Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic - SriMatham
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Hindu Mythology,
Vedic and Puranic
By W. J. Wilkins
Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co.; London: W. Thacker & Co. [1900]
Scanned, proofed and formatted at sacred- by John Bruno Hare, May 2009. This text is in the public domain because it was published prior to 1923.
DURG. Lakshmi. Sarasvati. Ganesa. The Demon Durg. Kartikeya.
PREFACE.
ON reaching India, one of my first inquiries was for a full and trustworthy account of the mythology of the Hindus; but though I read various works in which some information of the kind was to be found, I sought in vain for a complete and systematic work on this subject. Since then two classical dictionaries of India have been published, one in Madras and one in London; but though useful books of reference, they do not meet the want that this book is intended to supply. For some years I have been collecting materials with the intention of arranging them in such a way that any one without much labour might gain a good general idea of the names, character, and relationship of the principal deities of Hinduism. This work does not profess to supply new translations of the Hindu Scriptures, nor to give very much information that is not already scattered through many other books. In a few cases original extracts have been made; but, generally speaking, my work has been to collect and arrange translations ready to hand. It has been my endeavour to give a fair and impartial account of these deities, as far as possible in the words of the sacred books; such an account as I should expect an honest-minded Hindu to give of God from a careful study of the Bible. I have honestly striven to keep free from prejudice and theological bias; and, wishing to let the sacred books speak for themselves, have refrained from commenting on the passages quoted, excepting where some explanation seemed necessary. I have not selected those texts which describe the darker side only of the Hindu gods, nor have such been altogether suppressed. There was much that could not be reproduced. Of what was fit for publication I have taken a proportionate amount, that this, together with what is worthy of commendation, may give a faithful picture. To magnify either the good or the evil is the work of the advocate--a work I, in this book, distinctly disclaim. An honest effort has been made to give a reliable account of the things commonly believed by millions of our Hindu fellow-subjects.
In order to render the work more interesting and instructive, a number of illustrations of the principal deities have been introduced. Most of them have been copied from pictures drawn by the Hindus themselves, and which may be seen in the houses of the people. No attempt has been made to idealize them; they are, what they profess to be, faithful representations of the designs of Hindu artists. For their kindness in making these drawings from the original highly-coloured pictures, I am very greatly indebted to my friends the Rev. A. J. Bamford, B.A., and Messrs. H. T. Ottewill and C. A. Andrews, B.A.
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By the introduction of a full index it is hoped that this work will serve as a classical dictionary of India; whilst the classification of the gods will enable the student to obtain a general view of Hindu mythology, and of the relation in which one deity stands to others. And as many legends are given at some length, the book can hardly fail to be interesting to the general reader, who may not have time or opportunity to refer to the sacred writings from which they are taken.
A word of explanation respecting the classification of the deities is called for. It will be noticed that some of those described as belonging to the Vedic Age appear under the same or other names in the Purnas; whilst others spoken of as belonging to the Purnic Age have their origin, traceable indeed with difficulty in some cases, in the Vedas. It was a common practice with the writers of the later books to claim a remote antiquity, and the authority of the Vedas, for the more recent additions to the Pantheon. In some instances an epithet, descriptive of one of the old deities, is attached as the name of a later one. And by this means the old and the new are linked together. The Vedic gods are those whose description is chiefly to be found in the Vedas, and whose worship was more general in the Vedic Age; the Purnic are those who are more fully described in the Purnas, and whose worship was more general in the Purnic Age. Any very rigid classification it is impossible to make.
W. J. W. CALCUTTA, February 22, 1882.
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PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
AS a large edition of this work has been sold out, and a new one called for, an opportunity is presented of adding a few words to what was said eighteen years ago. The reception given to it both in India and in England was most gratifying, practically the only serious condemnation of it being that I had not pronounced judgment on much that I had quoted from the Hindu sacred books. This was a task that I distinctly disavowed in my preface. I set out with the intention of rigidly abstaining from comment, commendatory or condemnatory. I feel that a mere statement of much that was written in books professedly inspired by God, carried its own condemnation. And at the same time it was a pleasure to indicate how, amid much evil, there was also much good. The sages of India were not in complete darkness. As we examine the earlier writings, the light was bright indeed contrasted with what came later. It is most instructive to notice the marked deterioration in the quality of the teaching, deities as described by the earlier sages being vastly better than their successors declare them to be. "NonChristian Bibles are all developments in the wrong direction. They begin with some flashes of true light, and end in darkness." As Max-M?ller says, "The more we go back, the more we examine the earliest germs of any religion, the purer I believe we shall find the conceptions of the Deity."
In this edition there is some added matter. Errors have been corrected, and an attempt made to render certain passages more clear that were somewhat obscure. Substantially the book remains the same. An account of the ordinary worship and the festivals of these gods will be found in another work-- "Modern Hinduism."
W. J. W. 1900.
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CONTENTS.
PART I.--THE VEDIC DEITIES.
CHAPTER.
I.
THE VEDAS
II.
THE VEDIC GODS GENERALLY
III.
DYAUS AND PRITHIVI
IV.
ADITI AND THE DITYAS
V.
AGNI
VI.
SUN OR LIGHT DEITIES--
1. SURYA
2. PUSHAN
3. MITRA AND VARUNA
4. THE ASVINS
5. USHAS
VII.
THE STORM DEITIES--
1. INDRA
2. INDRNI
3. PARJANYA
4. VYU
5. THE MARUTS
VIII. SOMA
IX.
TVASTRI OR VISVAKARMA
X.
YAMA
PAGE
7 9 11 13 21
19 21 22 24 25
28 32 32 33 32 35 37 38
PART II.--THE PURNIC DEITIES.
I.
THE PURNAS
42
II.
BRAHMAN
43
III.
BRAHM
45
SARASVATI
48
IV.
VISHNU
51
LAKSHMI
55
V.
THE INCARNATIONS OR AVATRAS OF VISHNU--
1. THE MATSYA OR FISH AVATRA
57
2. THE KRMA OR TORTOISE AVATRA
60
3. THE VARHA OR BOAR AVATRA
61
4. THE NRISINGHA OR MAN-LION AVATRA
62
5. THE VMANA OR DWARF AVATRA
64
6. THE PARASURMA AVATRA
67
7. THE RMA CHANDRA AVATRA
69
8. THE KRISHNA AVATRA
81
8a. THE BALARMA AVATRA
89
9. THE BUDDHA AVATRA
90
10. THE KALKI AVATRA
98
JAGANNTH
99
CHAITANYA
100
KMADEVA
101
VI.
SIVA
104
PANCHNANA
111
VII.
UM
111
PRVATI
112
DURG
114
THE CHIEF FORMS OF DURG--
1. DURG
118
2. DASABHUJ
118
3. SINGHAVHINI
118
4. MAHISHAMRDINI
118
5. JAGADDHTRI
118
6. KLI
118
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VIII. IX. X.
II. III.
IV. V.
VI. VII. VIII. IX. X.
7. MUKTAKESI
121
8. TRA
121
9. CHINNAMUSTAKA
121
10. JAGADGAURI
121
11. PRATYANGIR
121
12. ANNAPURN
121
13. GANESAJANANI
122
14. KRISHNAKRORA
122
THE SAKTIS
122
SONS OF SIVA AND PRVATI--
1. GANESA
123
2. KARTIKEYA
126
THE PURANIC ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION
129
THE PURNIC DIVISIONS OF TIME
133
PART III.--THE INFERIOR DEITIES.
I. THE DIVINE RISHIS--
1. BHRIGU
136
2. PULASTYA
137
3. PULAHA
138
4. KRATU
138
5. ANGIRAS
138
6. MARICHI
138
7. ATRI
139
8. DAKSHA
140
9. VASISHTHA
142
10. NRADA
143
KUVERA
145
THE DEMIGODS OF THE RMYANA--
1. SUGRIVA
147
2. HANUMN
150
3. NALA
152
4. NLA
153
5. SUSHENA
153
THE DEMIGODS OF THE MAHBHRATA
155
THE PLANETS--
1. RAVI, OR SURYA
162
2. CHANDRA, OR SOMA
162
3. MANGALA
162
4. BUDHA
162
5. VRIHASPATI
163
6. SUKRA
163
7. SANI
163
8. RHU AND KETU
163
THE ASURAS
164
JALANDHARA
165
SACRED ANIMALS AND BIRDS
168
GARUDA
168
JATYUS AND SAMPTI
171
GANG
172
SACRED TREES
177
MISCELLANEOUS MINOR DEITIES--
1. SHITALA
178
2. MANAS
178
3. SAST
179
4. THE SHLGRMA
179
5. THE DHENK
179
6. KA? WHO?
180
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