Essay On Hindu Mythology

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The Buddha’s life stories and jataka narratives contrast the values shown in Hindu mythology. Buddhism was born from a world of people searching for answers that Hinduism couldn’t give them on things like the caste system, suffering, and other universal truths. Hinduism is the oldest religion with a very broad range of followers and their interpretation of Hindu values and beliefs. The two religions themselves are very similar but do have strikingly inherent differences.
The Buddhist religion values extreme selflessness While the Hindu belief focuses on dharma and the balance of the cosmic universe. Siddhartha Gautama’s life was very different from the Hindu myths like the Ramayana and the story of Krishna. SG grew up in a perfect kingdom without any need or want unfulfilled while the Pandava brothers and Rama had to suffer through exile and war. Many of these differences in values and contexts of stories are what makes up the change in culture in Asia of over 1500 years. SG comes to an understanding that life is suffering or “dukkha” while observing life around the kingdom. For main characters in Hindu myths like the Ramayana and the Mahabharat, suffering is something that they are used to doing to fulfill …show more content…

Fire is used in many Hindu myths as a test of purity, we see the first fire ordeal for Sita as a prime example of a pure women being spared by the fire god (pg. 98). The Rabbit’s life was spared from the fire thanks to a test of his extreme selflessness by a Brahman, once he passed the Brahman permanently adorned his figure into the moon because he had such a divine understanding of self-sacrifice (pg. 258). These two similar tests show the range in difference of the values between these two religious myths. Those that pass this test deserve great honor and to be recognized as an important role model for one’s spiritual

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