Hindu mythology

Hindu Mythology

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Hindu mythology

Hindu mythology is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism

Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature

Sanskrit literature

Indian literature in Sanskrit begins with the Vedas, and continues with the Sanskrit Epics of Iron Age India; the golden age of Classical Sanskrit literature dates to late Antiquity ....
, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Indian mythology

Indian mythology

Indian mythology may refer to:*Indian epic poetry*Vedic mythology*Hindu mythology*Buddhist mythology*Native American mythology...
. Hindus regard these narratives are sacred and that they communicate profound truths.The label mythology is regarded as discriminatory,insulting and offensive to the religion by Hindus because "mythology" means "false".

Sources
The four Vedas, notably the hymns of the Rigveda

Rigveda

The Rigveda is an ancient Indian subcontinent sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the Rigvedic deities . It is counted among the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas....
, contain allusions to many mythological themes (see Rigvedic deities

Rigvedic deities

There are 1028 hymns in the Rigveda, most of them dedicated to specific deity.Indra, a heroic god, slayer of Vrtra and destroyer of the Vala, liberator of the cows and the rivers; Agni the sacrificial fire and messenger of the gods; and Soma the ritual drink dedicated to Indra are the most prominent deities....
, Rigvedic rivers

Rigvedic rivers

Rivers play a prominent part in the hymns of the Rigveda, and consequently in early Historical Vedic religion....
).

In the period of Classical Sanskrit, much mythological material is preserved in the Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata

Mahabharata

The is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetrys of History of India, the other being the '. The epic is part of the Hindu itihasa , and forms an important part of Hindu mythology....
.

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Sources

The four Vedas, notably the hymns of the Rigveda

Rigveda

Rigvedic deities

Rigvedic rivers

Mahabharata

The is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetrys of History of India, the other being the '. The epic is part of the Hindu itihasa , and forms an important part of Hindu mythology....
. Besides mythology proper, the voluminous epics also provide a plethora of information about ancient Indian society, philosophy, culture, religion and ways of life.

The Puranas deal with stories that are "mythologically" older than the epics (Purana is Sanskrit for "ancient"). The date of the Puranic texts as preserved however mostly post-dates the epics, dating to the Early Middle Ages.

The epics themselves are set in different Yugas (epochs) or periods of time in Hindu mythology. The Ramayana, written by the poet Valmiki, describes the life and times of Lord Rama (the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu) and occurs in the treta yuga, while the Mahabharatha that describes the life and times of the Pandavas, occurs in the Dwapara yuga, a period associated with Lord Krishna (the eighth avatar of Lord Vishnu).

The Bhagavatham (also referred to as Srimad Bhagavatham or Bhagavatha Purana) is probably the most read and popular of the puranas. It chronicles the story of the god Vishnu and his incarnations (avataars) on earth.

Vedic mythology

The roots of mythology that evolved from classical Hinduism

Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
come from the times of the Vedic civilization

Vedic period

The Vedic Period is the period during which the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of Indo-Iranians, were being composed. Scholars place the Vedic period in the 2nd millennium BCE and 1st millennium BCE millennia BCE continuing up to the 6th century BCE based on literary evidence....
, from the ancient Vedic religion

Historical Vedic religion

The religion of the Vedic period is the historical predecessor of Hinduism. Its liturgy is reflected in the Mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit....
.

The characters, theology, philosophy and stories that make up ancient Vedic myths are indelibly linked with Hindu beliefs. The Vedas are said to be four in number, namely RigVeda, YajurVeda, SamaVeda, and the AtharvaVeda. Some of these texts mention mythological concepts and machines very much similar to modern day scientific theories and machines.

Epics

The two great Hindu Epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata
Mahabharata

The is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetrys of History of India, the other being the '. The epic is part of the Hindu itihasa , and forms an important part of Hindu mythology....
tell the story of two specific incarnations of Vishnu (Rama

RAMA

Rama is a first-person adventure game developed and published by Sierra Entertainment in 1996. The game is based on Arthur C. Clarke's books Rendezvous with Rama and Rama II and supports both DOS and Microsoft Windows 95....
and Krishna

Krishna

Krishna is a deity worshiped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of different perspectives. While many Vaishnava groups recognize him as an avatar of Vishnu, other traditions within Krishnaism consider Krishna to be svayam bhagavan, or the supreme being....
). These two works are known as Itihasa. The epics Mahabharata and Ramayana serve as both religious

Religion

A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of myth, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendence quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth....
scriptures and a rich source of philosophy and morality for a Hindu. The epics are divided into chapters and contain various short stories and moral situations, where the character takes a certain course of action in accordance with Hindu laws and codes of righteousness. The most famous of these chapters is the Bhagavad Gita

Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is an important Sanskrit Hindu scripture. It is revered as a sacred scripture of Hinduism, and considered as one of the most important religious classics of the world....
(Sanskrit: The Lord's Song) in the Mahabharata, in which Lord Krishna explains the concepts of duty and righteousness to the hero Arjuna before the climactic battle. These stories are deeply embedded in Hindu philosophy

Hindu philosophy

Hindu philosophy is divided into six Sanskrit nastika schools of thought, or darshanas :#Sankhya, a strongly dualist theoretical exposition of mind and matter....
and serve as parable

Parable

A parable is a brief, succinct story, in prose or Verse , that illustrates a moral or religious lesson. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human characters....
s and sources of devotion for Hindus. The Mahabharata is the world's longest epic in verse, running to more than 30,000 lines.

Cosmogony

Hinduism presents a number of accounts pertaining to cosmology

Religious cosmology

Religious cosmologies are ways of explaining the history and evolution of the universe based, at least in part, on the acceptance of principles that cannot be justified by accepted scientific arguments ....
, and several explanations have been given as regards the origin of the universe. The most popular belief is that the universe emerged from Hiranyagarbha

Hiranyagarbha

Hiranyagarbha is the source of the creation of the Universe or the manifested cosmos in Indian philosophy , it finds mention in one hymn of the Rigveda , known as the Hiranyagarbha sukta and presents an important glimpse of the emerging monism, or even monotheism, in the later Vedic period, along with the Nasadiya sukta suggesting a...
, meaning the golden womb. Hiranyagarbha floated around in water in the emptiness and the darkness of non-existence. Ultimately, this golden egg split and the cosmos

Cosmos

In its most general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from a Greek language term ??s??? meaning "order, orderly arrangement, ornaments," and is the antithetical concept of chaos....
was created. Swarga

Svarga

In Hinduism, Svarga is set of heavenly worlds located on and above Mt. Meru. It is a Heaven where the righteous live in a paradise before their next reincarnation....
emerged from the golden upper part of the Hiranyagarbha, whereas Prithvi

Prithvi

Prithvi is the Hinduism earth and mother goddess. According to one tradition, she is the personification of the Earth, and to another its Mother, being Prithivi Tattwa, the essence of the element earth....
came out from the silver coloured lower half part.

The wars

The weapons

Apart from the traditional human weapons like swords, daggers, spears, clubs, shields, bows, arrows and maces, and the weapons used by the Gods (such as Indra's thunderbolt Vajra
Vajra

Vajra is a Sanskrit word meaning both thunderbolt and diamond. As a material device, the vajra is a short metal weapon that has the symbolic nature of a diamond and that of the thunderbolt ....
yudha), the texts mention the utilization of various divine weapons by various heroes, each associated with a certain God or deity. These weapons are most often gifted to semi-divine beings, human beings or the rakshasa

Rakshasa

A rakshasa is a demon or unrighteous spiritual being in Hinduism and Buddhism mythology. Rakshasas are also called man-eaters or cannibals. A female rakshasa is called a rakshasi, and a female rakshasa in human form is a manushya-rakshasi....
s by the Gods, sometimes as a result of penance.

There are several weapons which were believed to be used by the Gods of the Hindu mythology, some of which are Agneyastra, Brahmastra

Brahmastra

In ancient Sanskrit mythology, a Brahmastra is a weapon created by Brahma. It is sometimes known as the Brahma Astra . As described in a number of the Puranas, it is considered the deadliest weapon....
, Chakram

Chakram

The chakram , sometimes called a war quoit, is a throwing weapon that was used by the ancient hindus, Sikh people; it is a flat metal disc with a sharp outer edge from 5 to 12 inches in diameter....
, Garudastra, Kaumodaki

Kaumodaki

The Kaumodaki is the divine mace weapon of Vishnu. It is believed to be invincible and without parallel....
, Narayanastra

Narayanastra

The Narayanastra is the personal missile weapon of Vishnu in his Narayana form, this astra lets loose a powerful tirade of millions of deadly missiles simultaneously....
, Pashupata

Pashupata

The Pashupatastra , in Hindu mythology, is the irresistible and most destructive personal weapon of Shiva discharged by the mind, the eyes, words, or a bow....
, Shiva Dhanush

Shiva Dhanush

Shiva Dhanush in Hindu mythology, was the divine bow of Lord Shiva gifted to King Janaka by Sage Parashurama for safe-keeping while the sage performed penances....
, Sudarshana Chakra

Sudarshana Chakra

Sudarshana Chakra is a spinning disc like weapon with very sharp edge, which serves as an emblem of the Hindu God Vishnu. Lord Vishnu, also called Narayana, is portrayed with four hands, holding a Shankha , the Sudarshana, a Gada and a Padma ....
, Trishul, Vaishnavastra

Vaishnavastra

In Hinduism, the Vaishnavastra is the personal missile weapon of the God Vishnu. Once fired it cannot be thwarted by any means, except by the will of Vishnu himself....
, Varunastra

Varunastra

The Varunastra is the water weapon , incepted by God Varuna, master of the oceans, rivers, and lakes. This weapon is believed to assume any weapon's shape, just like water....
, and Vayavastra.

Some of these weapons are explicitly classified ( for example, the Shiva Dhanush is a bow, the Sudharshan Chakra is a discus and the Trishul is a trident), but many other weapons appear to be weapons specially blessed by the Gods. For example, the Brahmastra, Agneyastra (Sanskrit: Astra = divine weapon, especially, one thrown at an opponent) and the other astras appear to be single use weapons requiring an intricate knowledge of use, often depicted in art, literature and adapted filmography as divinely blessed arrows.

Sometimes the astra is descriptive of the function, or of the force of nature which it invokes. The Mahabharata cites instances when the Nagastra (Sanskrit: Nag=snake) was used, and thousands of snakes came pouring down from the skies on unsuspecting enemies. Similarly, the Agneyastra (Agni

Agni

Agni is a Hindu and Rigvedic deities. The word agni is Sanskrit for "fire" , cognate with Latin ignis , Russian ????? , Polish "ogien," Lithuanian - ugnis - all with the meaning 'fire' -, with the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root being h1?gni-....
) is used for setting the enemy ablaze, as the Varunastra (Varuna

Varuna

In Historical Vedic religion, Varuna or Waruna is a god of the sky, of waters and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law and of the underworld....
) is used for extinguishing flames, or for invoking floods. Some weapons like the Brahmastra can only be used (lethally) against a single individual.

Apart from the astras, other instances of divine or mythological weaponry include armor (Kavacha

Karna

Karna is one of the central characters of the Mahabharata. He was born to Kunti, much before her marriage with Pandu. He is described a close friend of Duryodhana....
), crowns and helmets, staffs and jewellery (Kundala

Karna

Karna is one of the central characters of the Mahabharata. He was born to Kunti, much before her marriage with Pandu. He is described a close friend of Duryodhana....
).

The Deluge

The story of a great flood is mentioned in ancient Hindu texts, particularly the Satapatha Brahmana. It is compared to the accounts of the Deluge found in several religions and cultures. Manu

Manu (Hinduism)

In Hindu traditions, Manu is a title accorded to the First man or woman, and also the very first king to rule this earth, who saved mankind from the universal flood....
was informed of the impending flood and was protected by the Matsya

Matsya

Matsya was the first Avatar of Vishnu in Hindu mythology.According to the Matsya Purana, the king of pre-ancient Dravida and a devotee of Lord Vishnu, Satyavrata who later becomes known as Manu was washing his hands in a river when a little fish swam into his hands and pleaded with him to save its life....
Avatara of Lord Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu , , is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of panchadeva, and his supreme status is declared in the Hindu sacred texts like Yajurveda, the Rigveda and the Bhagavad Gita....
, who had manifested himself in this form to rid the world of morally depraved human beings and protect the pious, as also all animals and plants.

After the flood the Lord inspires the Manusmriti, largely based upon the Vedas

Vedas

The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in History of India. They form the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest Hindu scripture of Hinduism....
, which details the moral code of conduct, of living and the division of society according to the caste system.

The peoples of the epics

Hindu mythology is not only about Gods and men, but classifies a host of different kinds of celestial, ethereal and earthly beings.

Sapta Rishis

Lord Brahma

Brahma

Brahma is the Hinduism god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. He is not to be confused with the Supreme Cosmic Spirit in Hindu Vedanta philosophy known as Brahman....
, out of his thought, creates seven sages, or Sapta Rishis, to help him in his act of creation. Sapta Rishis (sapta means seven and rishis mean sages in Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
). They are Bhrigu, Angira, Atri
Atri

Attri and Atri is the one and same thingIn Hinduism, Attri is a legendary bard and scholar, and a son of Brahma , and one of the Saptarishis in the seventh, i.e the present Manvantara .....
, Gautama, Kashyapa
Kashyapa

Kashyapa was an ancient sage , who was one of the Saptarshi in the present Manvantara; with others being Atri, Vashishtha, Vishvamitra, Gautama, Jamadagni, Bharadvaja ...
, Vashishta, and Agastya
Agastya

Agastya was a Historical Vedic religion sage or rishi. Agastya and his clan are also credited to have "authored" many mantras of the Rig Veda, the earliest and most revered Hindu scripture, in the sense of first having the mantras revealed in his mind by the Supreme Brahman....
. The other meaning of Saptarishis is constellation

Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
of Great Bear

Great Bear

The term Great Bear can refer to:* Ursa Major, the constellation, whose name is the Latin for "Great Bear".* Great Bear Lake, the largest lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada and the fourth largest in North America....
(Ursa Major

Ursa Major

Ursa Major is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Its name means the Great Bear in Latin. It is dominated by the widely recognized asterism known as the Big Dipper or Plough, which is a useful pointer toward north, and which has mythological significance in numerous world cultures....
).

Pitrs

The Pitrs, or fathers, were the first humans. Pitrs comes from the word Pita(In Hindi and Sanskrit) or Father. So it is about paternity and paternal relations.

Worlds

Hindu mythology defines fourteen worlds (not to be confused with planets) - seven higher worlds (heavens) and seven lower ones (hells). (The earth is considered the lowest of the seven higher worlds.) All the worlds except the earth are used as temporary places of stay as follows: upon one's death on earth, the god of death (officially called 'Yama Dharma Raajaa' - Yama, the lord of justice) tallies the person's good/bad deeds while on earth and decides if the soul goes to heaven and/or hell, for how long, and in what capacity. Some versions of the mythology state that good and bad deeds neutralize each other and the soul therefore spends time in either a heaven or a hell, but not both, whereas according to another school of thought, the good and bad deeds don't cancel out each other. In either case, the soul acquires a body as appropriate to the worlds it enters. At the end of the soul's time in those worlds, it returns to the earth (is reborn as a life form on the earth). It is considered that only from the earth, and only after a human life, can the soul reach supreme salvation, the state free from the cycle of birth and death and the place beyond the fourteen worlds where the eternal god lives.

Deities

There are many deities in Hinduism. At the top are the trimurti

Trimurti

The Trimurti is a concept in Hinduism "in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified by the forms of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the maintainer or preserver, and Shiva the destroyer or transformer." These three deities have been called "the Hindu triad" or the "Great Trinity"....
: Shiva

Shiva

Vishnu

Brahma

Brahma is the Hinduism god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. He is not to be confused with the Supreme Cosmic Spirit in Hindu Vedanta philosophy known as Brahman....
(the creator), and their wives (goddesses in their own right): Shakti

Shakti

Shakti, from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that move through the entire universe....
(also known as Paarvathi, Ambicaa) the goddess of courage and power, Lakshmi

Lakshmi

Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, prosperity, purity, and generosity; and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. Representations of Lakshmi are found also in Jainism and Buddhist monuments, with the earliest archeological representation found in Buddhist monuments....
the goddess of all forms of wealth, and Saraswati

Saraswati

Hindus believe that Saraswati is the Devi of knowledge, music and the arts. Saraswati has been identified with the Vedic period Saraswati River....
the goddess of learning. The children of the Trimurti are also deva

Deva (Hinduism)

Deva is the Sanskrit word for "god, deity". It can be variously interpreted as a god, spirit, demi-god, Celestial, deity or any supernatural being of high excellence....
s, such as Ganesha

Ganesha

Ganesha , also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh and also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most widely worshipped Hindu deities in the Hinduism Pantheon ....
and Skanda

Skanda

Skanda is the name of deity popular amongst Hindus and Buddhists.* Murugan, a Hindu deity also known as Kartikeya and Murugan* Skanda , a popular Deva and/or Bodhisattva popular in Chinese Buddhism...
or Kartika.

Brahma is considered the ruler of the highest of the heavens (the world called Sathya), so in one sense, Brahma is not beyond the fourteen worlds as Shiva and Vishnu are.

Some gods are associated with specific elements or functions: Indra

Indra

Indra is the god of War and Weather, also the King of the gods or Deva and Lord of Heaven or Swarga in Hinduism. Mentioned first as the chief deity in the sacred Hindu text of Rig Veda, Indra is bestowed with a heroic and almost brash and amorous character....
(the god of thunder and lightning; he also rules the world of Swarga), Varuna

Varuna

In Historical Vedic religion, Varuna or Waruna is a god of the sky, of waters and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law and of the underworld....
(the god of the oceans), Agni

Agni

Kubera

Kubera is the king of the Yakshas and the lord of wealth in Hindu mythology. He is also known as Dhanapati, the lord of riches. He is one of the Guardians of the directions , representing the Uttara-disha, meaning north of 4 directions in Sanskrit....
(the treasurer of the gods), Surya

Surya

In Hinduism, Surya is the chief solar deity, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives Aditi, of Indra, or of Dyaus Pitar . The term "Surya" also refers to the Sun, in general....
(the sun god), Vayu

Vayu

In Hinduism Vayu is a primary deity, the father of Bhima and the spiritual father of Lord Hanuman. He is also known as Vata ???, Pavana ??? , or Prana....
(the god of wind), and Soma

Soma

Soma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the later Vedic civilization and Greater Iran cultures....
(the moon god).

Swarga also has a set of famous heavenly dancers: Urvasi

Urvasi

Urvashi is an Apsaras in Hindu mythology. She was a celestial maiden in Indra's court and was considered the most beautiful of all the Apsarases....
, Menaka

Menaka

In Hindu mythology, Menaka is considered one of the most beautiful of the heavenly Apsaras.She was sent by Indra, the king of the Deva , to break the severe penance undertaken by Vishwamitra....
, Rambha, and Tilottama

Tilottama

Tilottama is an Apsara. "Til" is the Sanskrit word for sesame seed and "uttama" means better or higher. Tilottama therefore means the being whose smallest particle is the finest or one who is composed of the finest and highest qualities....
(all female), whose job is to entertain the heavenly court, and upon orders from the heavenly kings, to distract people on the earth from accumulating too much good deeds so as to become a threat to the heavenly kings.

Other notable inhabitants of the heavens include the celestial sages

Rishi

A rishi denotes a poet-sage through whom the Vedic hymns flowed, credited also as divine scribes. According to post-Vedic tradition the rishi is a "seer" or "shaman" to whom the Vedas were "originally revealed" through states of higher consciousness....
, and Narada

Narada

Narada or Narada Muni is a divine sage from the Hindu tradition, who plays a prominent role in a number of the Puranic texts, especially in the Bhagavata Purana, and in the Ramayana....
the messenger of the gods.

Yama (the god of death and justice) is said to live in Kailash along with his master Shiva

Shiva

Shiva: is a major Hinduism god, and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the supreme God. In the Smarta tradition, he is one of panchadeva....
. He rules the lower world of Naraka with a band of emissaries called the Yama doota (messengers of Yama), who bring the souls of dead persons to Yama for evaluation. Chitragupta

Chitragupta

Chitragupta is a Hindu god assigned with the task of keeping complete records of actions of human beings on the earth, and upon their death, deciding as regards sending them to the Svarga or the Naraka, depending on their actions on the earth....
is one of those lower level celestial beings who functions as the karmic accountant of all the actions of the human beings on earth.

Incarnations

Several gods are believed to have had incarnations (avatars). As the protector of life, one of the duties of Vishnu is to appear on the earth whenever a firm hand is required to set things right. The epic Bhagavatham is the chronology of Vishnu's ten major incarnations (there are in total twenty six incarnations): Matsya

Matsya

Kurma

In Hinduism, Kurma was the second avatar of Vishnu. Like the Matsya Avatara also belongs to the Satya yuga....
(turtle), Varaha

Varaha

Varaha is the third Avatar of the Hinduism god Vishnu, in the form of a Boar. He appeared in order to defeat Hiranyaksha, a Rakshasha who had taken the Earth and carried it to the bottom of what is described as the cosmic ocean in the story....
(boar), Narasimha

Narasimha

Narasimha is an avatara of Vishnu described in the Puranas, Upanishads and other ancient religious texts of Hinduism, and one of Hinduism's most popular deities, as evidenced in early epics, iconography, and temple and festival worship for over a millennium....
(lion-faced human), Vamana

Vamana

Vamana is a personality described in the Puranic texts of Hinduism as the Fifth Avatara of Vishnu, and the first incarnation of the Second Age, or Yuga....
(an ascetic in the form of a midget), Parasurama (a militant Brahmin), Rama

RAMA

Krishna

Krishna is a deity worshiped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of different perspectives. While many Vaishnava groups recognize him as an avatar of Vishnu, other traditions within Krishnaism consider Krishna to be svayam bhagavan, or the supreme being....
,Gautam Buddha(later buddhists separated themselves from Hindus), Kalki

Kalki

In Hinduism, Kalki is the tenth and final Maha Avatara of Vishnu who will come to end the present age of darkness and destruction known as Kali Yuga....
(a predicted warrior on a white horse who would come in this yuga ) whose appearance also signals the beginning of the end of the epoch.

House of Ikshvaku

Ikshvaku

Ikshvaku was the first king of the Ikshvaku dynasty and founder of the Solar Dynasty of Kshatriyas in Vedic civilization in ancient India....
was the son of Manu

Manu (Hinduism)

In Hindu traditions, Manu is a title accorded to the First man or woman, and also the very first king to rule this earth, who saved mankind from the universal flood....
,the first mortal man, and founder of the Sun Dynasty.

Bharatavarsha

The first king to conquer all of the world was Bharata, son of Dushyanta

Dushyanta

Dushyant or Dushyanta was a great king in classical Indian literature and mythology. He is the husband of Shakuntala and the father of the Bharata ....
and Shakuntala

Shakuntala

In Hindu mythology Sakuntala is the mother of Emperor Bharata and the wife of Dushyanta who was the founder of the Paurav Dynasty. Her story is told in the Mahabarata and dramatized by Kalidasa in his play The Recognition of Sakuntala....
. All of this world, Vishwa, is named Bharatavarsha, or The Land of Bharata, or The Cherished Land.

King Bharata's conquests are described to have stretched over all of modern India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, and Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
, Bangladesh

Bangladesh

, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south....
and Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and is the world's youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by India....
, as well as the ancient Gandhara

Gandhara

Gandhara is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River....
region of Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia....
. No account has been known to exceed these geographical boundaries.

External links

publishes classical Indian literature, including the Mahabharata and Ramayana, with facing-page text and translation. Also offers searchable corpus and downloadable materials.
: Documents in ITX format of Upanishads, Stotras etc.

Hindu mythology

Sources

Vedic mythology

Epics

Cosmogony

The wars

The weapons

The Deluge

The peoples of the epics

Sapta Rishis

Pitrs

Worlds

Deities

Incarnations

House of Ikshvaku

Bharatavarsha

See also

Further reading

External links