I recently got my hands on a colourfully illustrated book for children called Forms of Hindu Deities by Amita, the author of ‘Know India Series Books for Children’. This book is not just any Indian mythology book. It presents an objective view on our Indian mythologies and the stories around Hindu deities.
This illustrated book focuses on ten revered Indian Gods and
Goddesses, namely Brahma, Rama, Krishna, Shiva, Durga, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Ganapati,
Dattatreya and Indra.
The content in Forms of Hindu Deities differs a bit from what we, as millennials, heard and grew up to. We have listened to our
grandparents and parents talk about characters from epics like the Mahabharata
and the Ramayana. The stories that we learn did focus on good versus evil,
bravery, sacrifice, but at the same time it also revolved around violence, revenge,
deceit, hatred, vengeance, and war. Our generation may not have questioned over
the intent of the characters’ actions, but the newer generation begs to differ.
This book changes the narrative in a refreshing way. Along
with vividly bright images, the realistic attuned explanations that meet
the intellectual needs of today’s generations, concise one to two sentence
descriptions in simple and lucid language are indeed a welcome change. It
does not focus on hatred, war, violence, deception, or any such hidden agenda.
I would recommend this book for young kids, between ages of
2 to 6, who want to be introduced to the wonderful world of Indian mythology.
