Encyclopaedia of Hindu Pantheon

The Gods and Goddesses of the Hindu pantheon are an expression of the Hindu psyche continuing over centuries and are an intrinsic part of the rituals and religious practices. These divinities and their mortal expressions and divine incarnations are an indivisible part of Hindu culture. An understanding of the diversity of the Hindu pantheon discloses the deep philosophical roots behind these manifestations, which represent, as it were, the fundamental principles of the Cosmos. This book is an informed journey through ages starting with the Vedic times revealing the world of Vedic, Puranic and Popular Gods and Goddesses, on a scale perhaps never before attempted. The multiple forms of divinity do not only include the benign but the evil and the demonic as well; as these are essential aspects of the totality of the Cosmos. The book does not fail in providing this necessary information for the understanding of the Hindu mythology but goes further by providing details regarding the Vedic Priests, Sages and Seers, Sacred Plants, and Vehicles of the Gods. A complete volume is devoted to the multifaceted feminine aspect of the divine symbolized as the Mother Goddesses, alternatively nurturant and destructive, providing the reader a glimpse into a highly developed cosmological system intricately woven and designed to encompass all possible range of experience of the human mind.