Arjuna–Odysseus Allen

Bringing together the study of the Greek classics and Indology arjuna–odysseus provides a comparative analysis of the shared heritage of the Mahabharata and early Greek traditions presented in the texts of Homer and hesiod. building on the ethnographic theories of Durkheim Mauss and Dumont the volume explores the convergences and rapprochements between the Mahabharata and the greektexts. In exploring the networks of similarities between the two epic traditions it also reformulates the theory of Georges dumézil regarding Indo-European cultural comparativism. It includes a detailed comparison between journeys undertaken by the two epic heroes – Odysseus and Arjuna – and more generally it ranges across the philosophical ideas of these cultures and the epic traditions metaphors and archetypes that define the cultural ideology of ancient Greece and India. this book will be useful to scholars and researchers of Indo-European comparativism social and cultural anthropology classical literature Indology cultural and post-colonial studies philosophy and religion as well as to those who love the Indian and Greek epics.