Indian Demonology: The Inverted Pantheon

by Narendra Nain Bhattacharyya

This book deals at length with the myths and legends pertaining to various kinds of celestial, aerial and terrestrial demonical beings and demon lore found in the Vedas, Buddhist, Jain, Epic and Puranic sources. It demonstrates how they have been subjected under diverse historical conditions to the processes of social, religious and cultural transformations.

234 pages, Hardcover

First published July 18, 2000

Reviews

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an excellent example of outstanding scholarship marred by utterly lazy editing and cheap production.
First let me talk about the scholarship. The book under review is the single-most comprehensive index and account of all entities whom we can identify as demoniac in Indian context. It describes such entities under the following chapters~
1. Vedic Demonology;
2. Buddhist Demonology;
3. Jain Demonology;
4. Epic Demonology;
5. Puranic Demenology— I;
6. Puranic Demenology— II;
7. Puranic Demenology— III.
These are followed by Bibliography and Index.
Unfortunately, such a comprehensive work has been burdened with very poor quality of paper, equally poor lay-out, complete lack of illistrations and bad binding.
Despite all these, simply on the basis of content it earns four stars and is recommended solely on that ground.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good resource but would have been far more effective as something more akin to a encyclopedia with illustrations.

[Sreenivasa Subramanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly articulated book. It helps us think from a different perspective. Not like any other books. There are no inherently good or bad beings, but it's their karma and what they do with the boons they receive after performing penance and austerities. Good read!