Hindu Gods And Heroes Studies in the History of the Religion of India

by Lionel David Barnett

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: India, Reference, Philosophy, History, Hinduism, Mythology

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Ardeth Baxter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly thoughtful and enlightening

Lionel D. Barnett was an orientalist and professor who clearly knew his subject matter. This short book, a fascinating, insightful view of the evolution of Hinduism, demonstrates that knowledge and presents his own theories on how this ancient and complex religion became what it is in modern times.

[Renee Marie]

my wedding is going to be very unique - this book will help me plan it!

[Aditya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way too brief. It had some interesting connections where the hierarchy of Hindu gods is concerned, but it got over just as it was becoming fun.

[Katie Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gods and Heros

Fascinating book, wish that I had a better grasp of how things were pronounced. Having Indian friends its fun to ask them what they know about these "people". Many conflicting notions by academics if you read the notes in the back. I now have a notebook full of more questions I'm anxious to look up!

[Diana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very difficult and abstract writing.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright. I mean, it relies very heavily on an aggressive aryan invasion hypothesis, as you would expect from when it was written. I didn't check his footnotes, but there weren't even enough of them in number to properly justify some of the claims he was making about the derivations of various gods and whatnot. Its basically a whole bunch of speculations, as is the case with most indological books. Thats ok though. They were interesting, and relatively plausible speculations in most cases.

Its also a free book.