xxiii, 376 pages : 28 cm; Translation of selections from: Dictionnaire des mythologies et des religions des sociétés traditionnelles et du monde antique.; Toward a definition of myth -- The interpretation of myths: nineteenth- and twentieth-century theories -- Myth and writing: the mythographers -- Prehistoric religion -- "Nomadic thought" and religious action -- The religion and mythology of Vedic India -- Soma as sacrificial substance and divine figure in the Vedic mythology of exchange -- Vedic cosmogony -- The mythologies of Hindu India -- The Yūpa (sacrificial post) in Hinduism -- Rudra/Śiva and the destruction of the sacrifice -- Purāṇic cosmogony -- The Hindu god with five heads (Pañcamukha) -- Deva/Asura: celestial gods and "demons" in Hinduism -- Vasiṣṭha/Viśvāmitra and the separation of the priestly and royal functions -- The main myth of the Mahābhārata -- The Rāmāyaṇa -- Viṣṇu and Śiva, the supreme gods of Hindu Bhakti -- Popular Hinduism -- Avatars -- Nara/Nārāyaṇa -- Matsya: the fish and the flood in the work of the mythic imagination -- Narasiṃha, the man-lion -- Paraśurāma -- Vāmana, the dwarf -- The childhood and adulthood of Kṛṣṇa -- Gaṇapati -- Skanda, a great sovereign god of south India -- Devī: the goddess in India -- Kāmadhenu: the mythical cow, symbol of prosperity -- Symbols of the earth in Indian religion -- Ganges and Yamunā, the river of salvation and the river of origins -- Pre-Islamic Iran -- Ahura Mazdā (or Oromazdes, Ohrmazd) -- Anāhitā (or Anahid) -- Mithra (or Mihr, Mihir, Meher) -- Vayu (or Vay, Vai) -- Verethraghna (or Varahran, Bahram) -- Buddhist mythology -- The guardian of the gate: an example of Buddhist mythology, from India to Japan -- Austroasiatic, Vedic, and Brahmanic myths of Southeast Asia -- Southeast Asian origin myths and founding myths -- Earth spirits in Southeast Asia -- Southeast Asian myths and rituals of the moon -- The acculturation of the divinities of Hinduism in Southeast Asia -- The mythic themes of Theravāda Buddhism in Southeast Asia -- The religions and myths of insular Southeast Asia -- Divine totality and its components: the supreme deity, the divine couple, and the trinity in Indonesian religions -- The origin of humanity and the descent to earth of the first human beings in the myths of Indonesia -- Culture heroes of insular Southeast Asia -- Communal festivals in insular Southeast Asia -- Indonesian rites of passage -- A myth of the origin of grains: Hainuwele in Ceram, Indonesia -- The Wayang (ritual theater) and its myths in Java and Bali -- The Rāmāyaṇa in Indonesia -- Recent forms of eschatology and messianism in insular Southeast Asia -- Desacralization from myths to tales in Java -- The mythology of the highlands of Madagascar and the political cycle of the Andriambahoaka -- The mythology and ritual of the indigenous populations of the southern part of the Indo-Chinese peninsula: orientation of research -- The history and function of Indo-Chinese myth: change and permanence -- Indigenous Indo-Chinese cosmogony -- The functions and methods of mediators and intermediaries among the indigenous Indo-Chinese -- The number seven, even and odd, among the indigenous Indo-Chinese -- The ambiguous notion of power among Austroasiatic and Austronesian peoples: the pötao of the Jörai -- Yang: the sacred connection, sacrifice, and the ritual of counting among the Austroasiatic and Austronesian ethnic groups -- Vietnamese mythology -- The origins and the first ages in the major structures of Vietnamese mythology -- Civilizing heroes and the organization of the first Vietnamese kingdom -- Chinese mythology -- Chinese cosmogony -- Sky and earth, sun and moon, stars, mountains and rivers, and the cardinal points in ancient China -- Ancient Chinese goddesses and grandmothers -- Mythical rulers in China: the three Huang and the five Di -- The great flood in Chinese mythology -- Myths and legends about the barbarians on the periphery of China and in the land of Chu -- Chinese demons -- The mythology of smelters and potters in China -- Caves and labyrinths in ancient China -- Some legends about Laozi and the immortals in Daoist mythology -- Remarks on Japanese religions and mythological beliefs -- The vital spirit and the soul in Japan -- Japanese conceptions of the afterlife -- Buddhism and archaic beliefs in the Shinto-Buddhist syncretism of Japan -- Mountains in Japan -- Magic in Japan -- Japanese divination -- The Yamabushi, mountain ascetics of Japan -- The Tengu demons of Japan -- Japanese shamanism -- Japanese festivals and seasonal rites: Matsuri and Nenchū Gyōji -- Korean mythology -- Introduction to Tibetan mythology -- The importance of origins in Tibetan mythology -- Cosmogonic myths of Tibet -- Anthropogonic myths of Tibet -- Divine sovereignty in Tibet -- The religion and myths of the Turks and Mongols -- Turkish and Mongolian cosmogony and cosmography -- Turkish and Mongolian demons -- The Turkish and Mongolian ancestor cult -- The importance of animals in the religion of the Turks and Mongols: tribal myths and hunting rituals -- The tree of life and the cosmic axis among the Turks and Mongols -- The mountain as cosmic axis among the Turks and Mongols -- Turkish and Mongolian shamanism -- The sky god and the stars among the Turks and Mongols -- Water among the Turks and Mongols -- Turkish and Mongolian eschatology: the end of the world and the fate of man after death -- Turkish and Mongolian master spirits (Ejen and Izik) -- The cult of fire among Turks and Mongols -- Turkish and Mongolian funerary customs -- Heroes of the Turks and Mongols -- The Turkish and Mongolian ritual of the blood oath -- The earth among the Turks and Mongols -- The personification of thunder among the Turks and Mongols -- Gods and myths of the Abkhaz, the Cherkess, and the Ubykh of the northern Caucasus -- Souls and their avatars in Siberia -- The sky, the great celestial divinity of Siberia -- Siberian master spirits and shamanism -- Siberian religion and myths : the example of the Tungus -- Finno-Ugrian myths and rituals.; 

26973661