Who is Who in Hindu Mythology: A Comprehensive Collection of Stories from the Puranas (2 Vol. Set)

989 Pages·2020·6.103 MB·English

by  Surya N. Maruvada

Notion Press
Old No. 38, New No. 6
McNichols Road, Chetpet
Chennai - 600 031
First Published by Notion Press 2020
Copyright © Surya N. Maruvada 2020
All Rights Reserved.
eISBN 978-1-64805-684-0
This book has been published with all efforts taken to make the
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author and the publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any
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While every effort has been made to avoid any mistake or omission,
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defective copy by another copy of this work then available.
Dedication
This book was wri�en primarily for and dedicated to generations of the Hindu Diaspora
hoping that reading it will stimulate their interest in their heritage
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction
Table of Alphabet Comparison
Unique Aspects of Hindu Mythology
– A –
– B –
– C –
– D –
– E –
– G –
– H –
– I –
– J –
– K –
Appendix
Acknowledgments
The Author acknowledges the loving support and encouragement of the
North American wing of the family with special thanks to Subha, Sridhar,
Venkata Rao, Prasad, Rajeswara Rao and Prabha Maruvada for their help
and input throughout the preparation of this book.
Foreword
Sanātana Dharma (popularly known as the Hindu philosophy) has a rich
repertoire of sacred texts which have been transmitted from generation to
generation by oral tradition. The corpus comprises Śruṭis, Smṛṭis, Purāṇās
and Itihāsas. While the Śruṭis are the original fonts of revealed wisdom, the
other three are highly interlinked—or hyperlinked with allusions to
concepts, definitions and events from others providing the context. Quite
often, in order to understand the concepts and contexts of the events
described in one or the other of them, it is necessary to follow the
hyperlinks to other sources including the Śruṭis.
The rendition of the Vēdās requires not only rigid conformity to the texts
but specified musical intonation of the hymns. It is for this reason that they
survive till date in their original form without any variation. On the other
hand the Itihāsas—literally recorded happenings—and celebrated in
popular culture in prose and poetry; songs and ballads have been subjected
to many improvisations and interpolations to suit various modes and literary
forms. The improvisations and interpolations reflect the creative genius of
their writers and the changing cultural mores of the epochs in which they
were written. They also underscore the tolerance of freedom of expression
that Sanātana Dharma accorded its practitioners. There are two original
narratives of the Itihāsa, Rāmāyaṇa, the one written by Sage Vālmiki and
the Ādhyātma Rāmāyaṇa written by Sage Vēda Vyāsa. Additionally there
are about three hundred versions of the great Itihāsa written in many Indian
languages, in each of which their composers may be said to have exercised
poetic licence. The Itihāsa, Mahābhārata has been told and retold in many
Indian languages. Similarly the commentaries and translations of the
Purāṇās into Indian languages vary in their details. In the resultant melee
the ordinary student is lost, being unable to understand whether a narrative
is from the original source or an interpolation.
It is in this context the present Encyclopaedia assumes significance. The
author Surya N. Maruvada used the Telugu translations of the Purāṇās as
the basis to write it. His intimate knowledge of Saṃskṛtam and the original
texts stands him in good stead in nuancing the commentary. One hopes that
the Encyclopaedia will be useful not only for the world–wide Indian
diaspora to obtain gleanings from their spiritual heritage but other scholars
desirous of understanding the rich spiritual and philosophical underpinnings
of Sanātana Dharma.
– Narayanadas Upadhyayula
Introduction
The purpose of this book is to make available all the stories and
personalities in the Hindu Purāṇās in a compact package to those with an
interest but no access to the Purāṇās in the original Sanskrit or in Telugu
translations. Also, even if one had access to the original books, there are so
many that finding all the stories about, say, Lord Ṣiva would require reading
parts of almost a dozen Purāṇas. Video series on the Purāṇās had become
available in recent decades of such classics as the Rāmāyaṇa, Mahā
Bhārata, Om Namah Ṣivāya etc. By the nature of television series, much
material that was not in the original Purāṇās was added to increase the
number of episodes and to create greater interest. Having read the major
ones in Sanskrit or in translations by great Telugu poets in my student days,
I was aware of the inflation of the content. Sometimes though, it was not
obvious whether a particular sub-story was original or a creative addition
for TV. As it happened, I had a Telugu book titled “Pūrva Gāthā Lahari” by
Mr. Vemuri Srinivasa Rao (1952) which contained reasonably detailed
stories about almost every character in the Purāṇās and stories about a
specific place of pilgrimage or a temple, as well as a selection of
Upanishads. I would look up a story in this book and tell my wife and
children whether the story was in the original or was a TV writer’s addition.
My daughter, whom we brought to the US when she was about 2 years old,
was very interested in the stories but never learned to read our mother
tongue. She planted the idea in my head that an English book with the same
content as Pūrva Gāthā Lahari would be useful, not only for Indians
growing up outside India but even many in India who for various reasons