Comparative mythology - A study of myths and gods
Mythology is one of my childhood fixations. These fairy tales have never stopped to amaze me till this day and I have always wanted more in the end. In my time, I have read a little bit of mythology from different cultures and the parallels that can be drawn between them are innumerable. Some of them are fairly well-known while others are not. I have tried to compile them both here while adding a bit from my own reading.
I have also decided to keep out from this article comparisons between nature gods and their stories. Early man was a nature worshiper and wherever he migrated to, he took his gods with them. No matter what culture he adapted, he always found a place for mother nature in it and it is not surprising that the most ancient religions of the World like the Egyptian, Greek and Indian have innumerous similarities between themselves when it comes nature worship. In the space of a blog, it would be futile to cover this vast topic. So, I am saving that for another day.
Now to begin with, let's begin with the beginning.
Ra, Brahman and Abraham:
Their names sounds similar. They have the same etymology.
Brahman takes root in two Sanskrit words "Brah" meaning "To expand" and "Man" meaning "mind". So, Brahman literally translates to "Expand using mind" and his story backs that up. At the beginning of the process of creation, Brahma created ten(the number varies between sources) sons who came out of his mind rather than his body. These sons were collectively called Prajapatis and it is believed that they are the fathers of the human race.
Now, Abraham in Hebrew means "Father of many" (Ab - Father, Hamon - Many). Jews consider that Abraham is their biological progenitor as well as the founder of Judaism. According to Jewish beliefs, God promised Abraham to make of great nation of offspring and that's how Jews came into being. It must also be noted that Abraham plays a role in the scheme of things in
Christianity as well as Islam.
In Egyptian mythology, Ra is the creator god. Like Brahman, he is also self-created.
Noah, Manu, Deucalion, Nun and Utnaphistim:
Almost every civilization irrespective of its culture, religion and language has a flood myth associated with it. Probably the one widely known and highly popular is the story of Noah. It goes like this in the genesis flood narrative in the Bible.
Yahweh, a Judaic god, decides to flood the earth and wipe-out the human race because humans have sinned beyond redemption and needs to be cleansed off the earth. But before he does so, he instructs Noah, the then patriarch of Judaism, to built a ship and save a minimum of two of every living thing. Seven days before the flood, Noah and his household enter this waterproof vessel. For forty long days, the vessel is tossed around in the flood before it lands in Mount Ararat. Noah and his new friends stay inside the vessel for a few more days before venturing out. Thus humanity is saved and the the mystery of Noah's ark is born.
At least four others share this story of Noah.
In Shatapatha Brahmana(book written between 700BC-200BC), Satyavrata Manu takes the role of Noah and saves humanity from the flood caused by Vishnu in his Matsya Avatar.
In Greek mythology, Deucalion replaces Noah and saves himself and his wife along with a few animals by building a chest. The flood here is caused by Zeus.
In Sumeria, Utnaphistim saves human life by building a large ship, The preserver of life, from the floods created by Enki.
In Egyptian mythology, Nu(Nun) is Noah.
Taking a closer look, Noah is a ancestor of Abraham, Nu is the father of Ra, and Manu is the son of Brahman. There are also comparisons between Saraswati(wife of Brahman) and Sarai(wife of Abraham).
Egyptian book of the dead, Hammurabi's code, Ten commandments and Manusmriti:
The second is Babylonian. The third comes from middle east. The fourth is from India.
Spell 125 of the Egyptian book of death spells outs the vows one must take before the gods so that they can face death without fear. The crux of it is:
I have not blasphemed.
I have not stolen.
I have not killed.
I have committed adultery.
I have not told lies.
Hammurabhi's code insists death for blasphemers, adulterers, thieves and murderers among other punishments.
The Four main commandments insist on the same without any mention to the punishments.
Thou shall have no gods before me.
Thou shall not steal.
Thou shall not commit adultery.
Thou shall not kill.
Manusmriti is much more detailed than the Hammurabi's code or the ten commandments. In fact the text is a collection of twelve chapters of law and polity. The narrative is in form of a conversation between Manu and his disciple Bhrigu with an audience of Manu's students. The topics range from Creation to daily life, from the duties of the king to the rights of common men, from the petty crimes to the ones deserving capital punishment. But again here, the focus in on the same areas of Hammurabi's code and Ten commandments.
The sacred law shall be treated with respect.
A thief is a diseased man.
Adultery will not be tolerated. Women will be honoured.
A murderer, even the one slaying beasts, is of low class.
Hammurabi, Moses, Mises, Minos and Manu:
A these men were lawmakers from different cultures.
Hammurabi, the sixth king of Babylon, promulgated a set of laws that came to be known as Hammurabi code. It is said that these laws were handed over to him by the sun god Shamash.
Mises from Egypt is said have carried around stone tablets on which the laws of God were inscribed.
Moses is credited with the Mosaic law which also includes the ten commandments. It is said the ten commandments were inscribed on a tablet by the lord was handed over to Moses in Mount Sinai.
Minos is the Greek lawmaker who received the laws straight from Zeus himself on Mount Dicta.
In India, Syavambhuva Manu is credited with the Manusmriti which details the laws a Hindu must follow.
Sargon, Moses, Karna and Krishna:
These men share their birth stories.
According to the Sargon legend, believed to have been authored around 2250 B.C., upon his birth, Sargon of Akkad was placed in a basket reed and set adrift in a river fearing infanticide. He was rescued by Akki (either a royal gardener or a royal midwife) and raised in the town of Kish. He went on to become an emperor.
According to Bhagavata purana, Krishna - an avatar of Vishnu - was born as the eighth child of Devaki and Vasudeva. After coming to power, Devaki's brother Kamsan had killed six of Devaki's previous children fearing a prophecy that he will be killed by a child of Devaki. The seventh pregnancy was either a miscarriage or the embryo was transferred to Rohini's(the first wife of Vasudeva) womb. That became the birth story of Balaraman, krishna's elder brother. When Krishna, the eighth child was born, Vasudeva smuggled him out of the prison and carried him across a river to Gokulam where he was raised by Yashoda.
Karna(like Jesus) was born of a Virgin birth. His mother Kunti had been granted a boon to get impregnated by a deity and she used it to invoke the Sun god who impregnated her with Karna. Kunti was still unmarried when this happened and she feared disgrace. So, she wrapped Karna in a blanket, put him in a basket and set him adrift in a river. Karna was found by Adhirathan, a charioteer to the king of Hastinapuri. He and his wife raised the child like their own before Karna found a friend in Dhuryodhana and was made the kind of Anga.
Moses birth story is detailed in the Exodus. According to it, an Egyptian Pharaoh ordered the killing of all male Hebrew children. Upon his birth, Moses' mother Jochebed kept him concealed for about three months before she placed him in a tiny boat and set him in marsh in the Nile. It is said that Moses' blood sister Miriam watched over him from behind bushes till the Pharaoh's daughter found the baby. She raised the baby with the help of a hired nurse Jochebed(Yes, Moses's real mother). Since Pharaoh's daughter already had a son and since Moses was not her own son, Moses was denied the chance to become the Egyptian Pharaoh.
Jesus, Osiris, Hercules, Buddha, Krishna, and Karna:
The parallels in the story of these men are many and I will go over them one by one.
Birth: Mystery surrounds the birth of all of these men from history/mythology. Jesus was born of a Virgin Mary. Karna was born of a virgin Kunti. Hercules was born a virgin Alcmene. There is debate over whether Buddha and Krishna were born of Virgin or were conceived by intercourse. Nothing is known about the birth of Osiris.
Childhood: Very little is known about the childhood of all these men except Krishna whose life as a child takes centre stage in many literary sources including Mahabharata, Bhagavata purana and Vishnu purana.
Teachings: Jesus, Buddha and Krishna preached kindness, love and tolerance. Though Krishna advised violence against aggressors he also cautioned about the consequences of it.
Persona: In one way or another, all these men except Karna were seen as the saviour of humanity; the ones who could our sins and free our souls; the ones who could deliver us.
Death: Killed in mysterious ways or through foul play. Karna was killed on the battlefield by Krishna through a series of promises and betrayals(including the promise he made to Kunti). Krishna was killed by a poisoned arrow from a hunter's bow who mistook him for a deer. Osiris is claimed to have been killed by his brother in a fight for the crown. Hercules was accidentally poisoned by his wife using the blood of man who tried to kidnap her; whom Hercules killed using a poisoned arrow. Buddha died after eating a meal in a blacksmith's house(it is said that Buddha knew about it and called it Mahaparinirvana - a deathless state). Jesus was crucified by the Romans for sedition(Gospel of Judas claims that Jesus knew about it and he saw it as his way to reach God).
Resurrection: It is said that Osiris' wife resurrected him after his death and conceived a son(Horus) with him posthumously. Doesn't that sound like the story of Jesus too? Three days after his crucifixion, Jesus resurrects and the first one to see him is Mary Magdalene who some claim was his wife with whom he fathered a daughter, Sarah.
There are lot more identity comparisons between mythological figures across cultures. Comparisons between Kama and Cupid, Shiva and El shaddai are a few examples. There are other life story comparisons between Jesus, Horus, Dionysus, Attis and Mithra(All were born on December 25th. Most of them performed miracles. All of them had 12 disciples except Attis and Dionysus. And all of them were resurrected upon death).
However, I am not going to go into all the details of these comparisons mostly due to the length of this blog and my laziness. I will save them for another day.
Comparative mythology is an interesting study which in the future might help draw more accurate timelines about our history.
I have also decided to keep out from this article comparisons between nature gods and their stories. Early man was a nature worshiper and wherever he migrated to, he took his gods with them. No matter what culture he adapted, he always found a place for mother nature in it and it is not surprising that the most ancient religions of the World like the Egyptian, Greek and Indian have innumerous similarities between themselves when it comes nature worship. In the space of a blog, it would be futile to cover this vast topic. So, I am saving that for another day.
Now to begin with, let's begin with the beginning.
Ra, Brahman and Abraham:
Their names sounds similar. They have the same etymology.
Brahman takes root in two Sanskrit words "Brah" meaning "To expand" and "Man" meaning "mind". So, Brahman literally translates to "Expand using mind" and his story backs that up. At the beginning of the process of creation, Brahma created ten(the number varies between sources) sons who came out of his mind rather than his body. These sons were collectively called Prajapatis and it is believed that they are the fathers of the human race.
Now, Abraham in Hebrew means "Father of many" (Ab - Father, Hamon - Many). Jews consider that Abraham is their biological progenitor as well as the founder of Judaism. According to Jewish beliefs, God promised Abraham to make of great nation of offspring and that's how Jews came into being. It must also be noted that Abraham plays a role in the scheme of things in
Christianity as well as Islam.
In Egyptian mythology, Ra is the creator god. Like Brahman, he is also self-created.
Noah, Manu, Deucalion, Nun and Utnaphistim:
Almost every civilization irrespective of its culture, religion and language has a flood myth associated with it. Probably the one widely known and highly popular is the story of Noah. It goes like this in the genesis flood narrative in the Bible.
Yahweh, a Judaic god, decides to flood the earth and wipe-out the human race because humans have sinned beyond redemption and needs to be cleansed off the earth. But before he does so, he instructs Noah, the then patriarch of Judaism, to built a ship and save a minimum of two of every living thing. Seven days before the flood, Noah and his household enter this waterproof vessel. For forty long days, the vessel is tossed around in the flood before it lands in Mount Ararat. Noah and his new friends stay inside the vessel for a few more days before venturing out. Thus humanity is saved and the the mystery of Noah's ark is born.
At least four others share this story of Noah.
In Shatapatha Brahmana(book written between 700BC-200BC), Satyavrata Manu takes the role of Noah and saves humanity from the flood caused by Vishnu in his Matsya Avatar.
In Greek mythology, Deucalion replaces Noah and saves himself and his wife along with a few animals by building a chest. The flood here is caused by Zeus.
In Sumeria, Utnaphistim saves human life by building a large ship, The preserver of life, from the floods created by Enki.
In Egyptian mythology, Nu(Nun) is Noah.
Taking a closer look, Noah is a ancestor of Abraham, Nu is the father of Ra, and Manu is the son of Brahman. There are also comparisons between Saraswati(wife of Brahman) and Sarai(wife of Abraham).
Egyptian book of the dead, Hammurabi's code, Ten commandments and Manusmriti:
The second is Babylonian. The third comes from middle east. The fourth is from India.
Spell 125 of the Egyptian book of death spells outs the vows one must take before the gods so that they can face death without fear. The crux of it is:
I have not blasphemed.
I have not stolen.
I have not killed.
I have committed adultery.
I have not told lies.
Hammurabhi's code insists death for blasphemers, adulterers, thieves and murderers among other punishments.
The Four main commandments insist on the same without any mention to the punishments.
Thou shall have no gods before me.
Thou shall not steal.
Thou shall not commit adultery.
Thou shall not kill.
Manusmriti is much more detailed than the Hammurabi's code or the ten commandments. In fact the text is a collection of twelve chapters of law and polity. The narrative is in form of a conversation between Manu and his disciple Bhrigu with an audience of Manu's students. The topics range from Creation to daily life, from the duties of the king to the rights of common men, from the petty crimes to the ones deserving capital punishment. But again here, the focus in on the same areas of Hammurabi's code and Ten commandments.
The sacred law shall be treated with respect.
A thief is a diseased man.
Adultery will not be tolerated. Women will be honoured.
A murderer, even the one slaying beasts, is of low class.
Hammurabi, Moses, Mises, Minos and Manu:
A these men were lawmakers from different cultures.
Hammurabi, the sixth king of Babylon, promulgated a set of laws that came to be known as Hammurabi code. It is said that these laws were handed over to him by the sun god Shamash.
Mises from Egypt is said have carried around stone tablets on which the laws of God were inscribed.
Moses is credited with the Mosaic law which also includes the ten commandments. It is said the ten commandments were inscribed on a tablet by the lord was handed over to Moses in Mount Sinai.
Minos is the Greek lawmaker who received the laws straight from Zeus himself on Mount Dicta.
In India, Syavambhuva Manu is credited with the Manusmriti which details the laws a Hindu must follow.
Sargon, Moses, Karna and Krishna:
These men share their birth stories.
According to the Sargon legend, believed to have been authored around 2250 B.C., upon his birth, Sargon of Akkad was placed in a basket reed and set adrift in a river fearing infanticide. He was rescued by Akki (either a royal gardener or a royal midwife) and raised in the town of Kish. He went on to become an emperor.
According to Bhagavata purana, Krishna - an avatar of Vishnu - was born as the eighth child of Devaki and Vasudeva. After coming to power, Devaki's brother Kamsan had killed six of Devaki's previous children fearing a prophecy that he will be killed by a child of Devaki. The seventh pregnancy was either a miscarriage or the embryo was transferred to Rohini's(the first wife of Vasudeva) womb. That became the birth story of Balaraman, krishna's elder brother. When Krishna, the eighth child was born, Vasudeva smuggled him out of the prison and carried him across a river to Gokulam where he was raised by Yashoda.
Karna(like Jesus) was born of a Virgin birth. His mother Kunti had been granted a boon to get impregnated by a deity and she used it to invoke the Sun god who impregnated her with Karna. Kunti was still unmarried when this happened and she feared disgrace. So, she wrapped Karna in a blanket, put him in a basket and set him adrift in a river. Karna was found by Adhirathan, a charioteer to the king of Hastinapuri. He and his wife raised the child like their own before Karna found a friend in Dhuryodhana and was made the kind of Anga.
Moses birth story is detailed in the Exodus. According to it, an Egyptian Pharaoh ordered the killing of all male Hebrew children. Upon his birth, Moses' mother Jochebed kept him concealed for about three months before she placed him in a tiny boat and set him in marsh in the Nile. It is said that Moses' blood sister Miriam watched over him from behind bushes till the Pharaoh's daughter found the baby. She raised the baby with the help of a hired nurse Jochebed(Yes, Moses's real mother). Since Pharaoh's daughter already had a son and since Moses was not her own son, Moses was denied the chance to become the Egyptian Pharaoh.
Jesus, Osiris, Hercules, Buddha, Krishna, and Karna:
The parallels in the story of these men are many and I will go over them one by one.
Birth: Mystery surrounds the birth of all of these men from history/mythology. Jesus was born of a Virgin Mary. Karna was born of a virgin Kunti. Hercules was born a virgin Alcmene. There is debate over whether Buddha and Krishna were born of Virgin or were conceived by intercourse. Nothing is known about the birth of Osiris.
Childhood: Very little is known about the childhood of all these men except Krishna whose life as a child takes centre stage in many literary sources including Mahabharata, Bhagavata purana and Vishnu purana.
Teachings: Jesus, Buddha and Krishna preached kindness, love and tolerance. Though Krishna advised violence against aggressors he also cautioned about the consequences of it.
Persona: In one way or another, all these men except Karna were seen as the saviour of humanity; the ones who could our sins and free our souls; the ones who could deliver us.
Death: Killed in mysterious ways or through foul play. Karna was killed on the battlefield by Krishna through a series of promises and betrayals(including the promise he made to Kunti). Krishna was killed by a poisoned arrow from a hunter's bow who mistook him for a deer. Osiris is claimed to have been killed by his brother in a fight for the crown. Hercules was accidentally poisoned by his wife using the blood of man who tried to kidnap her; whom Hercules killed using a poisoned arrow. Buddha died after eating a meal in a blacksmith's house(it is said that Buddha knew about it and called it Mahaparinirvana - a deathless state). Jesus was crucified by the Romans for sedition(Gospel of Judas claims that Jesus knew about it and he saw it as his way to reach God).
Resurrection: It is said that Osiris' wife resurrected him after his death and conceived a son(Horus) with him posthumously. Doesn't that sound like the story of Jesus too? Three days after his crucifixion, Jesus resurrects and the first one to see him is Mary Magdalene who some claim was his wife with whom he fathered a daughter, Sarah.
There are lot more identity comparisons between mythological figures across cultures. Comparisons between Kama and Cupid, Shiva and El shaddai are a few examples. There are other life story comparisons between Jesus, Horus, Dionysus, Attis and Mithra(All were born on December 25th. Most of them performed miracles. All of them had 12 disciples except Attis and Dionysus. And all of them were resurrected upon death).
However, I am not going to go into all the details of these comparisons mostly due to the length of this blog and my laziness. I will save them for another day.
Comparative mythology is an interesting study which in the future might help draw more accurate timelines about our history.
Comments
What parallelism can we draw between gods of Hindu mythology, Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology, etc.?