Indian Mythology

Fülszöveg

INDIÁN MYTHOLOGY The mythology of India could be said to describe every experience and emotion of man. The people of India possess a mythology reaching back over 3,500 years, and from the beginning they have written it down. The epics and legends are read by the scholars and learned by the children; they are told and retold by the story-tellers of every village and market-place. The wisdom, adventure and románcé contained in them are a part of the life and thought of every Indián today. Every level of feeling finds expression; love and hatred, exalted courage and base cowardice, nobility and meanness, compassion and wit. Indra is the king of the gods-but he gets drunk and his roving eye does not miss a beautiful woman; Savitri follows her husband to the edge of the underworld and tricks Yama, the god of death, into restoring his life; King Yudhisthira reaches the very gates of heaven, but he will have none' of a paradise that will not honour his faithful dog; the hero Arjuna, on the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

INDIÁN MYTHOLOGY The mythology of India could be said to describe every experience and emotion of man. The people of India possess a mythology reaching back over 3,500 years, and from the beginning they have written it down. The epics and legends are read by the scholars and learned by the children; they are told and retold by the story-tellers of every village and market-place. The wisdom, adventure and románcé contained in them are a part of the life and thought of every Indián today. Every level of feeling finds expression; love and hatred, exalted courage and base cowardice, nobility and meanness, compassion and wit. Indra is the king of the gods-but he gets drunk and his roving eye does not miss a beautiful woman; Savitri follows her husband to the edge of the underworld and tricks Yama, the god of death, into restoring his life; King Yudhisthira reaches the very gates of heaven, but he will have none' of a paradise that will not honour his faithful dog; the hero Arjuna, on the eve of battle, shrinks from the thought of the blood that will be shed and is given strength by Krishna to do what every man must-his duty (the episode of the sublime Bhagavad Gita). A great literature is alsó represented here. Like India herself it is of great antiquity and provided the means for recording the beliefs of each succeeding age, developing and enriching them to a degree unsurpassed in any other civilisation. And from the age-old ideas there alsó developed the Buddhists and the Jains, each contributing their own particular flavour. The serpent king coils himself under the meditating Buddha to lift him off the soaking ground and spreads his hood over him to protect him from the storm. When great Mahavira dies the lights of the universe are quenched. The art of India is comparable to its splendid mythology, and every facet of it has been drawn on freely to illuminate a book which is entertaining, instructive, and full of riches. Vissza