Madhusudan_Das

His Life and Achievements 207
researches on the function of mythology in recreating a nation would
be the best reply to such criticism.
Professor Campbell, a retired Professor of literature at Sarah,
Lawrence College, New York, is an authority on Mythology and its
functions. In his latest discussion on the subject, Professor Campbell
summarises his conclusions on the functions of mythology in the
following words:
(i) It is veiled explanation of truth,
(ii) Through its rites and imagery, it weakens in the
individual a sense of awe and raises & gratitude and even
rupture rather than fear about mystery of the Universe
and man's existence within it.
(iii) The mythology also offers the man a comprehensive
understandable image of the world around him roughly
in accordance with the best scientific knowledge of the
times,
(iv) The function of living mythology is to support the social
order through rites and ceremonies,
(v) The most important function of mythology is to guide
the individual, stage by stage, through the inevitable
psyschological crisis of useful life,
(vi) All ages before ours believed in gods in some form or
other. Heaven has not become an empty place to us, as
a fair memory of things that once happened were placed
in it. But our heart glows a secret unrest gnaws at the
root of our being,
(vii) Whether my guiding angel is for a time named Vishnu,
Jesus of Buddha, the same message is there in the
multitude of myths and legends that have been preserved
to us wherein we may still find guidance.
These conclusions fully support the stand of our great leaders of
Oriya revivalism and in the light of the present researches we may
offer our heartfelt gratitude to them in reviving and revitalising the
mythology of Lord Jagannath in the process of recreating a National
Consciousness in Orissa.