History+of+Hindu+Mythology

Introduction:

The mythology of India could be said to describe every experience and emotion of man. The people of India possess a mythology reaching back over 3,500 years, and from the beginning they have written them down. India's recorded civilization is one of the longest in the course of the world history and its mythology spans the whole of that time and more. Furthermore the mythology is much different from that of most other cultures, and certainly from those of the West, by the fact that it is still part of the living culture, in all levels of society. The Indians have always tended retain their early beliefs and mold them-sometimes perhaps distort them- in such a way as to mirror new social conditions or to fit into a new philosophical scheme.

The Beginning: The Dravidian, were a mixture of the native populations of India and the dominating Proto-Dravidians, lived in almost every part of India and Ceylon. They entered India in mass amounts during the 4000B.C. to 2500 B.C. It is said that the Indian deities and cults, were of Mesopotamian origin and more exactly Iranian provenance.Many agricultural people, the Dravidians worshipped gods connected in one way or another with fertility. An example is the Harappa, which shows a god seated with legs crossed and wearing bull's horns(the bull being a universal symbol of male fertility). The cult of mothe r-goddesses, most plainly depicted on seals which show plants growing from the womb of a female deity.Towards 1700 B.C. a wave of conquest destroyed the Indus Valley civilization, and the new conquerors brought their religion which influenced the new Indian mythology. Aryans who quickly swifted victory over the Dravidians, they were connected less with the soil on which they lived than with the universal elements. Many Indo-Aryans became lords of India, and their gods became very important to society. Aryans also brought different class structures. They brought the warrior or ruling class, merchant class and the fourth class. This is the basic caste system which is still used in Indian society today. These castes systems were called: Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras and Pariah.

Creation of Man and of Death: Yama and his twin sister Yami were said to be the first man and woman. They were the children of Vivasvat, the rising sun, and Saranyu. They were the founders of the human race. Yama was the first mortal who died and went to were the gods lived. In Tibetan mythology Yami is the goddess of the underworld, just like Yama. Yama and Yami relate to the Greek god Hades, God of the underworld. Next Page: The Gods of India

__ Internal Websites __: __ External Websites: __
 * __http://benchmark5th.wikispaces.c____om/Greek+Gods__
 * http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hindu_mythology.html