Epic Mythology

Edward Washburn Hopkins, born September 8, 1857, died September 12, 1932 in Northampton (Massachusetts), was an American Sanskrit scholar. In 1878, he graduated from Columbia University. He then studied at Leipzig where he earned the degree of Ph.D. in 1881. He was an instructor at Columbia University (1881-1885) and a professor at Bryn Mawr (1885-1895). In 1895, he was appointed Yale University’s professor of Sanskrit philology and comparative philology. He was the secretary of American Oriental Society papers. His publications included The Ethics of India (1924), Manu’s Lawbook (1884), The Great Epic of India (1901), India Old and New (1901), History of Religions (1818), Origin and Evolution of Religions (1923), and The Ethics of India (1924).
This volume is a breakthrough in the study and analysis of Indian epics, the Ramayana (and the Mahabharata). It is the first book to separate mythology from the running threads in both epic texts. The mythology of both the epics of India represent in general the beliefs of the people of Northern India, along the lower Ganges, within a few centuries after the Christian era. The time period for the Mahabharata is from 300 B.C. From 300 B.C. to 400 A.D. The Mahabharata is older than the Ramayana which is metrically more sophisticated and the work one author. The Mahabharata’s rougher, epic form is a representation of a life less arid than the Ramayana. It also shows the work of many hands at different times. However, epic mythology is quite consistent. There is not much difference between the character of one god in the Mahabharata or that of the same God in Ramayana. The character of gods is not very different in different parts. This is except for the sectarian tendency of inverting the positions of three of the highest gods to favour the sect.