The Great Tale of Hinduism is an inspiring, colourful and engaging story that brings Hindu culture and spirituality alive in a unique way for the modern reader to carefully examine and appreciate.
In this book authors have covered in a short space an extensive ground of Hindu teachings. IT provides a panoramic view of a Hindu approach to religion, philosophy, science politics, mythology, art, the role of women and the past and the future of humanity. The book brings Hinduism alive as a continual development of wonder and creativity that renews itself in every generation, honoring the Divine in every name, form, facet and manifestation.
Foreword of this book is written by Vedacharya Padma Bhushan Shree David Frawley.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Frawley)
Namaste (Introduction).
Muriel Rukeyser, an American poetess and writer said “the universe is made up of stories, not of atoms”. Muriel specifically talks about human society. Which is woven on the skeleton of stories, folklores and popular tales about their genesis and reason of existence. Every society’s attitude, their moral and general behaviour is derived from the stories they believe in. Hence this book ‘The Great Tale of Hinduism’ developed on the premise of popular “tales” of Hinduism which distinguish classic Indian society from others.
All nine chapters of this book deal with different ideas which are the basis of core Indian philosophy. To exemplify these involved ideas, we have taken support of classic tales of ‘Hindu History’. Tales about the human traits of gods and godly traits of some humans. Popular stories which show that not even gods are always correct and even they will not be spared of the law of karma when they are wrong. Classic example of Vishnu is used to corroborate this point where Vishnu in his Krishna avatar shot from behind of a tree by Jara hunter (Bali of his previous birth) for the same act he had done in Ram avatar with Bali. Here are tales which show how a mere mortal by his courage and determination can outgrow his human desires and attain a position reserved for gods.
A Tryst with Hinduism
This chapter revolves around the core Hindu idea that reality doesn’t lie on extremes. All truths are subjective hence always lies in the centre or in grey areas. This book rejects the demarcation of truth and false on the basis of white and black. Because every white is a brighter shade of grey and every black is a darker shade of grey. As the most gruesome villain of ‘Hindu history’ Ravana is praised for some of his good deeds and even Ram, the most favourite Hindu god is questioned by authoritative religious texts for some of his decisions. Which demonstrates that no one is absolutely good or bad. Every character is an interplay of Triguna and the most dominating guna defines a character in terms of good or bad.
The Real Nature of Myths
The second chapter talks about the significance of religious texts and their stories which has been side-lined by calling them mythology. But these are the tales along which our society and our basic character is intertwined. Keeping our progeny aloof of what actually they are made up of is a big injustice to them. These religious texts actually tell us how our society has evolved through various changes and what made Hindu religion survive through this long stream of time.
The Vedic Harappan
The third chapter “The Vedic Harappan” tries to fill the gap between antedated Vedic-kal and ancient history. There are myriads of written work of great scholars which try to fix Vedic origin way before the Indus Valley Civilization and not as it is explained through Aryan Invasion Theory. But there is dire need to corroborate the Vedic behaviour of Indus Valley people, in case they were part of continued Vedic Culture. Hence with the support of scholarly work done in the past we tried to prove our point and its significance for present society.
The Beginning of Game of Thrones
Fourth chapter “Beginning of Game of Thrones” is an extension of the previous chapter which bridges the gap between primitive Vedic society and the history of present India. Here we describe the inception point of Human society and its evolution along with frequent changes taking place in its nascent stage. The explanation also includes the role of Vedas in moulding the Hindu society and the corruption came with time into the core teaching and how we dealt with it. Sometimes we fail, sometimes we succeed but we never succumbed to it.
The Era of Empowered Women
Chapter number five is dedicated to the other half of human society, the half neglected from centuries. A rational analysis of the reason for the present condition of women, which is based on the scientific theories of human evolution and Social Dominance Theory. How much Vedas and other religious text are responsible for the social discrimination of woman is also discussed here. Some tales and references from Vedas are given to assert the point that Vedas endorse equality among all living creatures and confer equal position to women but it was counter forced by the inertia of patriarchal ascendancy.
When The Ancient Wonders of Bharatvarsha were Carved
Chapter six talks about the great structural acumen of early Indian society. Examples of structures like Ajanta and Ellora caves are given, which took faith of generations and efforts of centuries to take its present form. These structures are evidence of the power of spiritually immersed human brains, when it strives to transcend its human limitations, when it thinks beyond survival.
The Pioneer of Vig-Gyana
Authors have tried to claim seeds of many scientific discoveries that can be attributed to Indians. Yes, it would be imprudent to claim the material manifestation of every great discovery on some Indian name. But at the same time we have to give credit to Indian minds who thought and wrote these ideas thousands of years ago. When half of the world was busy in securing their living. Some convincing arguments and valid references are produced to make our readers believe in the author's point and to not look lopsided while advocating the rich scientific heritage of India.
Fortune Favours the Brave
Eighth chapter starts with a mention of Alexander and the story of the Gordian knot of his life and then shifts to discuss Indian style of administration. Various Indian Emperors Ashoka vs Janaka and Chandragupta vs Dasharatha and their style of administration with the commonalities in them on different aspects. In this chapter, the reader will learn how rich ancient India was politically and about the different experiments India’s democracy has evolved through.
Conclusion
Ninth chapter has the conclusion of every idea discussed extensively in this book. A reference tale from ‘Yog-Vashishth Maharamayan’ is taken to describe the real nature of Hindu Dharma. Here every being is allowed to be elevated to the status of divine and even Gods are relegated to lower status. Misunderstanding between religion and culture is held responsible for tension in the present society and therefore an explanation of both is also given here for better differentiation.
Hinduism is the most talked about word of recent time but unfortunately Hindus are the people who are either not adequately informed or mis-informed about their culture. Authors do not claim this book to be a guide book for Hinduism but this book will definitely raise interest of people to know more about Hinduism from the classic and authentic sources.
