Hindu mythology /

Hindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Indian culture. Rather than one consistent, monolithic structure, it is a range of diverse traditions, developed by different sects, people and philosophical schools, in different regions and at different times, which are not necessarily held by all Hindus to be literal accounts of historical events, but are taken to have deeper, often symbolic, meaning, and which have been given a complex range of interpretations. The four Vedas, notably the hymns of the Rigveda, contained allusions to many themes (see Rigvedic deities, Rigvedic rivers). In the period of Classical Sanskrit, much material is preserved in the Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Besides theology proper, the voluminous epics also provide a plethora of information about ancient Indian society, philosophy, culture, religion and ways of life. The Puranas deal with stories that are old and do not appear (or fleetingly appear) in the epics (Puratana is Sanskrit for "ancient", the derivative noun purana