HINDOO MYTHOLOGY. 3 
NON-CLASSIC ANTIQUITY. 
I. THE RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS OF INDIA. 
1. Myrnotoey anp Worsuie or tHe Hrinpoos. 
The study of Hindoo Mythology is surrounded with difficulties and 
obscurities. Many of the books from which we have to draw our information 
are still either unknown or almost inaccessible to European mythologians. 
The religious systems have also undergone considerable changes in the 
course of time, and while some have altogether disappeared, others have 
taken their place. All this has contributed to perplex many learned investi- 
gators, and to cause them to mistake one for another, or to confound them 
together. Yet, nevertheless, a close examination of the authorities accessi- 
ble to us will be sufficient to enable us to throw considerable light upon 
this very intricate subject. 
The chief authorities upon which the student of Hindoo mythology must 
rely are: the four Vedas, considered the holy books of the Hindoos; each 
of which is divided into two parts, the one containing prayers and the other 
hymns. Next in order are the Puranas, eighteen in number. They con- 
tain the theogony and cosmogony (doctrines of the origin of the gods and of 
the world) of the Hindoos. To these may be added the two great epic 
poems, Ramayana and Mahabharata, which celebrate heroic acts and battles. 
We learn from these holy books that the Hindoo religion was originally 
a kind of monotheism, for it taught that all was ruled by one great Supreme 
Being. But it was also at the same time a sort of pantheism, for the 
Supreme Being was considered to be a portion of the world, a species of 
world-soul pervading the universe. This monotheism soon degenerated into 
polytheism, the oldest form of which was Brahmaism ; it prevailed until 
Sivaism took its place, which again in its turn was supplanted by Vishnu- 
ism. These systems were named, either after the divinities recognised as 
the supreme ruler or after their respective founders. 
1. Hrmpoo Cosmogony. The Hindoos have various myths concerning the 
creation of the world. The simplest is the following. Brahm (the self- 
existing), who is also called Para rama (the infinite), the supreme and 
invisible god, created the waters at a time when darkness still covered the 
unfathomable abyss. He then deposited in the waters the seed of light, 
which soon developed into an egg brilliant with golden hues and sparkling 
like a bright flame, or as others say, with the combined splendor of a 
thousand suns. This egg he inhabited a full year (Menus in his book of 
laws says a thousand years) as Brahma, completely absorbed in self-contem- 
plation. At the expiration of that period he divided it into two equal 
parts, and then made out of the one half the concave canopy of heaven and 
the eight celestial spheres, and out of the other the earth and what is called 
by the myth the water house. These he peopled with gods, spirits, and 
men, and then became again Brahm. 
223 
