![]() ![]() No attempt has been made to idealize them they are, what they profess to be, faithful representations of the designs of Hindu artists. Most of them have been copied from pictures drawn by the Hindus themselves, and which may be seen in the houses of the people. ![]() In order to render the work more interesting and instructive, a number of illustrations of the principal deities have been introduced. An honest effort has been made to give a reliable account of the things commonly believed by millions of our Hindu fellow-subjects. To magnify either the good or the evil is the work of the advocate-a work I, in this book, distinctly disclaim. Of what was fit for publication I have taken a proportionate amount, that this, together with what is worthy of commendation, may give a faithful picture. There was much that could not be reproduced. I have not selected those texts which describe the darker side only of the Hindu gods, nor have such been altogether suppressed. I have honestly striven to keep free from prejudice and theological bias and, wishing to let the sacred books speak for themselves, have refrained from commenting on the passages quoted, excepting where some explanation seemed necessary. It has been my endeavour to give a fair and impartial account of these deities, as far as possible in the words of the sacred books such an account as I should expect an honest-minded Hindu to give of God from a careful study of the Bible. In a few cases original extracts have been made but, generally speaking, my work has been to collect and arrange translations ready to hand. This work does not profess to supply new translations of the Hindu Scriptures, nor to give very much information that is not already scattered through many other books. For some years I have been collecting materials with the intention of arranging them in such a way that any one without much labour might gain a good general idea of the names, character, and relationship of the principal deities of Hinduism. ![]() Since then two classical dictionaries of India have been published, one in Madras and one in London but though useful books of reference, they do not meet the want that this book is intended to supply. ON reaching India, one of my first inquiries was for a full and trustworthy account of the mythology of the Hindus but though I read various works in which some information of the kind was to be found, I sought in vain for a complete and systematic work on this subject. This text is in the public domain because it was published prior to 1923. Scanned, proofed and formatted at by John Bruno Hare, May 2009. ![]()
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