Myth and Mysteries

Abstract

One of the fascinating topics in Comparative Religions is the study of "Myths". In recent times the Greek word myth as ren- dered as "Mythe" (1831, Keightley) or "myth" (1856, Max Muller) has got deeper implications and wider positive applica- tions than it had in the nineteenth century when it was wrongly interpreted as "illusion", "fable", "fiction", "invention" and "falsification." Presently the origin of Myth is thereby grossly misunderstood and sensibly related to the interpretation of pri- meval history. The unrecorded antiquity of a particular people has been. understood and reconstructed mostly by means of their myths, which are understood as creative and "symbolic history" of the encounter of their ancestors with the challenging realities of their times, terrestrial or celestial. This symbolic history has been usually couched in artistic language, employing charming symbols with a wide variety of meanings. One may generalize this feature of the cultural history of religious myths, with due reservations, to conclude that the creative period of "primeval myths" coincides with the stage of the homo sapiens in the develop- ment of anthropological evolution. Of course, in the process of transmission, ancient myths seem to have undergone interpretative modifications in the course of cultural evolution. But, then, that is the contribution one expects a community of "living myths" to make towards the purification and enrichment of their cultural and religious heritage in its ongoing progress as it encounters the new realities of life.