INDIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
| MYTH AND LEGEND IN LITERATURE AND ART |
CLASSIC MYTH AND LEGEND CELTIC MYTH AND LEGEND TEUTONIC MYTH AND LEGEND ROMANCE AND LEGEND EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND INDIAN MYTH AND LEGEND MYTHS OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA MYTHS OF CRETE |
| THE GRESHAM PUBLISHING COMPANY LTD. |
AND LEGEND
by Warwick Goble
and numerous monochrome
Plates
66 CHANDOS STREET COVENT GARDEN LONDON
PREFACE
This volume deals with the myths and legends ofIndia, which survive to us in the rich and abundant storehouseof Sanskrit literature, and with the rise and growthof Brahmanism, Buddhism, Jainism, &c. The reader isintroduced to the various sacred works of the Hindus,including the ancient invocatory hymns of the four Vedas,the later speculative and expository “Forest Books” inwhich “the Absolute is grasped and proclaimed”, andthose great epic poems the Rámáyana, which is threetimes longer than the Iliad, and the Máhábharata, whichis four times longer than the Rámáyana. In no othercountry have the national poets given fuller and finerexpression to the beliefs and ideals and traditions of apeople, or achieved as a result wider and more enduringfame. At the present day over two hundred millionHindus are familiar in varying degrees with the legendarythemes and traditional beliefs which the ancient forestsages and poets of India invested with much beautifulsymbolis