A Handy Handbook. Review on Myth = Mithya - Devadutta Pattanaik

I picked up this book while I was working with a Korean scholar who was doing a PhD on mythology with a focus on comparative mythology. I learned many interesting things about mythology in general and Chinese mythology in particular through my work with her. Because of this awakening of interest, I wanted to know more about our own mythologies.

Sadly I was not able to find any leading writings on the subject by Indian authors and was always led back to Devadatta Patnaik. He seems to have authored many books on the subject and is projected - mostly by himself - as expert in the field.

I appreciate the difficulty in broaching the topic of Hindu mythology and I hold responsible the accursed blight of Orientalism that afflicts Hindus today.

First of all, Hindu and Hinduism are terms coined by foreigners. The phenomenon which encompasses rituals, rites, sacred texts, temples and other architectural constructs devoted to a huge diversity of deities became a shriveled and malevolent entity in the wake of the outsider's need to bring order into that Divine Chaos.

The most powerful outcome of my exposure to the scholar's work was my realisation that I have become a monotheist. And this is the case with most Hindus today - at least the "educated" ones and more particularly the ones who have received a "Western" education.

Yet, even those who have not been so infected manifest behaviours which are more in tune with monotheism than with the broadmindedness and breadth of vision of an evolving pantheism.

To return to Myth= Mithya, from the point of view of my needs it was unsatisfactory. It would be handy for tourists, perhaps.

I repeat that the fault lies not with Mr. Patnaik as with us "Hindus". Like the sari which, in its present form, is not at all an Indian dress but an abomination thrust on us by Missionary women who wanted to ensure that the "Native" women would look silly to their men, we have adopted a bulky and stifling Victorian garb and have forgotten the mature and noble journey upon which our ancestors had embarked.