Product Description

Recorded in sacred Sanskrit texts, including the Rig Veda and the Mahabharata, "Hindu Myths" are thought to date back as far as the tenth century BCE. Here in these seventy-five seminal myths are the many incarnations of Vishnu, who saves mankind from destruction, and the mischievous child Krishna, alongside stories of the minor gods, demons, rivers and animals including boars, buffalo, serpents and monkeys. Immensely varied and bursting with colour and life, they demonstrate the Hindu belief in the limitless possibilities of the world - from the teeming miracles of creation to the origins of the incarnation of Death who eventually touches them all.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #112490 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-28
• Original language: Sanskrit
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)

About the Author
Wendy Doniger is the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago, and the translator of numerous Sanskrit texts including the Laws of Manu, and Kamasutra. Wendy Doniger holds doctoral degrees in Indian literature from Harvard and Oxford Universities and is the Mircea Eliade Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago. Her publications include The Rig Veda and The Laws of Manu for the Penguin Classics, and the acclaimed Kama Sutra for OUP.

Customer Reviews

General over view of Hindu Mythology - prose translation
The organization of the book makes it a great reference book, but if you desire to read the vedas from beginning to end, this book is not it. The prose translation captures the facts fairly accurately, though it does lack information on how these Myths manifest itself and how these myths came to be. As the title suggests, it is really meant to be a source book for research and quick reference. Gods and demons are broken into sections, so if you need to find the samsa veda text regarding visnu, this book will make critical writing a joy and allow you to focus on the essay instead of searching the library for a short paragraph.

A part-reference part-survey book
The book addresses the diffcult task of giving an overview of hindu myths, with the relevant content. Naturally the book is a part-reference and a part-survey kind of book. The range of the themes are adequate; covers the major aspects- Vedas, Vedic gods, the evolution of purna Gods SIVA, VISHNU, DEVI. The last chapter deals with the objectives of Vedic mythology, Epic myhtology and Puranic mythology. This is an interesting part of the book. No way, such analysis will have acceptance from all.

Good intro. to Hindu mythology
This book gives an excellent overview of Hindu mythology and it's development. There are sections for each major diety. Numerous notes and comparisons by the translator make it easy to compare aspects of different Hindu texts, highlighting political, philosophical, mythological, societal and ritualistic outlooks and changes in same as the Hindu religion developed from the Vedas of the ancient Aryans to modern Hinduism.