tasks and family relationships. However, it would be a mistake ever to expect a pantheon to be completely consistent. In many instances the relationships between the various deities are pretty fluid. Several gods may have similar offices, and there may be conflicting versions of the relationships of the gods to each other. For instance, in Hinduism the family of the god Shiva may be described as consisting of Shiva’s wife, Parvati, and his two sons, Ganesha and Subrahmanyan. But a closer look at