Hindu Mythology and Religion

The mythology of India claims unique interest by virtue of its unparalleled length of life. Aryan mythology is comparatively recent. In mass of content and in value for mythology, however, these cannot compare with the Rigveda. Of still more importance is the fact that from the period of the Rigveda to the present day, a space of some thirty-five hundred years, we have a mythology which is in constant but organic development. Hindu mythology is a term used by modern scholarship for a large body of Indian literature that details the lives and times of legendary personalities, deities and divine incarnations on earth interspersed with often large sections of philosophical and ethical discourse.