Correcting a typo in my earlier post:

>I agree that the Vedic gods suffered a loss in status relative to the later Hindu gods.
>But I don't see anything amounting to rejection of reviling.

Should read:
I don't see anything amounting to rejection OR reviling.

--- On Mon, 1/30/12, K. Chowksey <klchxbec@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: K. Chowksey <klchxbec@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: transition from Vedic to Hindu religion
To: "Dean Michael Anderson" <eastwestcultural@yahoo.com>
Date: Monday, January 30, 2012, 12:30 PM

I'd classify Indra's description in Puranas as reviling esp if you contrast it to RgVedic descriptions. Otherwise, nothing very dramatic :-)

Compare RV "indrasya nu vīryāṇi pra vocaṃ yāni cakāra prathamāni vajrī" to any Bhagavata Purana's tale of Indra rushing to Vishnu for help in Samudra Manthana

Anothing thing I might add and that is not mainstream Hindu religion, rather a sectarian belief; is selecting those passages from Rgveda which show Rudra to be wrathful; and therefore projecting Hindu Shiva as not so prayer-worthy as Vishnu.

RV_01.114.10
āre te goghnamuta pūruṣaghnaṃ kṣayadvīra sumnamasme teastu
mṛḷā ca no adhi ca brūhi devādhā ca naḥ śarma yachadvibarhāḥ

The sectarian debates between Vaishnavas and Shaivaites do take a rather hostile expression sometimes.

-Kapil

From: Dean Michael Anderson <eastwestcultural@yahoo.com>
To: K. Chowksey <klchxbec@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, 30 January 2012 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: transition from Vedic to Hindu religion

I agree that the Vedic gods suffered a loss in status relative to the later Hindu gods. But I don't see anything amounting to rejection of reviling.

It appears to be a gradual development of religious thought as one sees in similar cases.

I was not aware of the Ganapati/Brahmanaspati conflation. Fascinating.

Best,

Dean