The Vedic Deities (Indian Gods and Goddesses Vol. 2)

India is the country predominantly having the religious background and several deities have influenced the people from the time immemorial. Some of them, having the remote origin dominated the Indian religious scene for sometime, while some of them continued their influence over the contemporary society for a limited period and were rejected by the society or made them to disappear as rapidly as they had mushroomed over the Indian religious horizon. Still there were some gods and goddesses, who, though claiming quite a remote origin, continued to dominate the Indian religious thought in one form or the other, reaching the modern times. The Vedic deities in India are considered to be the earliest in the subcontinent and scholars have tried to find out their presence in one form or the other even in the Harappan culture or even earlier to that. Indeed some of the Vedic gods like Visnu, Prajapati (Brahma), Rudra (Siva), Ganapati, Hanuman, Garuda, Varaha and others so influenced the society that they continued their travel casting forceful impact on the minds of the people, reaching the modern times. Some of these still enjoy a powerful place in the Indian religious literature and art. Art astonishing aspect of the Vedic gods has been the presence of the composite forms, and these composite forms did not travel beyond the Vedic times, but could be considered to be the forerunners of the later composite forms, so abundantly available in the medieval times. The present work deals extensively about the genesis of the Vedic deities and highlights the different types of changes such deities had to undergo, in the different periods. Indeed the Vedic deities were conceived in abstract forms and with the passage of time, they went on achieving the specific forms shedding their older traditions and definitions. Gradually, some mythical tales were associated with each one of the Vedic deities and the one who could gather more impressive mythological coverage, became more popular in the later times. Ultimately even the Silpasastras did not lag behind in defining the iconographical details. This is indeed the detailed study on the genesis and evolution of the Vedic gods and goddesses which would be of considerable interest to the readers.