Page:Stories of India's Gods & Heroes.djvu/15

Rh which is the less attractive because so peculiarly characteristic. Exaggeration holds a place in these writings altogether without parallel in any literature of similar extent. For thousands and tens of thousands, the old Hindus wrote millions and billions, or millions of billions; and the dimensions of mountains, rivers, beasts, birds, fiends, etc., etc., are described in terms which are not merely absurd but often too wild to be even amusing. It must also be admitted that along with this rather wearisome feature one finds, in the records of Hindu gods and heroes, many things that are unpleasant and disgusting, not merely to ourselves, but to cultivated and even common-place Hindus: dark spots which only show the darker for the gaudy setting of fantastic miracles in which they are generally framed. For this book we have naturally chosen only the brightest and best, and the tendency to exaggeration has been moderated as far as possible, though to omit everything would be to disfigure the original beyond recognition and to present a picture of ancient Indian life quite remote from the truth.

I confess, for my part, that I find in the Wonderland of Hinduism no hero half as interesting as Odysseus, in the West, or Rustem, in the East. But, when all is said and done, I hope my readers will find among the heroes and heroines of these stories some who are worthy of their interest and not wanting in the best elements of dignity and courage. W. D. M. September, 1911.