The Hindu
mythology consists of numerous tales of gods, the devas and the
asuras. Representing the mythology are the two great epics of the
Hindus - the Mahabharata and Ramayana.
Mahabharata is a depiction of struggle between cousins for power
and material. It grew out of the legends -
 the
Kauravas and the Pandavas. Except for Lord Krishna, characters of
the Mahabharata are characters of flesh and blood, with the virtues
and crimes of living legends in the historic world. The importance
of the epic lies unchallenged due to the close association of the
immortal (Lord Krishna) and the human (Kauravas and the Pandavas),
which is subtly reflected through the revelations by Lord Krishna in
the form of Bhagwad Gita.
The Ramayana was composed by Valmiki in the fourth century BC. Like
the Mahabharata, Ramayana is a growth of centuries, but the main
story is more distinctly the creation of one mind. The Ramayana grew
out of the recollections of the golden age of the Kosalas and the
Videhas and the characters of the Ramayana are more often the ideals
of manly devotion to truth, and of womanly faithfulness and love in
domestic life. Without rivalling the heroic grandeur of the
Mahabharata, the Ramayana is immeasurably superior in its
delineation of those softer and perhaps deeper emotions, which enter
into our everyday life and hold the world together. And these
descriptions, essentially of Hindu life, are yet so true to nature
that they apply to all races and nations.
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