Insight Editions · No. 474
The Myths and Gods of India
The Classic Work on Hindu Polytheism
Alain Daniélou
A complete study edition of Alain Daniélou's The Myths and Gods of India (first published as Hindu Polytheism): the philosophy of polytheism, the Vedic gods, the trinity of Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma, Shakti and the ten Mahavidyas, the secondary gods, and the use of mantras, yantras, images and worship.
A study guide to The Myths and Gods of India by Alain Daniélou (Inner Traditions; first published as Hindu Polytheism, Bollingen Foundation, 1964). Shared free for personal reading; not for sale and not endorsed by the author's estate or publishers. Please read and buy the original.
CORE CLAIM
Polytheism is not confusion but method. Daniélou argues that the many Hindu gods are the most honest way to approach a reality that no single concept can hold: each deity is a facet of the universal powers, approached through myth, image, mantra, yantra and ritual.
SCOPE
A foreword and six parts in 32 chapters: philosophy (polytheism, the Ultimate, the Cosmic Being), the Vedic gods, the trinity of Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma, the Goddess and her powers, secondary gods, and the representation and worship of deities.
KEY FIGURES
Vishnu and his avatars (Rama, Krishna), Shiva (Rudra, Pashupati, the linga), Brahma, Shakti (Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Parvati, Kali), the ten Mahavidyas, Ganesha, Skanda, Agni, Soma, Indra, the Adityas and Yama; Daniélou's teacher Swami Karpatri is quoted throughout.
BEST FOR
Readers who want a systematic guide to the Hindu pantheon explained "in the way in which they are envisaged by the Hindus themselves".
The Book on One Page
First published by the Bollingen Foundation in 1964 as Hindu Polytheism, the book was reissued by Inner Traditions as The Myths and Gods of India.
Daniélou's foreword says the study "is not an exhaustive one" but "a mere attempt at explaining the significance of the most prominent Hindu deities". Hinduism, "the eternal religion" (sanatana dharma), "recognizes for each age and each country a new form of revelation and for each man, according to his stage of development, a different path".
The argument moves in three steps: 1. Why many gods. We understand a statue only by walking around it; so too with the divine. "It is the divine multiplicity, not the unity, which is the source of the universe." 2. How the gods are organized. Beneath them lies the formless Immensity (brahman). From it arise three tendencies: cohesion (Vishnu), disintegration (Shiva) and their balance (Brahma). Their powers are the goddesses. Around them stand the Vedic gods of the spheres and the minor spirits. 3. How to approach them. Every god has a mantra (sound), a yantra (diagram) and an image (murti); worship should be directed at "the stage of abstraction that is nearest above" the worshiper.
| Part | Title | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philosophy | 1 to 3: polytheism, the Ultimate, the Cosmic Being |
| 2 | The Gods of the Vedas | 4 to 10: sacrifice, the 33 gods, spheres, space, Adityas, other deities, antigods |
| 3 | The Trinity | 11 to 19: Vishnu, his image, avatars; Shiva, his forms, image, linga; Brahma |
| 4 | The Divine Power (Shakti) | 20 to 23: Shakti, consorts, ten Mahavidyas, other aspects |
| 5 | Secondary Gods | 24 to 26: sons of Shiva, minor gods, other deities |
| 6 | Representation and Worship | 27 to 32: mantras, yantras, images, worship, ritual life |
Philosophy
Three chapters lay the philosophical foundation.
1. The theory of polytheism
"The whole of Nature is but the symbol of a higher reality." Daniélou compares the divine to a sculpture seen from many angles, and to music, where the nature of music lies "in the difference" between notes, not in the air that carries them. If God is one, "he is not beyond number any more than if he is two or three or ten or a million." Monotheism, he argues, is "the projection of the human individuality into the cosmic sphere", which leads religions to fight "to impose their god and destroy other gods".
2. The nature of the Ultimate
The Upanishads say the world began as "nondual Being". Space is an undivided continuum: "Space within a pitcher is not really separated from the space outside." Time exists only in relation to perception, and the first principle of experience is "pure, absolute enjoyment". The Self (atman) is a continuum; the "I" is "a temporary knot". The three gunas appear: sattva (cohesion, Vishnu), rajas (revolving, Brahma), tamas (disintegration, Shiva). Maya both veils and projects the world.
3. The Cosmic Being
The universe is a living Cosmic Being with mind, laws and consciousness. "A science which studies only the inanimate part of things ... is incomplete." Man and universe are "two birds" on one tree: one eats, the other watches. Existence has three planes (impermanent, enduring, changeless), each divided into five spheres.
Takeaway. For Daniélou, many gods are not a weakness of Hinduism but its realism: a single image of God becomes a human projection, while many images keep the mind open to a reality beyond all.
The Gods of the Vedas
Seven chapters on the Vedic pantheon.
4. The cosmic sacrifice
To the Vedic mind, the universe "appeared as a constant ritual of sacrifice": "To live is to devour life." "All this universe ... is made of fire (agni) and offering (soma)." A sacrifice has four elements: offering, fire, words and gestures. Faulty rites "may destroy the seven worlds".
5. The thirty-three gods
Asked how many gods there are, the sage Yajnavalkya answered 3,306, then 33, then six, three, two, one and a half, and finally one. Each deity has three meanings, one for each sphere.
6. The spheres and their deities
The eight Vasus "dwell or cause to dwell". Agni has many forms, including the submarine fire that will burn the world. Vayu is wind and breath; Dyaus and Prithivi are sky and earth; the Sun is at the center; the Moon is the cup of soma, with sixteen digits drunk by the gods.
7. The sphere of space
The Rudras ("cause of tears") are the life breaths; the Maruts are storm gods. Indra, king of the gods, receives more Vedic hymns than any other deity and "loves intoxicants and pleasure".
8. The Adityas
The twelve sovereign principles, sons of Aditi, personify the laws of the universe and society: Mitra (solidarity), Varuna (fate), Aryaman (chivalry), Bhaga (inherited share), Amsha (luck), Tvashtri (craft), Savitri (the power of words), Pushan (prosperity), Vishnu (cosmic law) and others.
9. Other Vedic deities
The Ashvins, twin horse-headed physicians; the regents of the directions; Yama the Binder, lord of death, with his scribe Chitragupta; Kubera and the yakshas.
10. Gods and antigods
"The difference between gods (sura) and antigods (a-sura) is therefore not one of kind but of degree." Powers ahead of us seem divine, those behind us demonic. The asuras were once virtuous and the goddess of fortune lived with them.
Yajnavalkya's answer. The sage's sliding count of the gods, from thousands down to one, sums up the book's method: the number of gods depends on the level from which one looks.
The Trinity
Nine chapters on Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma.
11 and 12. Vishnu and his image
Vishnu is sattva, the cohesive tendency, linked with the state of dream. "The image of a deity is merely a group of symbols"; nothing in it should be the image maker's invention. His four hands hold the conch (the elements), the discus (mind), the mace and the lotus; his mount is the eagle Garuda.
13. The avatars
Vishnu enters the world as its guide: Fish, Tortoise, Boar, Man-Lion (a cult "meant for kings and warriors"), Dwarf, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, the Buddha and Kalki. Rama, "wedded to but one wife", refuses the sages who wish to become women for him; Krishna, with Radha, becomes for later Vaishnavas "a total incarnation of the Supreme Being". "Buddhism has left but few traces in the mythology."
14. Minor incarnations
Nara and Narayana, Kapila, Vyasa the compiler, and Gajendra, the elephant saved by faith.
15. Shiva, lord of sleep
Shiva is tamas, the disintegrating tendency, both "fearful" and "desirable". "Rudra, fear of the ignorant, appears to the wise as the auspicious Shiva." As the yogi he is accused in Aryan scripture of teaching "the low-born". Shiva divides into male and female, and from their union springs the universe.
16. The forms of Rudra-Shiva
The eight elemental forms; the five faces; Dakshinamurti, the southern image, teacher and lord of death; Pashupati, the Herdsman, "guardian of the earth".
17. The image of Shiva
For each aspect: a yantra, a mantra and an image. "The most common symbol of Shiva is the phallus (linga)" set in the yoni. The crescent moon, third eye, trident, skull-staff and bull; with one glance Shiva burns the god of love who disturbs his meditation.
18. The linga
Linga means "sign". The formless is "linga-less"; the linga is the "endless pillar of light" piercing the world, and stands for liberation in every triad of nature.
19. Brahma
Brahma, the balance of the two tendencies, is space-time. He rises on a lotus from Vishnu's navel. Creation begins from "latent traces of activity remaining from other creations". The chapter ends with the durations of the four ages.
Takeaway. The trinity is a physics of tendencies: cohesion, dispersion and their balance. The images and myths of each god are a code for meditation on that tendency.
The Divine Power (Shakti)
Four chapters on the Goddess.
20. Shakti
"Power is ever inseparable from him who possesses it." The concept of Shakti explains how the visible universe can rise from a motionless substratum. "For a great number of Hindus she represents God, supreme, yet within the reach of the worshiper."
21. The consorts of the three gods
Lakshmi (fortune) with Vishnu; Sarasvati (learning) with Brahma, on whose day "none may read books or play musical instruments"; and Shiva's power in three aspects: Shakti, Parvati (space) and Kali (time).
22. The ten Mahavidyas
The ten "objects of transcendent knowledge" map the night of the cosmos: Kali, at midnight, beyond fear and so able to remove fear; Tara, the hunger of the first embryo; Shodashi, the girl of sixteen; Bhuvaneshvari, queen of the spheres; and others down to Bhairavi (death), Bagala (cruelty) and Matangi (delusion).
23. Other aspects of the Goddess
"There are as many aspects of the Goddess as there are gods." Nature as the spotted she-goat whose children are spotted with the three qualities.
CRITICAL LENS. In this part the book endorses sacrifice: "the conscious man should partake only of sacrificed flesh". Daniélou reports the Tantric view with sympathy rather than distance. Modern readers, including many Hindus, reject animal sacrifice, and the passage is best read as the description of a tradition.
Secondary Gods
Three chapters on the wider pantheon.
24. The sons of Shiva
Ganapati (Ganesha), lord of categories, stands for "the identity of the macrocosm and the microcosm", so he is worshiped first in every enterprise. Skanda (Kumara, Karttikeya), reared by the six Pleiades, is lord of war.
25. Minor gods and genii
Regents of directions, village gods, gandharvas and apsaras (born of sattva), yakshas and kinnaras (rajas), rakshasas, nagas and ghosts (tamas); the Vidyadharas, the Pitris (ancestors) and the nagas as cycles of time.
26. Other deities
Kama (Eros), born of moon and sun; the planets, including Rahu; the seven seers; Brihaspati, teacher of the gods; and the fourteen Manus, of whom the present one is Vaivasvata.
Representation and Worship
Six chapters on how deities are approached.
27. The representation of deities
The gods "can be approached through a mental creative process, that is, through words or through the perception of created forms".
28. Mantras
Manu first perceived the "thought-forms" of things and so created language. Sanskrit is held to be the language "most directly derived from this original speech". Mantras are "bridges between different orders of things". Daniélou lists seed syllables with their purposes, ritual uses and repetitions.
29. Yantras
"The yantra has the mantra as its soul." The circle is the cycles; the square, the earth with four gates; interlaced triangles, male and female; the inner circle, the coiled energy (kundalini).
30. Images
The image (murti) is "a form used to concentrate the mind on an abstraction"; "because the unrealized have not the capacity of worshiping divinity in its true form, they should accept the help of images".
31. Worship
"No code of worship is suitable for all men." Worship the stage nearest above you; "trying to climb a staircase without touching the steps" is useless. An abstraction cannot answer prayers about worldly matters; only minor deities can.
32. Life as a ritual
"There is no separation between sacred and profane activity ... Life is a priesthood." Ritual is "an application of the science of subtle correspondences", like strings resonating to harmonics. The path of tamas, the left-hand way, "may utilize even eroticism and drunkenness as means of spiritual achievement".
Takeaway. Worship is graded: each person approaches the level of the divine he can grasp, through sound, diagram and image, until life itself becomes ritual.
The Whole Book
What this classic teaches about Hindu polytheism.
Master takeaways
- Many gods are a method, not a confusion.
- The Ultimate is formless Immensity beyond all names.
- Three tendencies (cohesion, revolving, disintegration) underlie all.
- Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva personify those tendencies.
- Shakti is the power inseparable from each god.
- The universe is sacrifice: fire and offering.
- Gods and antigods differ in degree, not kind.
- Each god has three forms: mantra, yantra, image.
- Images serve the mind, not the deity.
- Worship what is just above you.
- Ganesha reminds us that man is the image of God.
- Life is a ritual in which nothing is profane.
Frameworks and mental models
| Name | What it says | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Statue from many sides | Many views give the whole | Explaining polytheism |
| Three gunas and trinity | Cohesion, balance, dispersion | Placing any god |
| Fire and offering | All life devours life | Reading Vedic ritual |
| Mantra, yantra, murti | Sound, diagram, image | Approaching a deity |
| Staircase of worship | Worship the next step up | Choosing a practice |
| Ten Mahavidyas | Night cycle of the Goddess | Reading Shakta symbolism |
On the whole book. The Myths and Gods of India remains Daniélou's most scholarly and useful book, rich in quotations from the Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Tantras and Swami Karpatri's Hindi essays. Its limits are its single traditionalist viewpoint, its polemic against monotheism, its claim that Sanskrit is the source of all other languages (not accepted by linguistics), and its sympathy for sacrifice. Historical development of the gods receives little attention; the system is presented as timeless.
Who's who
| Name | Role in the book |
|---|---|
| Vishnu | Cohesion; preserver; source of avatars |
| Shiva | Disintegration; yogi; the linga |
| Brahma | Balance; creator; space-time |
| Shakti, Kali, Lakshmi, Sarasvati | Powers of the gods |
| Agni, Soma | Fire and offering |
| Indra | King of the Vedic gods |
| Ganesha, Skanda | Sons of Shiva |
| Yajnavalkya | Sage who counted the gods |
| Swami Karpatri | Daniélou's teacher, quoted throughout |
Connect it
- Shiva and the Primordial Tradition develops the Shaiva side of this pantheon.
- The Phallus expands the chapter on the linga.
- Yoga: Mastering the Secrets of Matter and the Universe treats the subtle centers referred to here.
About This Edition
An independent study guide to The Myths and Gods of India by Alain Daniélou (Inner Traditions; first published as Hindu Polytheism, Bollingen Foundation, 1964).
This edition summarizes the book part by part for personal study. Sanskrit names are simplified, and the book's English renderings of divine names are partly kept. Mantra recipes are not reproduced. CRITICAL LENS boxes flag contested claims. Please read the original for its many quotations and illustrations.