| Therefore, when the
religious sense dawns upon the primitive man, he incorporates into his religion only those myths and legends of his folklore, which have
any moral or spiritual, values. Many such stories now come to be looked upon as allegories
and parables. They are valued not for themselves, but for the higher values embedded in
them. And, later, poets come for ward and give them such elaborate imaginative treatment
that they become embodiments of the ideals of the nation. In this way, whole cycles of myths gather round a particular god or
hero, and he becomes, in the eyes of the people, a partial manifestation of the Divine as
conceived by them. Thus mythology becomes part of popular religion. But it is only a
secondary part. For we should never forget that mythology is not religion. It is only an instrument of religion. When
the religion of a race consists of nothing else but the adventures of its gods and
goddesses, it soon perishes. That is what has happened,' for instance, to Graeco-Roman and Norse religions.
They perished when Christianity began to spread. But in
Hinduism mythology is wisely kept in the circumference. The centre is occupied by genuine
religious thought and experience and not by popular or poetic fancies or by miracle and
legend. |
