Ebook Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Purânic

By the introduction of afull index it is to be 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 Purinas whilst others spoken of as belong ing to the Puranic Age have their origin, traceable indeed with difficulty in some cases, in the Vedas. The Vedic gods are those whose description is cfiie?y to be found in the Vedas, and whose worship was more general in the Vedic Age the Puranic are those who are more fully described in the Puranas, and whose worship was more general in the Puranic Age. Any very rigid classifica tion it would be impossible to make.w.