ABSTRACT
Hindu polytheism has its roots in the Vedas and however one may feel about the Hindu claim that all forms of belief and practice found in their tradition have their origin in the Vedas, there is no doubt that the theory and practice of polytheism at its best can be found there. Polytheistic gods belong to a specific complex of beliefs and attitudes to life and they must be conceived to be close to man in order to fulfil their function - of being the embodiment of something that is important to the question of living man’s life here on earth, something that is an object of man’s immediate concern and that man pursues as being desirable or recognises and accepts as a fact, even though it may not be particularly pleasant, such as suffering, disease, or death. Perhaps some Vedic poets had a vague understanding that gods are born out of men’s minds.
