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

989 Pages·2020·6.103 MB·English
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Preview Who is Who in Hindu Mythology: A Comprehensive Collection of Stories from the Puranas (2 Vol. Set)

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 material error-free after the consent of the author. However, the author and the publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. While every effort has been made to avoid any mistake or omission, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that neither the author nor the publishers or printers would be liable in any manner to any person by reason of any mistake or omission in this publication or for any action taken or omitted to be taken or advice rendered or accepted on the basis of this work. For any defect in printing or binding the publishers will be liable only to replace the 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

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