A Structural Analysis of Hindu Demon-subduing Mythology and the Construction of Hindu Sacredness
Demon-subduing mythology,widely found in Hindu mythology,is an important motif across various mythical systems including Veda,Veda,and purana.As a typical type of sacred narrative,the demon-subduing mythology is religiously essential to the construction of sacredness of Hinduism.Structuralist mythology is one of the primary mythology theories in contemporary mythological studies,aiming to explore the religious and cultural significance by analyzing the universal structural rules of mythological texts.Referring to structuralist theory,this paper proposes the concept of"functional events",utilizing gods and demons and their actions as elements to construct a general narrative structure of Hindu demon-subduing mythology.This narrative structure consists of five functional events:"Birth of Demons","Receive Blessings(or Curses)","Commit Blasphemy","Divine Descend",and"Reconstruct Order".By analyzing this narrative structure,the paper argues that the demon-subduing mythology is a narrative expression within the framework of the Hindu religious belief system of"monotheistic faith and polytheistic worship",resolving various oppositions between gods and demons,the conflicts between dharma and adharma,and the contradictions between maintenance and destruction of order.Thus,it forms a complete structure both narratively and philosophically,completes the construction of the sacredness of belief and provides Hindus with guidance and admonition in terms of beliefs and rituals.Based on this theory,the paper uses three instances of demon-subduing myths from the fundamental classic of the zakat Hinduism Devamata as research texts,extracts the structural characteristics of contradiction and resolution within the demon-subduing mythology and analyzes the significance of Devamata in constructing the sacredness of the zakat Hinduism.
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
