“Parabrahman” is the ultimate reality for any Hindu. The term itself means “The Ultimate Reality”. Ultimately, as a Hindu believes, everything merges into this Parabrahman. Hence everything and everyone is ONE! However, Hindu’s pantheon of Gods seems contradictory to this ideal, but it only seems so.

Although many Gods are worshipped by different Hindus, everyone believes that they are worshiping the very Parabrahman! The folklore, legends and mythology resonate this ideal.

More often than not, the stories in the mythology revolve around these three Gods:

Maha Vishnu – also known as Narayana, Rama, Krishna, etc. Maheswara – also known as Shiva, Rudra etc. and Parashakthi – also known as Lakshmi, Durga, Kali, etc.

Although it is not possible to discuss the entire mythology, two epics must be mentioned when talking about the Hindu culture.  Here are those texts:

Ramayana

How should a perfect human being be? What rules and regulations should he follow even in times of extreme duress? Reading Ramayana will help clarify those ideals for a Hindu. This text is a story of a great King named Rama (incarnation of Lord Vishnu himself) and his consort Sita. They always followed Dharma throughout their life. This story shows how their adherence to high morals brought them through all their trials and tribulations to a glorious finale and eternal fame!

Born to the Glorious King Dasaratha, Rama was the first of king’s four sons. The king had three wives. After successfully winning the beautiful princess Sita as his wife, Rama is subjected to exile to the forest by his stepmother out of jealousy for her son Bharata.

Followed faithfully by his brother Lakshmana and his wife Sita, Rama sets out for his exile. While always following Dharma (Righteousness), Rama, Sita and Lakshmana face many an ordeal. Nothing so painful as Sita getting abducted by the demon King Ravana. Rama finally sets out to fight Ravana in a war, but his army consists of apemen – the vanaras and the wise Jambavantha (a bear-man). Rama also meets his eternal devotee Hanuman who happens to be the incarnation of Lord Shiva.

How does Rama win over Ravana? How does Sita protect herself while in captivity? Why does Ravana abduct Sita? All these questions are answered in this epic without failing to describe the rights, wrongs and their results.

Mahabharatam

This epic describes the four-fold goals of human beings – Dharma (righteousness), Artha (finances), Kaama (desires) and Moksha (liberation). Vividly describing the internal turmoil of the Kuru dynasty finally ending in the famous Kurukshetra war, this epic shows the various arts and methods of warfare employed by members of the Dynasty.  

Reading this epic lets one know the greatness of following the right path; so great is the adherence to morals that even God stays with one who follows the right path. The sudden demise of the King Vichitravirya of Kuru Dynasty leaves the Kuru family in a deep distress since there is no successor.  His mother Queen Satyavathi calls forth her stepson Devavrata (or more commonly known as Bheeshma) and asks him to get married and produce an heir. He refuses on the account of his promise (Bheeshma Pratigna, hence his name is Bheeshma) made to her father on remaining as a life-long bachelor.

Being left with no choice, she calls forth her other son Maharshi (Great yogi) Veda Vyasa. Satyavathi begets Veda Vyasa with the great Rishi Parashara. She asks Veda Vyasa to beget sons with the two wives of Vichitravirya. Veda Vyasa grants the request, and three sons are born to him by the two wives of Vichitravirya and their maid.

The first son is born to Queen Ambika, but is blind and is named Dhritarashtra; the second son is born to the second queen Ambalika with pale health and is named Pandu; but the third son born of a maid is perfectly healthy and is named Vidura. Since Dhritarashtra is blind, the throne is given to Pandu. Vidura becomes his brothers’ royal advisor. Both the princes beget children, Pandu has five sons and Dhritarashtra has 100 sons and a daughter. Since Pandu’s oldest son Yudhishtira is the oldest amongst all his cousins and brothers, he is made crown prince.

After Pandu’s death, Dhritarashtra is crowned as King until Prince Yudhishtira is old enough to claim the throne. However, as Sons of Pandu and Dhritarashtra grow up, tensions and rivalry begins to unfold amongst the cousins for the claim of the throne. While Pandavas (Sons of Pandu) takes the righteous path even if that meant succumbing to various ordeals and humiliations done by Kouravas (Sons of Dhritarashtra), who always took the evil way for their goals. The righteousness of Pandavas gains them the support of Lord Krishna who becomes a very close friend of Arjuna (Pandava).

These evil deeds of Kauravas ultimately bring about the great War – The Kurukshetra War between the cousins. Every member of the royal family takes sides and faithfully fights on their chosen side. What is the end result of the War? Who gains and who loses? War is always destructive, then under what circumstances did Lord Krishna even consent to such a war? How did Queen Satyavathi beget a son with a great sage? How did she then become a Queen? How is Veda Vyasa’s begetting children with his brother’s wives make them legitimate? Why did Bheeshma make such a promise? Mahabharatam is a great epic that has all the answers to these queries!

Bhagavad Gita

The name means “Song of the Divine”; this text is an important part of Mahabharatam. In here Lord Krishna describes different rules, principles and ideals that apply to the whole human kind. When his devotee Arjuna becomes crestfallen realizing that he has to fight his own family members in the war, Lord Krishna explains the actual truth of life, soul, truth and the ultimate.

Reading Bhagavad Gita is a daily ritual for many a Hindu. So sacred is this text that a staunch Hindu doesn’t read this until he has cleansed himself. This text teaches the virtue of following the righteous path. It also teaches the virtue in following one’s own religion and not defecting to another’s. This is a rule that applies to any person of any religion.

The three-fold qualities of a human being and every other entity in this universe are described including the cause and effects of such qualities. Essentially written as Lord Krishna’s song, this text acts as a reference or a guide to many a Hindu.

Reading these texts gives a good glimpse into ancient India’s culture, their beliefs and life. It is very interesting to note several remarkable practices described in these texts – such as polygamy conducted by women of their times. One such example is Queen Droupadi who is a wife to all sons of Pandu.

This must have been a common practice since in the same epic there is a mention of another woman called Sairandhri (Droupadi in disguise) who claims to be married to five gandharvas (heavenly beings). When she as Sairandhri does mention that, she is not found out as Queen Droupadi, but is accepted as who she claims which does show that a woman with multiple husbands is not an unusual practice back then. Even while being a wife to all the five sons, the entire family lived by a strict moral code which is well-described by this epic.

Hindu Mythology greatly deals with High ideals of the religion. These texts perform as guides and references to Hindus to perform well in their daily duties which many strictly read at least during auspicious days.