Rating: 2/5
Favorite Quote:
"It is ironical that for all the value we give to the rational, life is primarily governed by the irrational. Love is not rational. Sorrow is not rational. Hatred, ambition, rage and greed are irrational. Even ethics, morals and aesthetics are not rational. They depend on values and standards which are ultimately subjective"
“Myth = Mithya Decoding Hindu Mythology” is the first book I read by this Author; Not what I expected. A dry academic “decoding” of Hindu symbols interspersed with some stories. Author is simply emptying his brains without any regard to the flow of the content nor the title of the book.
Coming from a Hindu family and raised with listening stories from ved-purans, I can bet this book it filled with lots of errors. I guess the name of the book verify the matter. It is myth of Mr. Devdutt Patnaik.
The book may Interest the foreigners or beginners who have no background to Indian mythology.
Utilizing the opportunity to make it an analytical read is lost thoroughly. The author could have compared myths and Mithya, and may be, going on trajectory of exploring today's fictional world (as Harari did in Sapiens).
Instead what we get is a motley of stories picked randomly from various Puranas, with little flow. Even the lucidity of the conversations and situations of original puranas is lost in banal attempt to fit everything in a pocketbook.
The author has also added enough controversial details like talking about erect phallus of Shiva and other details which would enthuse the one who like to believe that India is a land of snake charmer and a country where elephants and where people believe myth and mythology more than scientifically proven things.
To make this worse and to piss off readers like me, the bibliography quotes foreign authors' writings on the Indian mythos!
Yes, the book has knowledge but overall disappointing.
Highly disappointed. This was the kind of books that make me question my silly habit of finishing a book I started, irrespective of how pointless it seems!!!!
To the readers: I do not suggest reading his books if you are looking to have knowledge or learn about Hindi mythology. Please try to find and read Purana in original.
"It is difficult to establish where the effects of a boon end and the influence of a curse begins"
Shi'tare
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