{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/hmvp/hmvp15.htm","path":"hin/hmvp/hmvp15.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/hmvp/hmvp15.htm","text":"Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic, by W.J. Wilkins, [1900]\n \n \nClick to enlarge\nGANESA.\nThe chief sources of information respecting the modern mythology of the Hindus are the two great Epics\u2014the R\u0101m\u0101yana and the Mah\u0101bh\u0101rata\u2014the Pur\u0101nas, or \"old traditional stories,\" eighteen in number, and the five principal Tantras.\nThere is nothing definitely known as to the date of the Epics, beyond the fact that they are later than the Vedas, and earlier than the Pur\u0101nas. Some place the R\u0101m\u0101yana as early as B.C. 500, whilst others affirm that it could not have been composed before B.C. 100, and that a considerable portion was added much later. The Mah\u0101bh\u0101rata is supposed to be fully a century nearer our own time. Unlike the Vedas, they, as well as the Pur\u0101nas and Tantras, may be read by other than Br\u0101hmans. Each of these books is of immense bulk, and the same stories frequently reappear in them. Yet to this day they retain a firm hold of the faith and veneration of the mass of the people of India. Nor is this to be wondered at when we read such words as these, often repeated in these works: \"He who reads\nand repeats this holy life-giving R\u0101m\u0101yana [or the Mah\u0101bh\u0101rata], is liberated from all sins, and exalted with all his posterity to the highest heaven.\"\nIt is almost equally difficult to determine the date of the Pur\u0101nas. It is, however, believed that none of them are older than the 8th century A.D., though some of the legends incorporated in them may have come from much earlier times. That they are considerably later than the two great Epics is evident from the fact that many, who are described there as men and heroes only, in the Pur\u0101nas, are said to be divine beings. These books differ from the Vedas in this respect, that whilst the older scriptures treat of the religion common to the Hindus of that period, all of whom worshipped the same deities, each Pur\u0101na is chiefly concerned with some one god whose excellences are extolled, whilst others are spoken of in a depreciatory manner. There is a general respect shown to the rest of the gods of the Pantheon; yet the particular deity to whose praise the Pur\u0101na is devoted, is declared to be supreme; and of him the others are said to be incarnations. Now Brahm\u0101, now Siva, now Vishnu in some of his many forms, is the great god, whose will is that all men should worship him. It may be that originally the Pur\u0101nas were written in praise of the three great gods, but as the Hindu conquest extended over the continent, there being no central religious authority, a spirit of sectarianism arose and the writers extolled their own special deity at the expense of the others.\nThe Pur\u0101nas may be classified as follows:\u2014\nI. Those which are devoted to the praise of Brahm\u0101; viz. the Brahm\u0101; the Br\u0101hmanda, the Brahm\u0101vaivarta, the M\u0101rkandeya, the Bhavishya, and the Vaman.\nII. Those which relate to Vishnu; viz. the Vishnu,\nthe Bh\u0101gavata, the Naradiya, the Garuda, the Padma, and the V\u0101r\u0101ha.\nIII. Those which are chiefly connected with Siva; viz. the Siva, the Linga, the Skanda, the Agni, the Matsya, the Karma. For the Agni Pur\u0101na another called the V\u0101yu is sometimes substituted.\nThese Pur\u0101nas are the authority for nearly the whole of the popular Hinduism of the present day. They are largely read by the people. Parts of some and the whole of others have been translated into the vernaculars from the Sanskrit; and where the people cannot read, it is a common practice for their Guru or teacher to read a portion to them at his periodic visits. By this means the contents of these books are widely known.\nThe fact that each Pur\u0101na is devoted to the praise of some special deity, who, according to its teaching, is supreme, whilst other deities, described in other Pur\u0101nas in equally extravagant language, are slighted, and in some cases their worship forbidden, seems to prove that these books must have been written at different times and in different places, and probably by those who were ignorant of what others had written. And yet the popular belief is that they were all the work of the great sage Vy\u0101sa, the arranger of the Vedas and the Mah\u0101bh\u0101rata.\nThe ideal Pur\u0101na\u2014and the Vishnu Pur\u0101na approaches more nearly to this ideal than any other\u2014should treat of * five chief topics:\u2014\"I. The creation of the universe; II. Its destruction and re-creation; III. The genealogy of gods and patriarchs; IV. The reigns and periods of the Manus (rulers over long periods of time); and V. The history of the two great races of kings, the Solar and the Lunar.\" The Pur\u0101nas, as at present known,\nomit some of these great questions and introduce others. Great discrepancies, too, are found in the different genealogies. *\nThe last class of religious books to be mentioned here are the Tantras. The word signifies \"a means of faith,\" and they teach that faith in the revelations they record will save from the greatest sin. They are in the form of a dialogue between Siva and his wife. In answer to her questions, the god gives manifold instructions concerning worship. The date of these works is involved in great obscurity; but as far as can be known they probably are not earlier than the 6th century of our era. They form the authority for the faith and ceremonies of the Saktas, as the worshippers of the wife of Siva are called, and are by them regarded as a fifth Veda. The doctrines, or at least a part of the doctrines, of these sects is kept secret and communicated to those only who receive solemn initiation into the mysteries.\nIn describing the Pur\u0101nic deities, I shall follow the common order. The Hindus speak of three great gods\u2014Brahm\u0101, Vishnu, Siva, who form what is often spoken of as the Hindu Triad. After giving an account of each of these and their consorts, I shall describe those who are regarded as their incarnations, or descendants; and then proceed to speak of others who have no formal connection with any of them. It will be seen that most of the principal deities are connected with one or other of these three.\n91:* Wilson's Preface to the \"Vishnu Pur\u0101na.\"\n92:* For an outline of the contents of the different Pur\u0101nas, see Introduction to Wilson's \"Vishnu Pur\u0101na.\"","title":"Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic: Part II. The Pur\u0101...","type":"page"}