Aryan Mythology

The first edition of this book appeared in 1870 and was established immediately as one of the classical works on Comparative Mythology. It received appreciation and criticism in equal measures due to the very controversial nature of the conclusions drawn that were labeled as “momentous”. However great scholars like Grimm, Max Müller, Breal, Kuhn, Preller, Welcker, H. H. Wilson, Cornewall Lewis, Grote and Thirlwall fully supported all the important findings of this work which came to be recognised as a masterpiece on Aryan Mythology. The author argues that the common stock of philosophical material, which supplements the evidence of language for the ultimate affinity of all the Aryan nations, has been molded into an infinite variety of shapes by the writers of Greek and Latin, of Persian and Englishmen, of the ancient and modern Hindus, of Germans and Norwegians, Icelanders, Danes, Frenchmen and Spaniards. On this common foundation the epic poets of these scattered and long-separated children of one primitive family have raised their magnificent fabrics. From this common source they have derived even the most subtle distinctions of feature and character for their portraits of the actors in the great drama which in some one or more of its many scenes is the theme of all Aryan national poetry.
The author further argues that the myths of the Aryan world have asserted that the epic poems of the Aryan nations are simply different versions of one and the same story, and that this story has its origin in the phenomena of the natural world, and the course of the day and the year. He finds cumulative proof of the fact that the mythology of the Vedic and Homeric poets contains the germs, and in most instances more than the germs, of almost all the stories of Teutonic, Scandinavian in and Celtic folklore. The work now being made available again after 120 years of its first publication will surely be a source of delight not only for the serious scholars but also for the general readers interested in the fascinating world of Mythology.