Hindu mythology is a
maligned phrase. Hinduism purists who believe that the events described in the
sacred texts happened exactly as stated have a problem with these events being
described as mythological. Their objection is understandable. The word mythological
today has acquired a sense of falsehood. But after due consideration, I have
decided to persist with the term Hindu mythology. Therefore, a clarification is
in order.
OxfordDictionaries.com
offers the following independent definition for mythology: A set of stories or
beliefs about a particular person, institution, or situation, especially when
exaggerated or fictitious. [1]
Dictionary.com offers a similar definition: A set of stories, traditions, or beliefs
associated with a
particular group or
the history of
an event, arising
naturally or deliberately
fostered. [2]
My
sense of mythology fits in with these definitions. I do not believe that the
events described in the texts under consideration occurred as stated. I believe
that the described events are exaggerated or fictitious or deliberately
fostered versions of the actual ones. However, I prefer to use the word dramatized
to those given in the dictionary definitions. The dramatization of actual
events has a specific purpose. The idea is to entrench the ethos underlying
those events into the collective psyche of the society.
Let
me illustrate this with an example. Way back in school when studying the world
history I was taught about Cleopatra. I
do not remember anything from those lessons.
But I have a vivid recollection of the Hollywood film Cleopatra starring
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, which obviously dramatized events. Several
scenes from the movie are impressed in my memory. In one of them Cleopatra
unleashes a tirade on Julius Caesar when his soldiers have burnt the library of
Alexandria. She tells Caesar that his soldiers could have raped, murdered,
pillaged all they wanted but they had no right to destroy a library that was
the store house of the world’s knowledge. [4] It is historically recorded that
the library did burn down. But Caesar’s soldiers were responsible for burning
at best a part of the library, and even that is not certain. [3] And it can
never be known if Cleopatra did admonish Caesar. That is why it is dangerous to
take mythology for history. You can get the details wrong. But the dramatized
version does provide insights. Even at that time knowledge was valued and
efforts were made to preserve it. And it helps you to remember the broad
superstructure that would be true to a degree.
Therefore
with apologies to the purists, I will move ahead.
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