Legends of India

by Edward Washburn Hopkins

"These legends are not translations of native Hindu poems, but embody a re-interpretation of tales told long ago in India, chiefly by those who were ethical or religious teachers. They seized upon various stories and adapted them to their needs. In doing so they inserted moral instruction, as they modified characters and scenes to serve the purpose of edification. ... I have endeavored to tell the tale as I conceive it to have been before it was tampered with, to remove the priestly interpretation and re-interpret the story as it should have descended to us, with the emotional implications (suppressed by the priests) intact." Edward Washburn Hopkins (1857-1932) was the Chair of Sanskrit Studies of Yale University. Hopkins was an excellent scholar but made his name principally as an exponent of India's religions. His book The Religions of India (1895) was for many years one of the principal works on the subject available in America and his Origins and Evolution of Religion published in 1923, sold well.

196 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2003