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One of the big Indian publishing houses produces a comic series under the press name "Amar Chitra Katha." They're comic-book forms of many of the Hindu myths, as well as more general South Asian history and biography. Hard to find, but kind of fun and surprisingly accurate. I grew up on them, and endorse them strongly. 
On this side of the Pacific, try stuff by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty, although it may be a little dense. There's also a great book entitled "What is Hinduism" but I blipped on the author's name. And, as Grant said there are a ton of websites.
A good place to start would be the Gita--although is has a sectarian bias, it still gives the best summary of the basic ethical/metaphysical structure. After that, I'd move on to the Ramayana and Mahabharata, which demonstrate this system functioning within a plotline, and respectively represent the ideal and "real-politic" cases. I love the Mahabharata: it's one of the most complex, meaning dense documents ever written. But the original is frigging long: so start out with a plot overview version, rather than a translation.
I'd do the Upanishads next: they're structured a lot like Buddhist parables--short stories designed to exemplify and drive home a metaphysical point. Some of what the communicate enlarges the basic picture presented by the Gita.
The Vedas are somewhat harder to read, given their translation from an earlier form of Sanskrit, their verse form, and their repetitive design, which is perfect for memorization and recitation, but a little hard on the reading faculties.
The Shastras are quite hard to find in translation: I've only found copies of the Penguin translations of the Dharmashastra of Manu, which lays out the basics of ethics and social structure and conduct, and the Arthashastra of Kautilya, which is a fascinating document reminiscent of "the Prince," but tells you little about Hinduism as a religious structure. If you can find the Dharmashastra, it helps flesh out ideas about caste, gender roles, and ritual obligations.
Honestly, I haven't wittingly read the Vedantas, but the Puranas are great: they're just assembleges of myths, sorted by which deity is the protagonist. The stories of Krishna (Krsna) are some of the best, and are sometimes collected into a third epics, the Harivamsa.
Personally I like Shiva best. If you can find the story of Tripura, you'll see why. 
Good hunting. |
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