Hinduism For Dummies by Amrutur V. Srinivasan

Author:Amrutur V. Srinivasan
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2011-06-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Living with the Epics and Puranas

In This Chapter

Discovering the stories of the Ramayana and Mahabharata

Understanding the impact of the epics on the Hindu value system

Appreciating the relevance of the epics today

Getting a brief overview of the puranas

Throughout India and the world, almost all Hindus recognize and understand the implication of two words that non-Hindus may never have heard: Ramayana and Mahabharata. These are the names of two great Indian epics.

Ramayana, the earlier of the two epics, tells the story of Prince Rama (an avatar of Vishnu; refer to Chapter 8). In the epic, you find out about his 14-year exile, which began on the very day of his scheduled coronation; the abduction and subsequent rescue of his wife Sita; his defeat of her abductor, the demon king Ravana; and his eventual triumphant return.

The second epic, the Mahabharata, is a tale of jealousy and rivalry between royal cousins; it rivals any soap opera you’ve ever seen. This story involves banishment and secrecy and culminates in a terrible battle that must be won.

In this chapter, get ready to sample these stories of love, hatred, jealousy, greed, sex, violence, scandals, cheating, the hell of war and its aftermath, and political intrigue, but also extraordinary kindness, duty, courage, and decency. These tales encompass so much that Vyasa, the composer of the Mahabharata, said this:

What you read in this treatise may be found elsewhere

But what is not here won’t be found anywhere else.

After you read this chapter, which presents highlights from these epics, you can judge for yourself whether he was right.

While the epics are this chapter’s main focus, I also introduce compilations of religious and secular stories and wisdom called the puranas, which instruct and influence Hindu thinking and conduct much as the epics do.

Approaching the Epics

The epics belong to the class of literature known as smrti (remembered), which is different than shruti (revealed) literature such as the Vedas and Upanishads (see Chapters 10 and 11). Hindus refer to the epics by the Sanskrit word itihasas, which means “history of the people.”

The oral narrative literary tradition was as important in India as it was in all early civilizations. Even though writing existed in Hindu society, the spoken word had greater significance than the written word. In India, much of the sacred (shruti) and popular (smriti) literature remained in the oral tradition long after the invention of writing.

The Mahabharata and the Ramayana are composed in verse and, like epic poems in many other cultures, center around a grand theme; involve a cast of heroic characters; and convey the values, history, and mindset of the culture in which they were composed.

In the following sections, I explain important facts about these epics and discuss the ideas and events you find within them. For a summary of the stories themselves, head to the later sections “The Ramayana: A Clear Case of Good versus Evil” and “The Mahabharata: Good, Bad, Ugly, and Everything In-Between.”

The theme: Good versus evil

The subtle and not

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.