-Akshay Ranganath
I keep looking through the top sellers list on Flipkart and almost always notived the book 'Myth = Mithya: A Handbook Of Hindu Mythology' by Devdutt Pattanaik. I'd seen his video on TED about 'East meets West' http://www.ted.com/talks/devdutt_pattanaik.html. I was impressed by his presentation as well as his depth of knowledge on Hindu traditions and mythology. So I lapped up the book and after reading it, I can say that it was one of the best reads in quite some time.
This book is a very quick exploration about Hinduism, the Gods, the gods (small case 'g'), the Asuras and the Rakshashas - and how they all inter-play. Very profound implications of the Hindu mythologies and deities is presented in a very easy to read fashion. Being a Hindu myself, I felt so illiterate about the religion when I read the book. Our dieties are everywhere, the mythologies are told to us regularly. Despite this, the real reason for something like the meaning of Ganesha's head or the symbolical meaning being told via Brahma's 4 heads or abundance of snake is something that had never intrigued me. Mr Pattanaik brings forth their meaning as well as the reason for significance of each aspect of such symbology.
I was very impressed with the presentation where the author brings differences between two forms of the same thing. For example, between the Devas and Asuras, Kali and Gowri, Krishna in Bhagvatha and Mahabharatha, Lakshmi and Alakshmi and finally, Shiva and Shankara. The stories of Hindu mythology are gripping by itself. When interspersed with the hidden meaning the philosophical significance comes forth.
The other aspect that I liked is the non-partisan presentation, if you can call it so. Most of the books of Hindus have a tilt towards Advaita or Dvita (monism or dualism). Mr Pattanaik presents both points of view and presents a case and its interpretation by Shaivites and Vaishnavites without getting embroiled on which form of Hinduism is better.
After I bought that book almost 4 of my colleagues were intrigued and they too told me it was an impressive book. Now it is my dad's turn :-) A very highly recommended book indeed!
I keep looking through the top sellers list on Flipkart and almost always notived the book 'Myth = Mithya: A Handbook Of Hindu Mythology' by Devdutt Pattanaik. I'd seen his video on TED about 'East meets West' http://www.ted.com/talks/devdutt_pattanaik.html. I was impressed by his presentation as well as his depth of knowledge on Hindu traditions and mythology. So I lapped up the book and after reading it, I can say that it was one of the best reads in quite some time.
This book is a very quick exploration about Hinduism, the Gods, the gods (small case 'g'), the Asuras and the Rakshashas - and how they all inter-play. Very profound implications of the Hindu mythologies and deities is presented in a very easy to read fashion. Being a Hindu myself, I felt so illiterate about the religion when I read the book. Our dieties are everywhere, the mythologies are told to us regularly. Despite this, the real reason for something like the meaning of Ganesha's head or the symbolical meaning being told via Brahma's 4 heads or abundance of snake is something that had never intrigued me. Mr Pattanaik brings forth their meaning as well as the reason for significance of each aspect of such symbology.
I was very impressed with the presentation where the author brings differences between two forms of the same thing. For example, between the Devas and Asuras, Kali and Gowri, Krishna in Bhagvatha and Mahabharatha, Lakshmi and Alakshmi and finally, Shiva and Shankara. The stories of Hindu mythology are gripping by itself. When interspersed with the hidden meaning the philosophical significance comes forth.
The other aspect that I liked is the non-partisan presentation, if you can call it so. Most of the books of Hindus have a tilt towards Advaita or Dvita (monism or dualism). Mr Pattanaik presents both points of view and presents a case and its interpretation by Shaivites and Vaishnavites without getting embroiled on which form of Hinduism is better.
After I bought that book almost 4 of my colleagues were intrigued and they too told me it was an impressive book. Now it is my dad's turn :-) A very highly recommended book indeed!
1 comment:
Post a Comment