Hindu mythology

Hindu tradition spans more than three millennia of continuous development: the Vedic hymns praise Indra the thunder-wielder; the epics — Ramayana and Mahabharata — bring Vishnu’s avatars and Hanuman’s devotion to the center; the Puranas elaborate the great theology of creation, preservation, and dissolution embodied in Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. It is the world’s largest living polytheistic tradition, and the figures in these pages are not literary relics but deities actively worshipped in temples and homes today.