Our next project: Tales from the Hindus
Our next book will be a collection of stories from the Hindu religion
I was pleased with how the launch for JJ Books’ first app - Tales for Great Grandchildren - went. We now have two books to our name – but we are not standing still. Our next publication will be a collection of stories from the Hindu religion.
I hope that readers will have the same reaction to the collection of tales as I did when I encountered them: I found them both incredible stories in their own right, and a good guide to the historical development of the religion. Daniela, who illustrated Tales for Great Grandchildren, will also be illustrating this book. You will be hearing a lot more about it before the launch.
I am fascinated by the hugely rich mine of Hindu mythology. I discovered it in the mid 80s when I was asked by one of the editors at Oxford University Press to consider writing a history of the religion by collecting together some of its stories. When I began to look into these stories, I was attracted particularly by the very human, ‘ungodlike’, behaviour of both the celestial beings and of the demons in the underworld. That is reflected in the stories that I selected for retelling and interpretation. I was attracted also by the 'closeness' of the world they all shared. Even the ‘Lords of Creation’, the most powerful beings, were accessible by the rest of them.
Furthermore, the humans in the mythologies were not 'god dependent': they were complete, fragile but self sufficient beings in a complex environment. Nothing that they experienced was inevitable. I found this theme of being in charge of one’s own destiny very appealing. It has some similarities with my own belief in the importance of self-sufficiency. This is different from an environment in which, ultimately, everything is determined by 'The Will of God' and it may be one reason that Hinduism features little in discussion in monotheistic circles. I hope that the book will encourage more people to learn about the religion.
View posts by related category: Hinduism Publishing Writing