The Similarities of the Greek and Hindu Culture: Based on the Mahabharata and the Odyssey
Similarities between cultures exist throughout history, even with cultures that are separated by time and distance from each other. The Greek and Indic civilizations are no different; in that we can see that they took multiple essences of storytelling from one another and used it in epic poems and stories that fueled the religion and backbone of these societies. The Mahabharata in the Hindu culture was and still remains today a massive part of the upbringing of many Indic civilizations, with the stories of Arjuna and Drona, leading the way for all of those that follow Hinduism, a type of mold to follow and try to recreate. The same can be said for the …show more content…
Once they find Ekalayya they ask him who he is, and he says that he is a prince and also Drona’s Pupil, and at that moment, Drona exposes Ekalayya and asks him for his payment since he was his student, in the form of his right thumb, which made him worse than Arjuna at that point. In both epics it can be seen that the main character has some tithes and weight in the community of the gods, depicting that the two cultures believed in having a close relationship with those figures that govern the life in which you lead. In some cases the closer you are and the closer you follow their words you can achieve any feat that may try to hinder you on your journey. In the Odyssey when Odysseus speaks to Hermes, Hermes states that he must follow his instructions to the letter in order to be successful against cerci and her manipulative ways, and Odysseus has a decision to believe the gods messenger after all the torment they have put him and his men …show more content…
In the epic The Odyssey, Odysseus lands on an island that is inhabited by Cyclops’ and the one in particular who makes a feast out f Odysseus ‘ men is Polyphemus. In this part of the epic, Odysseus must rein calm and figure out a way to get his men out of this predicament and back to their ship. Here the reader of the epic can infer that the people of Greece that read this epic and made it a normal part of society, wanted the epic to facilitate the ideas of becoming cunning and ruthless if need be to protect one’s own and to return home safely no matter the cost, and we can see that is the case in most of Greeks history many of the soldiers fought valiantly and cunningly in order to defeat the threat and return home safely. In the Mahabharata however, the ideals of a perfect warrior are modeled completely different, and can be seen in the story of the ring and the well. The story of the ring and the well start off with the two main characters becoming students of Rishi Bhardwaj, in which Drona wanted to learn everything he can and become a great teacher, while Drupad was more lackadaisical and didn’t complete many of his chores. At the end of their time together Drupad and Drona had become great child hood friends and Drupad had promised Drona half of his kingdom once he became king. Later in life Drona came to collect on the
Similarities between cultures exist throughout history, even with cultures that are separated by time and distance from each other. The Greek and Indic civilizations are no different; in that we can see that they took multiple essences of storytelling from one another and used it in epic poems and stories that fueled the religion and backbone of these societies. The Mahabharata in the Hindu culture was and still remains today a massive part of the upbringing of many Indic civilizations, with the stories of Arjuna and Drona, leading the way for all of those that follow Hinduism, a type of mold to follow and try to recreate. The same can be said for the …show more content…
Once they find Ekalayya they ask him who he is, and he says that he is a prince and also Drona’s Pupil, and at that moment, Drona exposes Ekalayya and asks him for his payment since he was his student, in the form of his right thumb, which made him worse than Arjuna at that point. In both epics it can be seen that the main character has some tithes and weight in the community of the gods, depicting that the two cultures believed in having a close relationship with those figures that govern the life in which you lead. In some cases the closer you are and the closer you follow their words you can achieve any feat that may try to hinder you on your journey. In the Odyssey when Odysseus speaks to Hermes, Hermes states that he must follow his instructions to the letter in order to be successful against cerci and her manipulative ways, and Odysseus has a decision to believe the gods messenger after all the torment they have put him and his men …show more content…
In the epic The Odyssey, Odysseus lands on an island that is inhabited by Cyclops’ and the one in particular who makes a feast out f Odysseus ‘ men is Polyphemus. In this part of the epic, Odysseus must rein calm and figure out a way to get his men out of this predicament and back to their ship. Here the reader of the epic can infer that the people of Greece that read this epic and made it a normal part of society, wanted the epic to facilitate the ideas of becoming cunning and ruthless if need be to protect one’s own and to return home safely no matter the cost, and we can see that is the case in most of Greeks history many of the soldiers fought valiantly and cunningly in order to defeat the threat and return home safely. In the Mahabharata however, the ideals of a perfect warrior are modeled completely different, and can be seen in the story of the ring and the well. The story of the ring and the well start off with the two main characters becoming students of Rishi Bhardwaj, in which Drona wanted to learn everything he can and become a great teacher, while Drupad was more lackadaisical and didn’t complete many of his chores. At the end of their time together Drupad and Drona had become great child hood friends and Drupad had promised Drona half of his kingdom once he became king. Later in life Drona came to collect on the