Lesson 1: Introduction I
Sources of Mythology
The sources of Hindu mythology are a series of texts written in Sanskrit. These texts have been classified in many ways. The simplest and most common classification is described here.
The earliest group of texts is known as the Vedas. The term Veda comes from the root Vid, meaning to know. The Vedas are the foundational scriptures of the Hindus. Brahma, the Creator, imparted this knowledge to the Sages who then disseminated it. The Vedas are divided into four books: the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda and the Atharva-Veda. The Upanishads are the most important portion of the Vedas. They summarise the essence of the Vedas. The teaching based on them is called Vedanta.
The next group of texts are the Brahmanas. These focus on rituals to be followed by the priests but use mythologies to elucidate the rituals.
The texts with a greater focus on mythology are known as the Itihasas and Puranas. There are four books under Itihasas, which means histories: The Ramayana, the Yogavasishtha, the Mahabharata and the Harivamsa. These works explain the great universal truths in the form of historical narratives, stories, parables and dialogues. They are for the benefit of common people who would find the arguments and the concepts of the Vedas difficult to comprehend.
The wealth of the mythological knowledge however is found in the Puranas, meaning ‘that which is ancient’. All Puranas contain information on incarnations, cosmology, creation, genealogy of kings and time cycles. There are eighteen main Puranas and an equal number of subsidiary Puranas. The main Puranas are: Vishnu Purana, Naradiya Purana, Srimad Bhagavata Purana, Garuda (Suparna) Purana, Padma Purana, Varaha Purana, Brahma Purana, Brahmanda Purana, Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Markandeya Purana, Bhavishya Purana, Vamana Purana, Matsya Purana, Kurma Purana, Linga Purana, Shiva Purana, Skanda Purana and Agni Purana. Of these, six glorify Vishnu, six glorify Brahma and six glorify Shiva.
The most popular among the Puranas is the Bhagavata. The Bhagavata Purana is a chronicle of the various incarnations of Lord Vishnu, but focuses on Krishna. Each Purana has a specific purpose and was first narrated on a special occasion. The purpose of the Bhagavata Purana is to enable a person to overcome the fear of death. Sukhdev, the son of Vyasa narrated it to King Parikshit, when Parikshit was cursed to die in a week's time.
The longest Purana is the Skanda Purana, which has 81000 couplets. The shortest is the Markandeya Purana, which has 9000 couplets. The Mahabharata has 100000 couplets and is said to be the longest epic in the world. It is longer than the Iliad and the Odyssey put together.
Krishnadvaipayana, the son of Sage Parashara and more popularly known as Vyasa, has played a very important role in compiling these texts to their current form. He is the one who divided the Vedas into the four books and compiled the Puranas. He is however better known as the author of the Mahabharata. It is said that Vyasa first recited the Puranas to one of his disciples, who then spread them to the other sages and common people. "Loma" means hair and "harshana" means to thrill. These tales were hair-raising in a way and hence the disciple was given the name Lomaharshana.
These texts went orally from generation to generation. Each time the narrator would add some detail of his own and hence the content kept on changing. The texts as we know them today were crystallized and put in writing between 1200 BC and 1550 AD. Some sections in each Purana were fairly recent (a few hundred years) whereas others could have been as old as ten thousand years.
The texts put together have created a coherent and supportive network of values and ethics and of a way of life itself. However they are not without inconsistencies. Different Puranas describe the same event differently. Shatrupa is Manu's mother in one Purana, whereas she is his wife in another. Hindu mythology is not a static body of knowledge but has changed and grown over the years, as we shall discover.
Optional Exercises
3a. The Introduction (pp 11-22) in ‘Hindu Myths’ provides interesting insights on this topic. The sections on Sources and Dates (pp 14-18) are particularly important. Delve on the significant points made in these pages.
3b. Additional information is available on the following site.
http://www.sivanandadlshq.org/download/h...
