What do you think?
Rate this book
Indian Mythology and Philosophy: The Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Kama Sutra… And How They Fit Together
A cultural and intellectual history of Ancient IndiaSitting down with the Bhagavad Gita at the age of sixteen opened many new channels in my mind. Ever since, for the best part of thirty years, I have been searching for a book on Indian thought that ties it all up, coherently and succinctly.
Write the book you want to read, they say—and this, here, is it.
While covering all the important areas (see contents list below), you will
How the Vedic gods are related to the Greek and Roman ones.The secret of the self that even the gods were desperate to learn.How to stop suffering, according to the Buddha.How to achieve enlightenment, according to the Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains.How the swastika came to be appropriated by the Nazis.How Gandhi’s non-violence is rooted in Indian philosophy.Why the Kama Sutra is about a lot more than sex.What yoga’s actually about—not even my yoga teacher knew this.How the Gupta Golden Age led to the invention of zero, chess, and nose jobs.And much, much more.
Contents List
A Picture of India
1. The Indus Valley Civilization2. The Aryans and their Vedas3. Vedic Indra, Agni, Soma, and the Rest4. Sanskrit and the Grammar of Panini5. The Upanishads6. Brahman and Brahma7. Atman, or the Self8. Karma, Samsara, Moksha, Yoga9. Life of the Buddha10. Buddhist Philosophy11. The Jataka Tales12. The Panchatantra13. Jainism, Ahimsa, and Gandhi’s Satyagraha14. The Chandragupta and Ashoka15. Greek India16. Dharma, the Laws of Manu, and the Caste System17. The Arthashastra of Kautilya18. The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana19. The Ramayana of Valmiki20. The Mahabharata of Vyasa21. The Bhagavad Gita, or Song of God22. The Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi23. The The Golden Age of India24. The Six Samkhya-Yoga25. The Six Nyaya-Vaisheshika26. The Six Mimamsa-Vedanta
Final words
Write the book you want to read, they say—and this, here, is it.
While covering all the important areas (see contents list below), you will
How the Vedic gods are related to the Greek and Roman ones.The secret of the self that even the gods were desperate to learn.How to stop suffering, according to the Buddha.How to achieve enlightenment, according to the Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains.How the swastika came to be appropriated by the Nazis.How Gandhi’s non-violence is rooted in Indian philosophy.Why the Kama Sutra is about a lot more than sex.What yoga’s actually about—not even my yoga teacher knew this.How the Gupta Golden Age led to the invention of zero, chess, and nose jobs.And much, much more.
Contents List
A Picture of India
1. The Indus Valley Civilization2. The Aryans and their Vedas3. Vedic Indra, Agni, Soma, and the Rest4. Sanskrit and the Grammar of Panini5. The Upanishads6. Brahman and Brahma7. Atman, or the Self8. Karma, Samsara, Moksha, Yoga9. Life of the Buddha10. Buddhist Philosophy11. The Jataka Tales12. The Panchatantra13. Jainism, Ahimsa, and Gandhi’s Satyagraha14. The Chandragupta and Ashoka15. Greek India16. Dharma, the Laws of Manu, and the Caste System17. The Arthashastra of Kautilya18. The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana19. The Ramayana of Valmiki20. The Mahabharata of Vyasa21. The Bhagavad Gita, or Song of God22. The Vishnu, Shiva, and Devi23. The The Golden Age of India24. The Six Samkhya-Yoga25. The Six Nyaya-Vaisheshika26. The Six Mimamsa-Vedanta
Final words
268 pages, Paperback
Published April 25, 2024
16 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Neel Burton
48 books259 followersDr Neel Burton is a psychiatrist, philosopher, and wine-lover who lives and teaches in Oxford, England. He is a Fellow of Green-Templeton College in the University of Oxford, and the winner of several book prizes including, the feather in his cap, a Best in the World Gourmand Award. His work features regularly in the likes of Aeon and Psychology Today and has been translated into several languages. When he is not reading or writing, or imbibing, he enjoys cooking, gardening, skiing, learning languages, visiting museums and gardens, and travelling, especially to wine regions.
His books include:
- The Meaning of Myth (Ancient Wisdom 1)
- Stoic Stories (Ancient Wisdom 2)
- The Gang of Three: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (Ancient Wisdom 3)
- The Meaning of Madness (Ataraxia 1)
- Hide and Seek: The Psychology of Self-Deception (Ataraxia 2)
- Heaven and Hell: The Psychology of the Emotions (Ataraxia 3)
www.neelburton.com
His books include:
- The Meaning of Myth (Ancient Wisdom 1)
- Stoic Stories (Ancient Wisdom 2)
- The Gang of Three: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle (Ancient Wisdom 3)
- The Meaning of Madness (Ataraxia 1)
- Hide and Seek: The Psychology of Self-Deception (Ataraxia 2)
- Heaven and Hell: The Psychology of the Emotions (Ataraxia 3)
www.neelburton.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 3, 2025
On enjoyability, I rate this a 4.5; on a critical lens of the quality of the book, I rate this a 3.65.
On the positive side,
I really really enjoyed reading through this book! I wasn't sure how I fully thought or felt about this book until page 47, when I realize that this book feels like it was made in the 1970s or '80s (even though it was written lil' over a year ago) and I was thrown back to that era while reading it thenceforth.
Neel Burton brings humor to the table that I didn't ask for, but wasn't complaining, with his quips or quotes. It's not overdone, but its present all throughout most chapters, using sparingly. Humor is something I really appreciate in nonfiction writing, and I was impressed with his use of it, whether some of it was intentional or not.
Though there was no Index to refer to for when or where foreign terms/words first appeared or defined, I really enjoyed powering through this book, putting my working memory to the test, taking annotated notes to remember or to keep track of it all - which made reading it pleasantly feel like completing a puzzle. He usually does some of the work enough for the reader by occasionally referring back or forth to the chapters that the terms or names play a prominent role in, which, for lacking an Index section, was much appreciated, lol!
On the more negative sides...
The quality of the book I read this on was horrid/low-quality. Just by bending the covers to read, the plastic film readily peels off. The book uses quite a bit of images to use as a references, with two important maps for context and references, but all the images are in black and white, with the maps being particularly blurry and hard to see what is trying to be conveyed, to the point of making them nigh useless. The quality would likely be no better on a Kindle, which, after reading the paperback version, I would recommend over a hardcopy.
Like I said, there is no Glossary nor Index, thus, it can make it hard to keep track of what word means what, and trust me, THERE ARE A LOT OF NEW/FOREIGN WORDS! Most of the time he does a good job reminding you, other times, you will be scratching your head, asking, "what does this important word mean, again?" Being able to look words up in the book itself can greatly enhance the flow of reading.
I'm not sure what happened on page 176 when he was trying to connect J. Robert Oppenheimer (you know him from that Chris Nolan movie by his name) quoting/referencing the Bhagavad Gita? This whole page felt weird and disjointed.
Something to note, don't go into reading this expecting Sikhism, Islamism, Zoroastrianism, nor Judaism or Christianity. The first two I'm only vaguely aware of their significance to the Indian subcontinent. I doubt any of them would have fit into this book neatly anyways, I just wanted to bring up there notable absence. I think he covered a lot in this tiny book as already!
Lastly, on GoodReads, it says this book is 368 pages long, but the one I received is only 236 pages long I dunno what happened here?
I set out on this read to learn more about Hinduism after briefly being aware of it from passing remarks on a book about Islam. I watched the Crash Course Religions video about it and knew I had to learn more.
I am very happy with Neel's presentation of it, and more, in this book, to say that this is one of my top 3 favorite nonfiction books I have read thus far this year! :D
On the positive side,
I really really enjoyed reading through this book! I wasn't sure how I fully thought or felt about this book until page 47, when I realize that this book feels like it was made in the 1970s or '80s (even though it was written lil' over a year ago) and I was thrown back to that era while reading it thenceforth.
Neel Burton brings humor to the table that I didn't ask for, but wasn't complaining, with his quips or quotes. It's not overdone, but its present all throughout most chapters, using sparingly. Humor is something I really appreciate in nonfiction writing, and I was impressed with his use of it, whether some of it was intentional or not.
Though there was no Index to refer to for when or where foreign terms/words first appeared or defined, I really enjoyed powering through this book, putting my working memory to the test, taking annotated notes to remember or to keep track of it all - which made reading it pleasantly feel like completing a puzzle. He usually does some of the work enough for the reader by occasionally referring back or forth to the chapters that the terms or names play a prominent role in, which, for lacking an Index section, was much appreciated, lol!
On the more negative sides...
The quality of the book I read this on was horrid/low-quality. Just by bending the covers to read, the plastic film readily peels off. The book uses quite a bit of images to use as a references, with two important maps for context and references, but all the images are in black and white, with the maps being particularly blurry and hard to see what is trying to be conveyed, to the point of making them nigh useless. The quality would likely be no better on a Kindle, which, after reading the paperback version, I would recommend over a hardcopy.
Like I said, there is no Glossary nor Index, thus, it can make it hard to keep track of what word means what, and trust me, THERE ARE A LOT OF NEW/FOREIGN WORDS! Most of the time he does a good job reminding you, other times, you will be scratching your head, asking, "what does this important word mean, again?" Being able to look words up in the book itself can greatly enhance the flow of reading.
I'm not sure what happened on page 176 when he was trying to connect J. Robert Oppenheimer (you know him from that Chris Nolan movie by his name) quoting/referencing the Bhagavad Gita? This whole page felt weird and disjointed.
Something to note, don't go into reading this expecting Sikhism, Islamism, Zoroastrianism, nor Judaism or Christianity. The first two I'm only vaguely aware of their significance to the Indian subcontinent. I doubt any of them would have fit into this book neatly anyways, I just wanted to bring up there notable absence. I think he covered a lot in this tiny book as already!
Lastly, on GoodReads, it says this book is 368 pages long, but the one I received is only 236 pages long I dunno what happened here?
I set out on this read to learn more about Hinduism after briefly being aware of it from passing remarks on a book about Islam. I watched the Crash Course Religions video about it and knew I had to learn more.
I am very happy with Neel's presentation of it, and more, in this book, to say that this is one of my top 3 favorite nonfiction books I have read thus far this year! :D
November 25, 2024
2024 BIBA Winner!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews