ABSTRACT
This study has been both literary and historical, and my conclusions are broadly divided into these two (inter-related) aspects. In literary terms this study has used the notion of character, including character role and lineage, as a way of better understanding some of the key ideas and concerns of early Indian religious groups. In particular, the characters of key gods and heroes have been used to explore competing ideas about divinity and heroism, about karma and cosmohistory, and about exemplary paths and goals. It is worth bringing together these literary analyses here, in order to reflect on what a study of narrative characters has managed to teach us about Indian religious ideas and ideals. Stepping outside the individual stories and texts, however, has also been an important part of this study, as we have compared depictions of characters or uses of character roles in different texts and traditions, and highlighted specific examples of narrative borrowing or moments of encounter or influence. Thus in the second part of this chapter we will discuss the more historical conclusions that can be drawn from this study, including the different types of shared character and what they tell us about inter-religious encounter and early Indian religious history.
