Visnuism And Sivaism A Comparison

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This expanded version of Professor Gonda's Jordan lectures, given at the School of Oriental and African Studies in the University of London in 1969, presents, not a regular account of the history of Visnuism and Sivaism, but rather a detailed discussion of some of those historical, doctrinal, ritual, and literary aspects of both religious currents which don not seem to have attracted the attention they deserve. Being comparative in character it is an attempt to delineate the main characteristics of each tradition and to reconsider some vexed problems relating to their origin and the history of their theological doctrines and the practices. Special emphasis is laid upon their various interrelations, upon those many features which have their roots in the Vedic past, and upon the partly parallel and often divergent development of their rituals and philosophies.

Late Dr. J. Gonda was Professor of Sanskrit and Indo-European Linguistics in the University of Utrecht.

THESE LECTURES were written in 1967 and 1968 and delivered, in an abridged form, in June 1969. My intention was to collect, in a small compass, some material illustrating the characters and interrelations of the great Hindu gods Visnu and Siva and to establish a comparison between their religions. The field surveyed is, however, so vast and our sources are so copious and manifold that inevitably many aspects are only briefly treated or even completely omitted.

It gives me great pleasure to express my gratitude to the Governing Body of the School of Oriental and African Studies who invited me to write this book for publication in this series and to Mr L. A. van Daalen and Miss Y. B. W. Van Reck for supplying it with an index.

1. The Character of Visnu and Rudra-Siva in the Veda and the Mahabharata
2. The Gods' Rise to Superiority
3. Theology
4. Ritual
5. The Mutual Relations of the Two Religious
6. Siva and Visnu in Folklore, Myth and Literature

Notes

Index