DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0003
PREFACE
This volume deals with the myths and legends of
India, which survive to us in the rich and abundant store-
louse of Sanskrit literature, and with the rise and growth
af Brahmanism, Buddhism, Jainism, &c. The reader is
introduced to the various sacred works of the Hindus,
including the ancient invocatory hymns of the four Vedas,
the later speculative and expository "Forest Books" in
which "the Absolute is grasped and proclaimed", and
those great epic poems the Rdmdyana, which is three
times longer than the Iliad, and the MdMbharata, which
is four times longer than the Rdmayana. In no other
country have the national poets given fuller and finer
expression to the beliefs and ideals and traditions of a
people, or achieved as a result wider and more enduring
fame. At the present day over two hundred million
Hindus are familiar in varying degrees with the legendary
themes and traditional beliefs which the ancient forest
sages and poets of India invested with much beautiful
symbolism, and used as mediums for speculative thought
and profound spiritual teachings. The sacred books of
India are to the Hindus what the Bible is to Christians.
Those who read them, or hear them read, are believed to
be assured of prosperity in this world and of salvation in
the next. To students of history, of ethnology, and of
comparative religion they present features of peculiar
interest, for they contain an elaborate sociology of the
This volume deals with the myths and legends of
India, which survive to us in the rich and abundant store-
louse of Sanskrit literature, and with the rise and growth
af Brahmanism, Buddhism, Jainism, &c. The reader is
introduced to the various sacred works of the Hindus,
including the ancient invocatory hymns of the four Vedas,
the later speculative and expository "Forest Books" in
which "the Absolute is grasped and proclaimed", and
those great epic poems the Rdmdyana, which is three
times longer than the Iliad, and the MdMbharata, which
is four times longer than the Rdmayana. In no other
country have the national poets given fuller and finer
expression to the beliefs and ideals and traditions of a
people, or achieved as a result wider and more enduring
fame. At the present day over two hundred million
Hindus are familiar in varying degrees with the legendary
themes and traditional beliefs which the ancient forest
sages and poets of India invested with much beautiful
symbolism, and used as mediums for speculative thought
and profound spiritual teachings. The sacred books of
India are to the Hindus what the Bible is to Christians.
Those who read them, or hear them read, are believed to
be assured of prosperity in this world and of salvation in
the next. To students of history, of ethnology, and of
comparative religion they present features of peculiar
interest, for they contain an elaborate sociology of the