Book of Hindu Imagery, The

The Living Past

There probably is no other country in the world like India, where the history of the past three thousand years is revealed as clearly in the values and views of daily life. In this respect the historical explanations used in the West are of minor importance. In fact, all the heroes and the heroic deeds from the (distant) past have been transformed into mythical figures and stories. Their significance lies not so much in the political influence they have had, as in the eternal principles of human frailty, strength, beauty and destiny, which they represent. For a Hindu, truth is unchanging, and it is of little importance how it is expressed and whether the specific form of expression came about a long time ago or whether it is created today.

On the basis of this principle, it is not only the history of mankind which has been transformed into a mythology which can still be used as a lesson and inspiration in daily life today; divine beings have also survived the centuries, constantly changing face and content. Every successive cultural development of human thought and feelings was incorporated in religious experience without rejecting the ancient principles and the deities linked with these. They changed appearance and sometimes became subordinate to their successors, but a Hindu today can still appeal to a god who was also revered by his ancestors three thousand years ago.