MYTHOLOGY. Aryan races have a compli cated mythology. The Semitic races had El, strong ; Bel or Baal, lord ; Adonis, lord ; Shot, master ; Moloch, king ; Rani and Himmel', the exalted ; and other similar terms for their deities. Vedic Aryans, on the contrary, had Zeus, the sky ; Phoebus, Apollo, the sun ; Neptune, the sea ; Mars, war ; Venus, beauty ; etc.
Aryans of India are worshipping deified heroes, nou-Aryans have numerous fetish, and both races have many elemental deities. The Chinese, too, have many of the latter, and have also deified many of their illustrious men and women, and all Hindus and Chinese are essentially spirit worshippers. The Muhammadan, the Ali Ilahi sect, credit continuous incarnations from Ali, whom they believe to be deity. Hindui of the Saiva sect have Mount Kailasa as the paradise of Siva, and those of the Vaishnava sect have Vai kuntha, on Mount Meru, for their supreme god Vishnu. Swarga is the heaven of Indra, and the Vishnu Purana (ii. p. 214) enumerates twenty-one hells.
Hindu mythology accords precisely with the Greek in sending the souls of the dead to receive judgment, and, according to the sentence of their judge, they are thence conveyed to Naraka• or Swarga, each according to their evil or •good deeds. The Jaina sect also have their temples on Abu, Govardhan, and other hills, and Hindus and Jains make pilgrimages there.
But in modern Hindu mythology; the guardians of the world are eight deities, who now rank next 'below the Hindu triad. They are—Indra ; Agni, or fire ; Surya, the sun ; Chandra, the moon ; Pavana, the wind ; Yama, the god of justice and lord of the infernal regions ; Varuna, the god of water ; and Kuvera, the god of wealth. The eight regents of the winds of the Hindus corre spond with those on the temple of winds at Athens.
Amongst the Hindus, mythology is all-per vading. Their history, legends, science, litera ture, arts, customs, and conversation are replete with mythological allusions. A respectable know ledge of their pantheon is consequently an almost indispensable preparatory acquirement to the study and comprehension of nearly everything which relates to them. The subject of the
original home of the Aryans has been engaging the attention of the most eminent philologists ever since Bopp published his Comparative Grammar. Latham, Benfcy, Lazar Geiger, Fr.
Cuno, Peschel, Piische, Dr. Schrader, and Karl Penka all have discussed the hypothesis that their early home was in Northern Europe, and the last-named writer points to Scandinavia as their original dwelling-place. The mythology of India has done much to explain that of ancient Greece and Scandinavia. This will be seen by the fol lowing list of the principal of the Hindu deities of the present day, and their principal analogues. It is taken from the Pantheum Mysticum of Pomeg, which formerly belonged to Sir William Jones, and is referred to by him in his Disserta tion on the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India : Agri = Vulcan, fire ignis.
AM, the Greek Echidna.
Anna Perna = Anne Perenna, Aruna = Aurora.
Aswiculapa = Asculapius = Genii. Aswini-Kumara = Castor and Pollux. Ata-Devi or Atava-Devi = Diana.
Bala Rama = Bacchus as the inventor of the use of wine.
Bhawani = Venus.
Brahma = Saturnus.
Chandra = Lenin, the moon. Durga is the analogue of Juno.
Dyaus = Zeus, Dyaushpitar, Diespiter: Dyava-Prithivi, a dual god = Ouranos and Gaia. Ganesa = a male Minerva, Janus. Gopyah-Vklyah = Mus.
Hanumun, the monkey god, son of Pavane= Pan, Harit = the Chaiites.
Heracula, an Indian deity = Hercules. Indra = Jupiter, god of the firmament. Kali or Durga = Proserpine.
Kama = Cupid, Eros, god of love.
Kartikeya or Skanda = Mars, the god of war. Krishna = Apollo.
Kuvera = Plutus, god of riches. Lakshmi or Sri = Ceres.
Narada, god of music = Mercury. Pavane, = Pan.
Prithivi = Cybele, of earth.
Rama, god of wine = Bacchus, the Grecian Dionysius.
Remb'ha = Venus.
Sabala = Kerberos Sarameya = Ermeias.