ABSTRACT
Till the eighteenth century, India had a rich past but no history. The establishment of the Asiatic Society of Bengal gradually paved the way for converting this past into history. Indian culture has always been inspired by religion. Before the studies of William Jones, Indian gods and goddesses were only characters of Indian religion, but the linguistic and historical studies of Jones for the first time accepted Indian gods and goddesses as characters of Indian history instead of creatures roaming in the heaven. In 1785 CE, he presented a paper entitled ‘On the Gods of Greece, Italy and India’ comparing the Indian, Greek and Italian gods and goddesses. He equated Janus with Ganesha, Minerva with Durga, Diana with Bhavani, Dionysos with Rama, Apollo with Krishna, Hecate with Kali and Ceres with Lakshmi etc. On the basis of linguistic and historical studies of these religious d eities, Jones has discussed the ancient relations among these nations. In this research paper, an attempt has been made to know how the Europeans were trying to understand the Indian religious expressions etc. and what parameters or aspects were used in their studies. In this study, a comparative and historically grounded approach has been used, with a focus on close reading of key texts. The main sources include Sir William Jones's essay On the Gods of Greece, Italy and India, along with traditional Indian scriptures like the Ṛgveda, Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, and Yājñavalkya Smṛti. These texts were examined to better understand how Indian gods and goddesses were portrayed in terms of their religious and philosophical roles. The paper compares Jones's interpretations with these Indian sources to see how he linked Indian deities with figures from Greek and Roman mythology, using language and stories as points of connection. To support this analysis, Relevant secondary sources in English and Hindi have been reviewed.
