Vaidik Devata: Udbhav evam Vikas

There have been quite a few attempts to delineate the nature and character of Vedic Deities on the basis of Vedic Samhitas by European scholars like Macdonell, Hillebrandt, Oldenberg, Luders and, of late, by Oberlies, etc. However, none of these scholars has made attempt to trace the subsequent development of their character and personalities through the later Vedic texts, epics and the Puranas, etc., whereas it goes without saying that the concept of Hindu gods today in the minds of the people is exactly the one which we encounter in the Puranas and in the folk literature. This obviously means that the personalities of the Vedic Deities did not freeze with the end of Vedic literature but continued to develop in later period as well through the subsequent literarary activities. Taking rather vague clues from the Vedic texts, the authors or narrators of the Puràõas, augmented and supported by folk beliefs, further expanded, modified and developed the personalities of these gods so that, for the most part, the intangible character of these gods acquired a concrete shape and form, a body of flesh and blood, so to say. The book tries to trace the historical development of the personalities of Vedic Deities through the subsequent Vedic literature, as well as the epics and the Puranas till they acquire the shape and form in which they are conceived and venerated today.