The Similarities Between The Ramayana And Iliad

Mythology is stories about a particular group of people or culture. They reflect the society structure, social value, believes and intellectual development of the people from certain civilization. They exist in every culture. There are two long-history civilization with deep, rich compile of mythology which existed in different parts of world far from each other. Even though they speak different language and believe various religion, they share amazing similarities between their mythologies with same themes, motif and characteristic. These two ancient cultures are Greeks and the Hindus. The reason that these two share similar myth is maybe their ancestors experience the same event or they have contacts before and are culturally influenced with

It is one of greatest and largest epic poems in the world. The Ramayana is composed in Sanskrit, an ancient language originated in mainland India. It is written around 300 BCE, by the poet Valmiki. Like Iliad, the Ramayana plays an important role in Hindu literature. The Ramayana is often compared to Iliad by Homer because these two epic poems have a lot in common in plot. In the Ramayana, Dasharatha is the King of Ayodhya and has three wives and four sons, Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shartrughana. Rama is the favorite son of his father because he is brave, righteous and skillful in everything. When he grows to the manhood, the great sage Vishvamitra comes and askes for help in defending the demons. At his request, Rama and Lakshamana agree to aid him in slaying the demons. Vishavamitra accompany two brothers to the courts of King Janaka of Videha where Rama meet princess Sita. The king declares that who ever could lift the heavy bow could marry Sita. Then Rama succeeds to wield the bow and marries Sita. Based on Rama’s merit, King Dasharatha considers him as the right heir to the throne. But vicious stepmother Kaikeyi tries to make her son Bharata King of Ayodhya instead. So she uses two wishes granted by King Dasharatha: exile Rama to the forest for fourteen years and appoint Bharata as right heir. Rama agrees the term without hesitance so that his father can keep the promise. Sita and Lakshmana decide to follow him into

In Trojan war of Iliad, Helen , the most beautiful woman on the Earth, is abducted by the Paris of Troy. Then her husband Meneluas, king of Sparta allied with Agamemnon, king of Mycenar to siege the Troy for ten years. At last Meneluas succeeds to conquer Troy and takes Helen back to Sparta. Agamemnon and Menelaos could be considered parallel to Rama and Laksmana. In addition Ramayana also shares a same pattern of motifs that characterizes Greek “hero myth”. For example, The hero’s truest companions is another male. In Greek mythology, Heracles’s companion is Iolaus who assists Heracles during battle against the Hydra, his second labor. While Lakshmana is truest companion of Rama who follows Rama everywhere and helps him defeat evil Khara’s army. Another motif is that the hero resists the temptations of an enticing but dangerous woman. In Greek mythology, the great hero Gilgamesh rejects ruthless Ishtar. Ishtar is very angry and ask her father, Anu, king of heaven for avenge. She demand Anu release the Bull of heaven to attack Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh has close resemblance with Rama who also rejects the demon Shurpanakha’s love. Rama myth also present the motif that the hero have help from gods, spirits or magical objects. When Rama fight with ten heads Ravana, he gains advise from Hanuman who is monkey warrior, son of the wind-god.