Review
"A pleasure to behold and an invigorating experience to read."
(
American Anthropologist )
"If you read only one book on Hinduism, it must be Danielou's
Myths and Gods of India."
(
Tyr, August 2002 )
" . . . sheds light on more than just Hindu philosophy and practices, but also on how the Western 'Orientalphiles' have been clearly selective in what they put forward as their vision of India." (
Institute of Hermetic Studies, Sep 2008 )
From the Back Cover
HINDUISM / MYTHOLOGY
“Alain Daniélou was a man whose vast and curious learning in the fields of literature, music and the Orient was unequalled in our time. His beautifully written works remain to console us in our increasingly barbaric continent. Our debt to Alain Daniélou’s scholarship and deep humanity is immeasurable.”
--James Kirkup,
The Independent “The physical aspects of this book and its arrangements are beyond reproach. The style is lucid; the lack of polemic is particularly attractive. The total result is a volume that is a pleasure to behold and an invigorating experience to read.”
--American Anthropologist
“Daniélou is one of the greatest Western authorities on Hinduism. . . . His talents seem unending.”
--Mohini Kent,
Times of India “Daniélou’s books are remarkable for their clarity, scholarship, and uninhibited celebration of erotic and mystical ecstasy.”
--Interview Magazine
This study of Hindu mythology explores the significance of the most prominent Hindu deities as they are envisioned by the Hindus themselves. Referred to by its adherents as the “eternal religion,” Hinduism recognizes for each age and each country a new form of revelation--and for each person, according to his or her stage of development, a different path of realization. This message of tolerance and adaptability, the very heart of Hindu polytheism, resounds clearly throughout Alain Daniélou’s work. Photographic plates by Raymond Burnier further illustrate the many facets of Hindu teaching and trace the significance of the Gods of the Vedas, as well as Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Kali, Shakti, and other deities.
ALAIN DANIÉLOU was an intimate of Stravinsky, Cocteau, and Nabokov in his early years, then spent twenty years in India studying music and philosophy with eminent scholars of the Hindu tradition. He is the author of more than thirty books on the religion, history, and arts of India and the Mediterranean, including
While the Gods Play,
Gods of Love and Ecstasy,
Yoga: Mastering the Secrets of Matter and the Universe, and
The Complete Kama Sutra. Daniélou was the founder and director of the International Institute for Comparative Musicology in Berlin, and was a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, and Officier du Mérite National.
