Names, Places, Events, Things: Ruminations and Essays on Hindu Mythology

Show me how to Live! भार्गवेन हता माता एका जायाश्च पाण्डवाः | परदाररतः कृष्णो न देवं चरितं चरेत् || Translation: "Bhargava (Parashuram) killed his own mother; (All five) paandavas had but one wife (Draupadi); Krishna indulged with others' wives; do not perform the deeds of the gods" If one of the purposes of mythology is so that people take lessons from the lives of others and  learn how to live their own lives, some of the oldest civilizations surely do not provide a direct  ready reckoner for such modeling. Take the Greeks and the Romans, for example. Zeus / Jupiter is always wooing ladies from different species - women, nymphs, goddesses. His wife Hera is always fuming mad with jealousy. Hades is always conspiring to overthrow his brother's throne. The Olympians appear to be a petty, squabbling, self-centred lot. The demigods and the so-called heros are no exceptions either. Heracles is a cold, cunning and calculating figure. More so is Odysseus. Ach...