THE ORIGINS OF INDIAN MYTHOLOGY M ore than 2,000 years ago a sage the Tamasa River in India when named Valmiki was walking along he came upon a pair of birds As the male bird sang to the female Valmiki stopped to take in the heartwarming moment But it was interrupted when an arrow burst through the air The weapon struck the male bird’s chest In an instant he fell to the ground The female was heartbroken as her mate lay dying before her Valmiki turned to see a hunter approaching with his bow in hand He was outraged and cursed the hunter Hindus continue to honor Valmiki today 5
You will find no rest for the long years of Eternity For you killed a bird in love and unsuspecting Valmiki could not forget the injustice of the bird’s death It inspired him to write an epic poem called the Ramayana This long poem tells the story of a prince called Rama Rama battles to rescue his wife Sita from an evil king called Ravana The poem teaches important values and lessons In his poem Valmiki also included descriptions of the gods and beliefs of the Hindu religion Hinduism one of the oldest religions of the world can be traced as far back as 2500 BCE or perhaps even further Its stories began in ancient Indian texts called the Vedas Valmiki drew upon these ancient stories and added to them Today Valmiki is known as a great poet of Indian literature The stories he told in the Ramayana are a part of Indian mythology a collection of myths or stories that are important to Indian culture Like all myths the 6
stories in the Ramayana include magical or supernatural characters and events They contain truths about life that more realistic-sounding stories cannot express The stories are important to Hindus around the world ONE SOUL MANY LIFETIMES In Hindu belief all living things experience a cycle of birth death and rebirth Hindus believe that all beings live many times through reincarnation After death each soul is reincarnated or reborn into a new body Over the course of a lifetime if a soul does good things that soul has good karma Souls with good karma will be rewarded when they are born into their next life However if a soul has done bad things bad THE VAITARANI Indian mythology states that when people die they cross the Vaitarani This river separates the living from the dead On the other side is a place called Pitriloka pronounced pih-trih-LOE kuh There people can meet their ancestors Souls remain in Pitriloka until they are reborn into their next lifetimes Each soul will cross the Vaitarani many times 7
