Better alternative for Mythology

Solution 1:

canon - among its other meanings the following seems most appropriate:

a list of writings, esp sacred writings, officially recognized as genuine

although there are other meanings with religious connotations which may also be appropriate. Though originally applied to Christianity, I can see no reason why they should not apply to any other religion.

Solution 2:

In Christianity, "Christian mythology" is sometimes (but rarely) used as a neutral description of the stories of the Bible. Most often, it is reserved for use by skeptical academics.

On the other hand, "Biblical history" is also occasionally used for Bible stories; although, that is misleading because it is usually reserved as the default term for the historical context in which the Bible was written.

These two definitions push people to use the more neutral-sounding phrase "Bible stories" (as I did above) or simply "scripture". With this in mind, I would recommend either "sacred stories", "sacred writings", "scripture", or something like "Hindu stories".

Solution 3:

I am Indian and familiar with the Indian understanding of words like mythology, scripture and folk-tales. While "mythology" is a scholarly term with a specific meaning correctly applied here, your problem is that the connotation of 'myth' is unwelcome for believers. However you cannot get the same meaning with either scripture or folk-tale, because in terms of sources, mythology is composed of both scriptures (sacred texts) and folk-tales (legends):

mythology = scriptures + folk tales.

Since your main problem is with the 'myth' part, and because theasurus.com lists 'tradition' as a synonym of mythology, I think a good replacement tag would be divine-tradition.

This term is actually used in religious contexts as in the following examples:

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=%22divine+tradition

It has a specific meaning in Christianity but that would not create confusion on Hinduism.SE, where it need only mean "tradition of the divine", which is another way of saying mythology without the 'myth' -- moreover by using 'divine' with 'tradition' you can distinguish mythological elements concerned with gods and other divinities from traditional 'earthly' cultural practices dealing with worship and devotion, which come under "religious tradition."

Example sentence:

In Hindu mythology, many demons are portrayed as cursed beings awaiting salvation.

In the Hindu divine tradition, many demons are portrayed as cursed beings awaiting salvation.

Please do discuss this suggestion with your community members on your SE meta.

Solution 4:

"lore" may be what you're looking for. It means traditional wisdom, without the negative connotations of "myth".