, the central face indicates his essential character and the flanking faces depict his fierce and blissful aspects.

The Hindu Temple Architecture and sculpture are inextricably linked in India . Thus, if one speaks of Indian architecture without taking note of the lavish sculptured decoration with which monuments are covered, a partial and distorted picture is presented. In the Hindu temple , large niches in the three exterior walls of the sanctum house sculpted images that portray various aspects of the deity enshrined within. The sanctum image expresses the essence of the deity. For instance, the niches of a temple dedicated to a Vishnu may portray his incarnations; those of a temple to Shiva , his various combative feats; and those of a temple to the Great Goddess, her battles with various demons. Regional variations exist, too; in the eastern state of Odisha, for example, the niches of a temple to Shiva customarily contain images of his family—his consort, Parvati, and their sons, Ganesha, the god of overcoming obstacles, and warlike Skanda.

The exterior of the halls and porch are also covered with figural sculpture. A series of niches highlight events from the mythology of the enshrined deity, and frequently a place is set aside for a variety of other gods. In addition, temple walls feature repeated banks of scroll-like foliage, images of women, and loving couples known as mithunas . Signifying growth, abundance, and prosperity, they were considered auspicious motifs.

Dehejia, Vidya. “Hinduism and Hindu Art.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hind/hd_hind.htm (February 2007)

Further Reading

Dehejia, Vidya. Indian Art . London: Phaidon, 1997.

Eck, Diana L. Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India. 2d ed . Chamberburg, Pa.: Anima Books, 1985.

Michell, George. The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms. Reprint . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.

Mitter, Partha. Indian Art . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Additional Essays by Vidya Dehejia

• Dehejia, Vidya. “ Buddhism and Buddhist Art .” (February 2007)
• Dehejia, Vidya. “ Recognizing the Gods .” (February 2007)
• Dehejia, Vidya. “ South Asian Art and Culture .” (February 2007)

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Bhima fighting with Jayadratha in a page from the Mahabharata ( c 1615), Popular Mughal School, probably done at Bikaner, India. Photo by Getty

The living Mahabharata

Immorality, sexism, politics, war: the polychromatic indian epic pulses with relevance to the present day.

by Audrey Truschke   + BIO

The Mahabharata is a tale for our times. The plot of the ancient Indian epic centres around corrupt politics, ill-behaved men and warfare. In this dark tale, things get worse and worse, until an era of unprecedented depravity, the Kali Yuga, dawns. According to the Mahabharata , we’re still living in the horrific Kali era, which will unleash new horrors on us until the world ends.

The Mahabharata was first written down in Sanskrit, ancient India’s premier literary language, and ascribed to a poet named Vyasa about 2,000 years ago, give or take a few hundred years. The epic sought to catalogue and thereby criticise a new type of vicious politics enabled by the transition from a clan-based to a state-based society in northern India.

The work concerns two sets of cousins – the Pandavas and the Kauravas – who each claim the throne of Hastinapura as their own. In the first third of the epic, the splintered family dynasty tries to resolve their succession conflict in various ways, including gambling, trickery, murder and negotiation. But they fail. So, war breaks out, and the middle part of the Mahabharata tells of a near-total world conflict in which all the rules of battle are broken as each new atrocity exceeds the last. Among a battlefield of corpses, the Pandavas are the last ones left standing. In the final third of the epic, the Pandavas rule in a post-apocalyptic world until, years later, they too die.

From the moment that the Mahabharata was first written two millennia ago, people began to rework the epic to add new ideas that spoke to new circumstances. No two manuscripts are identical (there are thousands of handwritten Sanskrit copies), and the tale was recited as much or more often than it was read. Some of the most beloved parts of the Mahabharata today – such as that the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha wrote the epic with his broken tusk as he heard Vyasa’s narration – were added centuries after the story was first compiled.

The Mahabharata is long. It is roughly seven times the length of the Iliad and Odyssey combined, and 15 times the length of the Christian Bible. The plot covers multiple generations, and the text sometimes follows side stories for the length of a modern novel. But for all its narrative breadth and manifold asides, the Mahabharata can be accurately characterised as a set of narratives about vice.

Inequality and human suffering are facts of life in the Mahabharata . The work offers valuable perspectives and vantage points for reflecting on how various injustices play out in today’s world too.

T he Mahabharata claims to show dharma or righteous conduct – a guiding ideal of human life in Hindu thought – within the morass of the characters’ immoral behaviours. But the line between virtue and vice, dharma and adharma , is often muddled. The bad guys sometimes act more ethically than the good guys, who are themselves deeply flawed. In the epic’s polychromatic morality, the constraints of society and politics shackle all.

Bhishma, a common ancestor and grandfather-like figure to both sets of cousins, is a quintessential Mahabharata figure. Loyal to his family to a fault, he takes a vow of celibacy so that his father can marry a younger woman who wanted her children to inherit the throne. Bhishma’s motivation, namely love of his father, was good, but the result of denying himself children was to divert the line of succession to his younger brothers and, ultimately, their warring children. Appropriately, Bhishma’s name, adopted when he took his vow of celibacy, means ‘the terrible’ (before the vow, he was known as Devavrata, ‘devoted to the gods’). Bhishma remains devoted to his family even when they support the Kauravas, the bad guys, in the great war.

Sometimes even the gods act objectionably in the Mahabharata . Krishna, an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, endorses dishonesty on more than one occasion. Even when Krishna advocates what the epic dubs dharma, the results can be hard to stomach. For example, when Arjuna, the third Pandava brother and their best warrior, hesitates to fight against his family and kill so many people, Krishna gives an eloquent speech that convinces him to plunge into battle.

Krishna’s discourse to Arjuna, known as the Bhagavadgita (‘Song of the Lord’), or Gita for short, is often read as a standalone work today, and revered by many across the world for its insights on morality and even nonviolence. In the 20th century, Mahatma Gandhi understood the Gita to support nonviolent resistance to colonial oppression. In the Mahabharata ’s plot, however, the Bhagavadgita rationalises mass slaughter.

What is the point of ruling when you got there only through deceit, sin and death?

‘Mahabharata’ translates as ‘great story of the Bharatas’, the Bharatas being the family lineage at the centre of the tale. However, in many modern Indian settings, ‘Mahabharata’ means a great battle. War is the narrative crux of the epic. The war that settles the succession dispute between the Pandavas and the Kauravas draws much of the world into its destructive whirlwind. Along with peoples from across the Indian subcontinent, Greeks, Persians and the Chinese also send troops to stand and fall in battle.

The Pandavas win, but at a magnificent cost of human life. The epic compels readers to imagine that human cost by describing the battle in excruciating, bloody detail over tens of thousands of verses. The Pandavas kill multiple members of their own family along the way, including elders who ought to be revered. Their victory is further soured by a night raid in which, on the last night of the war, the few remaining Kauravas creep into the slumbering Pandava camp and kill nearly everyone, including all the victors’ sons.

After the slaughter, when blood has soaked the earth and most of the characters lie dead, Yudhishthira, the eldest of the five Pandavas, decides that he no longer wants the throne of Hastinapura. What is the point of ruling when you got there only through deceit, sin and death? Yudhishthira says:

आत्मानमात्मना हत्वा किं धर्मफलमाप्नुमः धिगस्तु क्षात्रमाचारं धिगस्तु बलमौरसम् धिगस्त्वमर्षं येनेमामापदं गमिता वयम्

Since we slaughtered our own, what good can possibly come from ruling? Damn the ways of kings! Damn might makes right! Damn the turmoil that brought us to this disaster!

Yudhishthira’s fellow victors ultimately convince him to fulfil the duty to rule, regardless of his personal inclination to retire to the forest. In an attempt to address his numerous sharp objections, Bhishma – who lies dying on a bed of arrows – gives a prolix discourse on dharma in various circumstances, including in disasters. Still, for some readers, lingering doubt cannot but remain that Yudhishthira might be right to want to shun a bitter political victory.

The Mahabharata follows Yudhishthira’s reign for some years. It concludes with the demise of the five Pandava brothers and their wife Draupadi. In an unsettling twist, the six wind up visiting hell for a bit, en route to heaven. This detour calls the very core of dharma, righteousness, into question , again reminding us that the Mahabharata is an epic ordered by undercutting its own professed ethics.

In its philosophy and ethics, the Mahabharata proffers riches to its readers, in particular about the nature of human suffering as an ever-present challenge to any moral order. But how does the work measure up as literature? The work is considered to be kavya (poetry). In classical Sanskrit literary theory, each kavya ought to centre around a rasa , an aesthetic emotion, such as erotic love ( shringara ) or heroism ( vira ). But what aesthetic emotion might a tale of politics and pain, such as the Mahabharata , spark in readers?

Confounded by this question, one premodern Indian thinker suggested adding a ninth rasa to the line-up that might suit the Mahabharata : shanta , quiescence or turning away from the world. The idea is that, after perusing the vicious politics and violence endemic to the human condition as depicted in the Mahabharata , people would be disenchanted with earthly things and so renounce the world in favour of more spiritual pursuits, as Yudhishthira wished to.

T he Mahabharata condemns many of the appalling things it depicts, but one area where its response is more tepid concerns the treatment meted out to women. The story of Draupadi, the leading Pandava heroine, is the most well-known. Before the great war, her husband Yudhishthira gambles her away in a dice game, and Draupadi’s new owners, the Kauravas, strip and publicly assault her at their court. The Mahabharata condemns this event, but Draupadi’s notorious sharp tongue also undercuts the empathy many might have had for her.

After she is won at dice, Draupadi argues with her captors. First, she speaks up privately, from her quarters of the palace. Then, after being dragged into the Kauravas’ public audience hall, traditionally a male space, she advocates openly about how the situation is ‘a savage injustice’ ( adharmam ugraṃ ) that implicates all the elders present. Her self-assertion in a hall of men works. She convinces Dhritarashtra, the Kaurava king, to release her and eventually the rest of her family. But in a world favouring demure women, Draupadi’s willingness to speak about her suffering means that she has always carried a reputation as a shrew and a troublemaker.

Draupadi entered the Pandava family when Arjuna won her in a self-choice ceremony. In such ceremonies, the name notwithstanding, the woman is given as the prize to the victor of a contest. However, Draupadi ends up with five husbands, when Arjuna’s mother tells him – without looking over her shoulder to see that she is speaking about a female trophy rather than an inanimate one – to split his prize with his brothers. To make her words true, all five Pandavas marry Draupadi.

Nobody ever says that a bride should be like Draupadi, unless the goal is to curse the newlywed

Nobody ever asks Draupadi if she wanted polyandry, and the question has rarely interested readers. However, the Mahabharata offers further justifications for this unusual arrangement that blame Draupadi. For instance, in a prior life, Draupadi had asked for a husband with five qualities; unable to find a man who had all of them, Shiva gave her five husbands. She should not have asked for so much.

Draupadi has never been considered a role model in mainstream Indian cultures. Some later Sanskrit and vernacular works mock her. Even today, a refrain at Hindu weddings is that the bride ought to be like Sita, the heroine of the Ramayana . Nobody ever says that a bride should be like Draupadi, unless the goal is to curse the newlywed.

In the Mahabharata , kidnapping is also an acceptable way to compel a woman to marry. For instance, Arjuna falls in love at first sight (or perhaps in lust) with Subhadra but, unsure whether she would accept him, he abducts her. This story has been cleaned up in some modern retellings – such as the TV serial from Doordarshan (one of India’s largest public service broadcasters) – which tend to water down misogyny.

The world of the Mahabharata is stacked against women. Our world today looks distinct in its details, but some basic principles are not much different. For example, more than one person has compared Draupadi’s plight with that of ‘Nirbhaya’, the name given to the young woman mortally gang-raped in Delhi in 2012. Nirbhaya (meaning ‘fearless’) resisted her attackers, and one of the rapists later said that this resistance prompted him and his fellow assaulters to be more brutal than they would have been otherwise. Two millennia later, the corrupt ‘moral’ remains: she should not have objected to unjust treatment.

T he Mahabharata represents a world of caste and class, where bloodline determines identity. Many characters try to break out of the bonds of lineage, but they usually fail in the end. Among the many tales in this vein, that of Karna stands out as offering harsh reflections on the limits of an individual to reshape his identity.

Karna’s mother is Kunti, mother of the five Pandava brothers, but Karna is not counted among the five. The story goes that, when Kunti was a girl, a sage gave her a boon that she could call any god at any time to impregnate her. Still unmarried, one night she calls Surya, the Sun god. Surya’s brilliance scares Kunti, and she asks him to leave, but he insists on seeing the matter through. And so, compelled by a male god who said she asked for it, Kunti conceives Karna.

This troubling conception augured Karna’s future troubled life. Kunti fears her father’s wrath if he were to find his daughter with child but without a husband. So, after giving birth, she sends Karna, her first-born son, down the river in a basket. A low-caste barren couple finds the abandoned infant and raises him as their own. The story parallels (unintentionally, most likely) that of Moses, with the classes of the birth and adopted parents reversed. Like Moses, Karna could never escape his birthright.

Karna is born with brilliant armour, inherited from his father, and other marks that he would be a great warrior. He is also drawn to fighting, which leads him, early in the epic, to enter a weapons competition in which the Pandavas and Kauravas also participate. When Karna is asked to announce his lineage, it comes out that he is the son of low-caste parents, and Bhima – one of the good guys – ridicules him. Sensing a chance to make a new friend, the Kauravas – the baddies of the story – give Karna a kingdom and so make him, technically, a king and eligible to fight. At this point in the tale, nobody knows that Karna is actually the eldest Pandava and that he is already royal by birth – except for his mother, Kunti, who watches the event silently.

Internalising the caste prejudice that condemned him, Ekalavya cut off his thumb and was never a threat again

As the eldest Pandava by blood, Karna should have been king. In fact, Krishna goes to Karna to make this argument on the eve of the great war, as a last-ditch effort to avoid catastrophe, and the conversation is one of the most interesting in the Mahabharata . The core questions are timeless: what determines a person’s identity? Can an individual reject or change who they really are? Who gets to say who each of us really is? Can we escape our destinies?

Karna refuses Krishna’s request to take his place as the eldest Pandava and ascend the throne. Instead, choosing bread over blood, Karna fights and dies with the Kauravas. But, according to Vyasa and the Mahabharata ’s many unknown authors, Karna, no matter his actions, was never a Kaurava. At the end of the epic, in a scene twisted in more ways than one, Karna winds up in hell with the other Pandavas, briefly, while the Kauravas bask in heaven.

The epic’s stance that we can’t transcend our births can appear very dark to modern eyes (or at least to some modern eyes) in stories that feature low-caste characters. Take the tale of Ekalavya. Ekalavya is born a tribal ( nishada ), outside of the four-fold Hindu class system, but his heart is set on life as a warrior ( kshatriya ) and learning to fight from Drona, who taught both the Pandavas and Kauravas. Drona denies Ekalavya instruction because of casteism, and so Ekalavya honours a clay statue of Drona every day while learning on his own. After a while, Ekalavya’s skills exceed those of Arjuna. And so, Arjuna cajoles Drona to demand that Ekalavya slice off his own thumb, thus ensuring that Ekalavya could never shoot an arrow again. Drona does so, under the guise of asking for gurudakshina (a teacher’s fee) since Ekalavya had built a statue of Drona’s likeness. Internalising the caste prejudice that condemned him, Ekalavya cut off his thumb and was never a threat to Arjuna again. The message is that, one way or another, varnashramadharma (moral behaviour according to one’s social class and life stage) prevails.

A 20th-century poem by the Dalit writer Shashikant Hingonekar puts it like this:

If you had kept your thumb history would have happened somewhat differently. But … you gave your thumb and history also became theirs. Ekalavya, since that day they have not even given you a glance. Forgive me, Ekalavya, I won’t be fooled now by their sweet words. My thumb will never be broken.

T he Mahabharata claims to be about the totality of human life in a verse included in both its first and final books:

धर्मे चार्थे च कामे च मोक्षे च भरतर्षभ यदिहास्ति तदन्यत्र यन्नेहास्ति न तत्क्वचित्

What is found here regarding the aims of human life – righteousness, wealth, pleasure, and release – may be found elsewhere, O Bull of the Bharatas. But what is not here, is found nowhere.

Indeed, the Mahabharata ’s promise to explore (among other things) immorality, politics, sexism and identity problems as general features of human life rings true in our times.

Over the past several years, politics in India and the United States have taken dark turns as both countries turn their backs on the values of pluralism and embrace ethno- and religious nationalisms. Violence and death are heavily used tools by governments in both countries.

Sexism has never gone away. It is a critical part of the current surge of Right-wing ideologies and their embrace of male privilege. Moreover, the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic are reasserting retrograde gender roles in many places across the globe. The pandemic’s toll on women’s physical safety, mental health and careers is great and growing.

Identity, too, plagues us. The caste system is still very much alive, in both India and the diaspora. We also struggle with types of oppression birthed in modernity, such as racism.

The Mahabharata makes no false promises of solving such problems, but it does offer us tools for thinking them through, now and in the future, even if – or perhaps especially if – that future looks dark. The epic itself foretells:

आचख्युः कवयः केचित्संप्रत्याचक्षते परे आख्यास्यन्ति तथैवान्ये इतिहासमिमं भुवि

Some poets told this epic before. Others are telling it now. Different narrators will tell it in the future.

A note on the text: translations in this article are my own; I prefer colloquial translations. For recent retellings of the Mahabharata in English, I recommend John D Smith’s Penguin edition (2009) for fidelity to text and completeness, and Carole Satyamurti’s Norton edition (2016) for poetry.

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• World History Encyclopedia - Indra
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Indra , in Hindu mythology, the king of the gods. He is one of the main gods of the Rigveda and is the Indo-European cousin of the German Wotan, Norse Odin , Greek Zeus , and Roman Jupiter .

In early religious texts, Indra plays a variety of roles. As king, he leads cattle raids against the dasa s, or dasyu s, native inhabitants of the lands over which his people range. He brings rain as god of the thunderbolt, and he is the great warrior who conquers the anti-gods ( asura s). He also defeats innumerable human and superhuman enemies, most famously the dragon Vritra , a leader of the dasa s and a demon of drought . Vritra is accused as a dragon of hoarding the waters and the rains, as a dasa of stealing cows, and as an anti-god of hiding the Sun. Indra is strengthened for those feats by drinks of the elixir of immortality, the soma , which priests offer to him in the sacrifice. Among his allies are the Rudras (or Maruts), who ride the clouds and direct storms. Indra is sometimes referred to as “the thousand-eyed.”

In later Hinduism , Indra is no longer worshipped but plays the important mythological roles of god of rain, regent of the heavens, and guardian of the east. Later texts note that break in the worship of Indra. In the Mahabharata , Indra fathers the great hero Arjuna and tries in vain to prevent the god of fire, Agni , from burning a great forest. In the Purana s, ancient collections of Hindu myths and legends , Krishna , an avatar of Vishnu , persuades the cowherds of Gokula (or Vraja, modern Gokul) to stop their worship of Indra. Enraged, Indra sends down torrents of rain, but Krishna lifts Mount Govardhana on his fingertip and gives the people shelter under it for seven days until Indra relents and pays him homage.

In painting and sculpture, Indra is often depicted riding his white elephant , Airavata. Indra also plays a part in the Jain and Buddhist mythology of India. When Mahavira , the Jain saviour and reformer, cuts off his hair to signify his renunciation of the world, Indra, as king of the gods, receives the hair into his hands. Buddhist mythology sometimes mocks Indra and sometimes portrays him as a mere figurehead.

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Life is suffering: it is suffering because we are not perfect nor is the world in which we live perfect. The origin of suffering is attachment or desire: attachment to transient things and ignorance thereof. Objects of attachment also include the idea of a “self” which is a delusion, because there is no abiding self. What we call “self” is just an imagined entity, and we are merely a part of the ceaseless becoming of the universe. The cessation of suffering can be attained through the detachment of desire and craving. The end of suffering is achieved by seeking the middle path. It is the middle way between the two extremes of excessive self-indulgence and excessive self-mortification, leading to the end of the cycle of rebirth.

Right or Perfect View: is the beginning and the end of the path, it simply means to see and to understand things as they really are and to realize the Four Noble Truths. Right Intention: can be described as a commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement. Right Speech: is abstaining from the use of false, slanderous, and harmful words which hurt others. Right Action: means to abstain from harming others, abstain from taking what is not given to you, and avoid sexual misconduct. Right livelihood: means that one should earn one's living in a righteous way and that wealth should be gained legally and peacefully. Right Effort: is the prerequisite for the other principles of the path as one needs the will to act or else nothing will be achieved. Right Mindfulness: the ability to contemplate actively one’s mind, body, and soul. Right Concentration: the ability to focus on the right thoughts and actions through meditation.

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Between history and mythology

The casualty of the creation of the dichotomy between history and mythology is the attempt to understand the nature of both. but they are not dichotomous; they have much in common.

Updated - December 04, 2021 11:38 pm IST

Published - July 17, 2014 02:14 am IST

ABOUT US: The reach of culture in any society is far more pervasive than that of historical facts. Ram’s extensive presence in India is because he is a cultural icon, a larger-than-life figure whose stature no real life king could achieve.

The recent observations of the new Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) Chairman, Professor Yellapragada Sudershan Rao, that the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are not works of mythology but of historical veracity brings back to the fore the old debate about the nature of history and mythology. The fundamental assumption here is that the two stand in a dichotomous relationship with no common space between them. This dichotomy also places them in a hierarchy, with history being equated with truth and mythology with falsehood.

The dichotomy was created by Positivism, which has unquestioned European provenance. Positivism had, during the eighteenth century and down to much of the twentieth century, sought to recreate the exactitude of the natural sciences in forms of societal knowledge, the social sciences. Auguste Comte, the founder of Sociology, placed this new discipline at the highest level of precision and Mathematics at the lowest, because Mathematics had no objective basis except for a commonly accepted set of values. For Leopold von Ranke, “History tells us as it really happened.” It reveals to us the objective truth, with no ambiguity. The veracity of history is proven by the evidence of facts gathered from archives, epigraphs, archaeology, coins, monuments etc., all being objective realities rather than imaginary creations. Certain norms of spatial and temporal location of events form its core.

On the other hand, mythology stood at the other end of objectivity: all of it was the product of imagination, much like fiction, with no objective evidence open to rational, scientific scrutiny, but dependent instead on one’s beliefs and faith.

It is in this backdrop that the struggle to place mythological creations on a par with history or objective truth, is best understood, for any concession to the imaginary nature of mythology relegates it to an inferior status. Or so it is assumed.

The chief casualty of the creation of this dichotomy is the attempt to understand the nature of both history and mythology. To begin with, it is a false dichotomy and no hierarchy of status is implied between them. The difference between the two does not amount to dichotomy and they do have much in common. Both history and mythology are creations of human imagination. History, however, is limited to retrieval of verifiable ‘facts’ and evidence from the past, which is construed as a reality, even as it varies from one school of history to another or even from one historian to another. Mythology has no such limitations. It is not bound by space, chronology, and evidence that is indisputable. Space and time here are entirely created in the mind, just as in a novel, even as it bears semblance of reality. The nature of folklore is similar.

Does it then imply that mythology does not reflect any reality? Mythology, fiction, poetry and paintings relate to a different genre of reality which could, for convenience, be grouped under culture, of which religion is also an important segment, even as the two are not synonymous. In that sense culture and mythology also acquire the characteristics of an objective reality that governs our attitudes and behaviour as social beings. Indeed, the reach of culture in any society is far more pervasive than that of historical facts. If Ram was to be treated as a real historical figure, as a ruler of a small and insignificant kingdom of Ayodhya, compared, for example, to the massive Maurya or Gupta Empire, he would have been relegated to a minor footnote in history books. A good test is to try to recall the name of another ruler of Ayodhya — very unlikely to come to one’s mind. Ram’s pervasive presence in India is because he is a cultural icon. No real ruler’s presence in the life of India’s millions, even that of Asoka, comes anywhere near it. Probably a sizeable number of the population have his name as part of their own personal names. Would that pervasive presence have arisen from his being the king of Ayodhya and doing things that kings do all the time? Surely, his larger than life figure as a cultural icon is what gives him that stature that no other real life king could achieve.

There is also the question of plural versions of mythologies, as there are of history. Paula Richman’s book is titled Many Ramayanas and the great Professor A.K. Ramanujam was the author of the superb essay, “Three Hundred Ramayanas”. The Mahabharata similarly has not one but numerous versions, and Madhavacarya in the thirteenth century speaks of the text teeming with interpretations, interpolations and transpositions. That’s a few centuries before the modern day baddies among historians came in to question the singularity of the sacred texts. So, which version is one seeking to authenticate in terms of its historical veracity?

The study of mythology would be greatly enriched as a cultural phenomenon rather than as authentic history that is based on material evidence, without it suffering the ignominy of being false or inferior.

But then, the very assertion that mythological figures are not necessarily historical figures immediately invites political fire from the Sangh Parivar. The Parivar’s Hindutva sentiment is hurt precisely because it has accepted the Positivist dichotomy of history and mythology and its ensuing hierarchisation of status. How far has the Parivar really travelled from the celebration of plural versions of truth in ancient Indian intellectual and cultural milieu to the modern day assertion of singularity of Truth, which is what Positivism has bestowed upon us and dominated our thinking for nearly three centuries?

(Harbhans Mukhia was Professor of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.)

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Thinkers, Texts, and Traditions: A Cultural Coalition

Thinkers, Texts, and Traditions:  A Cultural Coalition

A Two-Day Multidisciplinary International Conference

Vivekananda School of English Studies

Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies-TC, Delhi

Vivekananda School of English Studies at the Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, Delhi, takes immense pride in announcing a groundbreaking International Conference titled Thinkers, Texts, and Traditions: A Cultural Coalition . This conference proposes a multidisciplinary exploration of the intricate relationship between thinkers, texts, and traditions . India's literary tradition is a vibrant tapestry, woven by the threads of countless thinkers and their enduring texts . These texts, both written and oral, represent the collective wisdom and artistic expression passed down through generations. Our journey begins with the ancient Vedas , composed around 1500 BCE, which mark the foundation of this literary tradition. These sacred texts, written in Vedic Sanskrit, exemplify the confluence of text and tradition . They not only codified religious beliefs but also laid the groundwork for philosophical inquiry and artistic expression. Over centuries, India's literary landscape flourished with contributions from thinkers across languages and regions. From poets in Tamil and Pali to philosophers in Prakrit and Sanskrit, each voice enriched the culture, adding layers of meaning and interpretation. Languages like Urdu, Persian, Bengali, and Hindi further broadened the scope, reflecting the cultural syncretism that defines India. Each historical period, from the Mauryan and Gupta empires to the Mughal era and beyond, left its unique imprint on this literary palimpsest . The conference will explore how these eras contributed to the evolution of Indian literature, highlighting the dynamic interplay between thinkers , text, and tradition . This international conference invites scholars, researchers, and enthusiasts. By examining the works of influential thinkers , analysing diverse texts , and exploring the evolution of traditions , we will gain a deeper appreciation for India's literary heritage.

Thinkers across generations have enriched this tradition with their unique voices. The Bhakti and Sufi movements, for example, used poetry to bridge social and religious divides. Texts like those by Kabir and Mirabai, with their blend of languages (Hindi, Punjabi, Sindhi, Rajasthani), exemplify the unifying power of tradition . Traditions are not static. Contemporary Indian literature embraces themes like globalization, identity politics, and environmentalism, while retaining its focus on love, morality, and existential questions. Writers like Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie, and Jhumpa Lahiri demonstrate the global reach of Indian literature, showcasing its ability to address the sociological realities of our interconnected world. Indian literature is a symphony of voices , each thinker contributing a unique note to the overall harmony. We celebrate this diversity while recognizing the unifying spirit that binds them together. In a world seeking connection, this literary heritage offers valuable insights into the power of storytelling to bridge divides and foster empathy. By exploring the texts of influential thinkers and delving into the evolution of traditions , this conference invites us to appreciate the philosophical and sociological depths of Indian literature. Let's explore how this symphony of voices can guide us towards a future of understanding and shared humanity.

The primary objective of this conference is to bring together scholars, authors, critics, and enthusiasts of Indian literature:

• Unveil the philosophical underpinnings within texts, exploring how they grapple with life's core questions of existence, morality, and the human condition.
• To analyse how social structures, power dynamics, and historical events shape the creation, transmission, interpretation, and content of texts and traditions.
• To explore the unifying themes and motifs that transcend regional and linguistic barriers, creating a shared cultural and spiritual heritage.

We especially encourage papers engaging with intersectionality, and papers considering old ideas in a new light.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to

• Reimagining Canonical Texts: Tradition in Contemporary Literature
• Tradition, Text, and Identity: Intersectional Perspectives
• Oral Tradition and Folklore in Literature
• Postcolonial and Global Literature
• Tradition and Modernity
• Gender and Diversity
• Eco-Consciousness
• Historical Narratives and Mythology

Important Dates

Abstract Submission: 15th July 2024

Acceptance Notification: 20th July 2024

Full Paper Submission: 18th August 2024

For more information reach us at: [email protected]