Comparing Three Hindu Myths

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In these three Hindu tales, I noticed that they were less about the creation of the world and more about the gods and where they came from. For example, in “How Ganesh got his Elephant’s Head” and “Hanuman, the Greatest” the stories were mainly about the activities the gods did and how they became the way they are now. In “Hanuman, the Greatest”, the monkey god, Hanuman meets the two sons of King Desaratha and finds out that one of the sons (Prince Rama) cannot find his wife, Sita. Hanuman asks the monkeys to search the entire forest and finally finds out that Ravana, the king of demons kidnapped Sita. Hanuman and the two princes defeat Ravana and save Sita. While I was reading this story, I noticed that the gods all had their own personalities. …show more content…
One day, Pavati decided to mold the shape of a baby with soft earth. Her tears fell on to the dirt and the baby came to life. Out of the many names that Pavati gave the baby, the most popular one was Ganesh. As Ganesh grew up, he became extremely defensive over his mother. However, Shiva and Ganesh did not meet each other yet. When Shiva returned to his palace, he thought that Ganesh was just a random person and cut off Ganesh’s head. Later, Shiva found out that Ganesh was his wife’s son so he sent messengers to look for a replacement head. The messengers found an elephant head and put on Ganesh’s body. After reading this story, I noticed how quickly Shiva changed from angry to soothing. “Shiva, furious at being challenged…‘I'll put things right, soothed Shiva.’ ”(Pg. 36) Just like in the story about Hanuman, the gods in this story also show emotion. Even though Shiva is the god of destruction, he can still show compassion. This story also shows the importance of children to the gods. Two examples of this in the story was when Pavati asked Shiva for a child and when Shiva took the time to search for a new head for Ganesh. This shows the importance of children in the Hindu religion. Even the gods want

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