Indian Mythology

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Indian mythology is a rich tradition of stories about deities and mythological figures. Indian myths are recorded in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature and the Puranas. Hindu mythology, as recorded in these texts, does not have a consistent narrative or structure. Myths appear in a number of different versions and often evolve over time. Sometimes the name of a character changes or extra details are added. Many Indian myths have been edited over time by the various schools of Hindu philosophy in order to impart a deeper symbolic meaning.

The mythology of India claims unique interest by virtue of its unparalleled length of life. It is true that not even the discoveries at Boghaz Kyoi render it prudent for us to place the Rgreda at an earlier period than 1500 B. c., and in part at least that collection may come from three centuries later, so that as contrasted with the dates of Egyptian and Babylonian records the earliest monument of Aryan mythology is comparatively recent. In mass of content and in value for mythology, however, these cannot compare with the Rgveda. Of still more importance is the fact that from the period of the Rgveda to the present day, a space of some thirty-five hundred years, we have a mythology which is in constant but organic development. The high mythic systems of Teuton, Celt, and Slav, of Greek and Roman, have perished before the onslaught of a loftier faith and survive in little else than folk-lore. In India, on the contrary, though foreign invasion has often swept over the north-west of the land, though Islam has annexed souls as well as territories, though Christianity (especially in the south) has contributed elements to the faith of the people, still it remains true that the religion and the mythology of the land are genuinely their own and for this reason have in them-selves the constant potency of fresh growth. Moreover, amidst the ceaseless change which is the heritage of human things, there is relative stability in the simpler thoughts of the human mind, and as in many parts of India the peasant still labours with the implements and in the mode of his ancestors in periods far remote, so his mind frames the same hypotheses to account for those phenomena of nature which in India more than else-where determine irrevocably his weal or his woe.

The rich variety of the mythology, despite its attraction for the student of the history of myths, renders the task of concise exposition one of peculiar difficulty. For the mythology of the present day available material is enormous: each part of the vast area of India has its own abundant store of myth and tradition, and to give detail for this period would be impossible. The same consideration applies with but slightly lessened force for the earlier epochs: the Veda, the epics, the Puranas, the literature of the Buddhists and of the Jains, each present data in lavish abundance. It has been necessary, therefore, to circumscribe narrowly the scope of the subject by restricting the treatment to that mythology which stands in close connexion with religion and which conveys to us a conception of the manner in which the Indian pictured to himself the origin of the world and of life, the destiny of the universe and of the souls of man, the gods and the evil spirits who supported or menaced his existence. Gods and demons were very present to the mind of the Indian then as they are today, and they are inextricably involved in innumerable stories of folk-lore, of fairy tale, and of speculation as to the origin of institutions and customs. The task of selecting such myths as will best illustrate the nature of the powers of good and evil is one in which we cannot hope for complete success; and the problem is rendered still more hard by the essential vagueness of many of the figures of Indian mythology: the mysticism of Indian conception tends ever to a pantheism alien to the clear-cut creations of the Hellenic imagination.

The earliest record of Indian mythology is contained in the Rgveda, or ""Hymn Veda,"" a series of ten books of hymns celebrating the chief Vedic gods. The exact motives of the collection are uncertain, but it is clear that in large measure the hymns represent those used in the Soma sacrifice, which formed a most important part of the worship of the gods in the ritual of the subsequent period. It is now recognized that the religion and mythology contained in this collection are not primitive in character and that they represent the result of a long period of development of sacred poetry. Thus it is that the gods who form the subject of this poetry often appear obscure in character, though in the great majority of cases it is clear that the myths related of them refer to physical happenings. The date of the Rgveda is much disputed and admits of no definite determination; it may be doubted whether the oldest poetry contained in it is much earlier than 1200 в.с., but it is not probable that it was composed later than 800 B.c., even in its most recent portions.

Both in its mythology and in its composition the Rgveda is clearly older than the other three Vedas, the Samaveda, the Yajurveda; and the Atharvaveda- the ""Chant Veda,"" the ""Formula Veda,"" and the ""Veda of the Atharvan Priests"" -and, in point of date, these three stand much on a level with the Brahmanas, or explanatory piose texts which are attached to or form part of them. In them are to be found many specu-lations of a more advanced kind than those of the Rgveda, yet at the same time the Atharvaveda contains a mass of popular religion which has been taken up and worked over by the same priestly classes to whose activity the other texts are due. must, therefore, be recognized that the Rgveda gives only an imperfect impression of Indian mythology and that, in a sense, it is the work of an aristocracy; but at the same time it is im-possible to regard the Atharvaveda as a direct complement of the Rgveda and as giving the popular side of the Rgvedic reli-gion. The Atharvaveda was probably not reduced to its present form much, if at all, earlier than 500 B.c., and the popular worship included in it is one which is at once separated by a considerable period in time from that of the Rgveda and is pre-sented to us, not in its primitive form, but as it was taken up by the priests. The other Vedas and the Brahmaņas may be referred roughly to a period which runs from 800 το 600 B.C. To the Brahmaņas are attached, more or less closely, treatises called Aranyakas (""Silvan""), which were to be studied by oral tradition in the solitude of the forests, and Upanisads, treatises of definitely philosophical content, whose name is de-rived from the ""session"" of the pupils around their teacher. The oldest of these works probably date from before 500 в.с. On the other hand, the Sutras, or rules regarding the sacrifice both in its more elaborate and in its more domestic forms, and regulations concerning custom and law give incidental information as to the more popular side of religion.

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