Gods And Goddesses in Indian Art and Literature
Contents: Foreword. Introduction. 1. Early Vedic deities. 2. Vedic deities. 3. The tree cult in Vedic literature. 4. The Hindu triad (Trimurti). 5. Other Hindu Gods. 6. Goddesses. 7. Animal deities. 8. Ramayana--the great epic. 9. The Mahabharata. 10. Lord Krsna. 11. Lord Siva. 12. Symbols and Sakti worship in India. 13. Legends from the Puranas. 14. Mountains, rivers and pools as deities. 15. Buddhist mythology. 16. Jain mythology. Conclusion. Glossary. Bibliography. Index.
The present treatise generally incorporates the matter about Indian Gods and Goddesses. The Iconographical representation of the Indian Gods and Goddesses, as glimpsed from the Archaeological finding and temple architecture is one aspect and the literary evidences found in our vast Indian literature of Vedic, Epic and Puranic period is the other aspect of the book, Both these aspects delineated in this book give us perfect picture and historical development of Indian mythology of Gods and Goddesses. The literary and textual material, when illustrated with the iconographical representations becomes more relevant and complete. The subject matter is nicely and systematically arranged here and historical sequence is well maintained by narrating the Vedic, Epic and Puranic deities. The Mythological concept of Trimurti (Brahma, Visnu, Siva) as depicted in the epics and puranas is elaborately discussed in the work. Not only the Hindu, but also Jain and Buddhist mythology are separately treated in this book. Thus, he book is a kind of Encyclopedia on Indian mythology, since it has covered almost all the aspects of it. A number of illustrations/figures of Indian mythological images presented in this book really enhance the value of the book.
Besides the general Index, a Glossary of the technical terms is also appended in the work. Hence, this book would be immensely useful to the students as well as researchers to know and understand the real mystery of the gods and goddesses of Indian culture, art and literature.
