From the East to the Moon Towards an international understanding of folktale motif A153.1 Theft of ambrosia: Food of the gods stolen Name: Arjan Sterken Student Number: S3030725 University: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen / University of Groningen Programme: Research Master ‘Religion and Culture’ First Assessor: prof. dr. dr. F.L. Roig Lanzillotta Second Assessor: prof. dr. Theo Meder Word count: 31,095 Summary This thesis gives an answer to the research question ‘how is the motif A153.1 Theft of ambrosia: Food of the gods stolen instantiated and structurally related to one another in different contexts?’ This thesis wishes to re-evaluate the Indo-European theoretical frame by providing a negative control. For this, 66 texts from India, 24 from Greece, and 42 from China (the negative control) are structurally analysed, using an adapted form of structuralism as described by Frog. As a result, the ‘universal’ group is the strongest, meaning that most motifs are shared by Indian, Greek, and Chinese narratives. A little weaker in strength is the Indo-European group, followed by the India-China pair. The similarities between Greek and Chinese narratives are negligible if ignoring the ‘universal’ similarities. From this analysis, two conclusions are drawn: 1) Indo-European reconstruction is valid, as now tested by a negative control; and 2) to understand international folktale motifs which were only considered from its Indo-European data, it is fruitful to apply non- Indo-European data as well. 2 Table of contents Summary . 2 1. Introduction . 8 1.1 Objectives and research questions . 9 1.2 Field of study . 10 2. Theoretical frame and methodology . 11 2.1 Definitions . 11 2.1.1 The motif A153.1 Theft of ambrosia: Food of the gods stolen 11 2.1.2 Narratives . 14 2.2 Theoretical background: Indo-European comparativism . 15 2.2.1 Indo-European historical linguistics . 15 2.2.2 Indo-European comparative mythology . 16 2.3 Methodology: structuralism . 20 2.3.1 Variance and invariants . 20 2.3.2 Syntagmatic and paradigmatic . 24 2.3.3 Operationalization . 25 2.4 Hypotheses and implications . 27 2.5 Conclusion . 28 3. Indian Variants of A153.1 Theft of ambrosia: Food of the gods stolen . 30 3.1 Soma and amṛta . 30 3.2 Gandharvas steal soma . 32 3.2.1 Texts . 32 3.2.2 Structural analysis . 34 3.3 Birds steal soma . 35 3.3.1 Texts . 36 3.3.2 Structural analysis . 39 3.4 Garuḍa steals amṛta . 43 3.4.1 Texts . 43 3.4.2 Structural analysis . 44 3.4.2.1 MBh-G, Rām, and S-KSS 27B-HB . 44 3 3.4.2.2 S-KSS 27-J . 45 3.5 Indra steals soma or amṛta . 46 3.5.1 Texts . 46 3.5.2 Structural analysis . 47 3.5.2.1 Indra steals soma . 47 3.5.2.2 Indra steals amṛta . 48 3.6 Churning of the Ocean . 49 3.6.1 Texts . 49 3.6.2 Structural analysis . 50 3.7 Comparison . 51 3.7.1 General versions . 54 3.8 Conclusion . 55 4. Greek Variants of A153.1 Theft of ambrosia: Food of the gods stolen . 56 4.1 Food and drinks for the gods . 56 4.2 Prometheus or Tantalos steal food from the gods . 57 4.2.1 Texts . 58 4.2.2 Structural analysis . 59 4.3 Herakles steals the apples of the Hesperides . 61 4.3.1 Texts . 61 4.3.2 Structural analysis . 63 4.4 Birds steal sacrifice . 65 4.4.1 Texts . 66 4.4.2 Structural analysis . 68 4.5 Comparison . 70 4.6 Conclusion . 72 5. Chinese Variants of A153.1 Theft of ambrosia: Food of the gods stolen . 73 5.1 Fruit, wine, and elixirs . 73 5.2 Theft of fruit . 74 5.2.1 Texts . 74 5.2.2 Structural analysis . 77 5.3 Theft of wine . 80 5.3.1 Texts . 80 4 5.3.2 Structural analysis . 81 5.4 Theft of elixir . 81 5.4.1 Texts . 82 5.4.2 Structural analysis . 83 5.5 Multiple thefts . 86 5.5.1 Texts . 86 5.5.2 Structural analysis . 87 5.6 Comparision . 89 5.7 Conclusion . 91 6. The Grand Comparison . 92 6.1 Structural analysis of syntagmatic moments . 92 6.1.1 Setting and Motivation . 92 6.1.2 Theft . 94 6.1.3 Punishments . 95 6.1.4 Rewards . 96 6.2 Comparison . 97 6.2.1 ‘Universal’ motifs . 98 6.2.2 Indo-European motifs . 99 6.2.3 Shared motifs between India and China . 101 6.2.4 Shared motifs between Greece and China . 101 6.3 Results and implications . 102 6.4 Conclusion . 104 7. Conclusions . 105 7.1 Main conclusion . 105 7.2 Directions for future research . 106 8. Bibliography . 107 8.1 Bibliographical and transliterational conventions . 107 8.2 Primary sources . 107 8.2.1 Indian sources . 107 8.2.2 Greek sources . 110 8.2.3 Chinese sources . 112 8.2.4 Other sources . 114 5 8.3 Secondary sources . 114 Appendices: unpublished translations . 125 Appendix 1: KYV MS 3.7.3 . 125 1.1 Translation . 125 1.2 Comments . 128 Appendix 2: KYV MS 4.1.1 . 130 2.1 Translation . 130 2.2 Comments . 133 Appendix 3: KYV KS 24.1 . 134 3.1 Translation . 134 3.2 Comments . 137 Appendix 4: KYV KS 34.3 . 139 4.1 Translation . 139 4.2 Comments . 140 Appendix 5: KYV KS 37.14 . 142 5.1 Translation . 142 5.2 Comments . 145 Appendix 6: TB 1.1.3:10-11 . 147 6.1 Translation . 147 6.2 Comments . 148 Appendix 7: TB 3.2.1:1-2 . 149 7.1 Translation . 149 7.2 Comments . 150 Appendix 8: Babrius’ The Fox and the Eagle . 151 8.1 Translation . 151 8.2 Comments. 151 Figures . 153 Figures from chapter 3 . 153 Figure 3.1: Gandharvas steal soma . 153 Figure 3.2: Birds steal soma: the location of soma . 154 Figure 3.3: Birds steal soma: Kadrū and Suparṇī . 154 Figure 3.4: Birds steal soma: Gāyatrī steals soma . 155 6 Figure 3.5: Birds steal soma: Gāyatrī is shot at . 155 Figure 3.6: Garuḍa steals amṛta in MBh-G, Rām, and S-KSS 27-HB 156 Figure 3.7: Indra steals soma in ṚV 3.48, ṚV 4.18, KYV TS 2.4.12, ŚB 1.6.3, and JB 2.155 . 156 Figure 3.8: Indra steals soma in KYV KS 37.14, MBh-I, and S-KSS 27B-HE 157 Figure 3.9: Churning of the Ocean . 157 Figure 3.10: Indian versions of A153.1 Theft of ambrosia: Food of the gods stolen . 158 Figures from chapter 4 . 159 Figure 4.1: Prometheus or Tantalos steal food from the gods . 159 Figure 4.2: Herakles steals the apples of the Hesperides . 160 Figure 4.3: Birds steal sacrifice . 161 Figure 4.4: Greek versions of A153.1 Theft of ambrosia: Food of the gods stolen . 162 Figures from chapter 5 . 163 Figure 5.1: Theft of fruit . 163 Figure 5.2: Theft of wine . 164 Figure 5.3: Theft of elixir . 165 Figure 5.4: Multiple thefts . 166 Figure 5.5 Chinese versions of A153.1 Theft of ambrosia: Food of the gods stolen . 167 Figures from chapter 6 . 168 Figure 6.1: Syntagmatic moments: setting and motivation . 168 Figure 6.2: Syntagmatic moments: theft . 168 Figure 6.3: Syntagmatic moment: punishments . 169 Figure 6.4: Syntagmatic moments: rewards . 169 Figure 6.5: ‘Universal’ motifs . 170 Figure 6.6: Indo-European motifs . 170 Figure 6.7: Shared motifs between India and China . 171 Figure 6.8: Shared motifs between Greece and China . 171 Figure 6.9: Absolute number of shared motifs including percentages 171 7 1. Introduction Poetically speaking, birds are the freest of creatures: they sear through the heavens without any regard for borders. Folktales and myths move in a similar fashion. Instead of being limited to one family, community, or country, they contrarily move to wherever they are told. Even language, something that is often perceived as the big obstacle in understanding one another, does not hamper the migration of stories. While stories roam freely, academic inquiries try to drive these stories, like cattle, safely back to the place where they came from. This can be seen when considering the folktale motif A153.1 Theft of ambrosia: Food of the gods stolen from Thompson’s index (hence abbreviated as A153.1).1 This is an index which records folkloric motifs which are commonly found within one culture or across multiple cultures. A153.1 has up to now been mainly considered from the Indo-European perspective. Samples of this are abundant in Indian culture, where soma or amṛta, the drink of immortality, is stolen from the devas or gods by all kinds of different creatures. In Greek culture we have the famous story of Prometheus, who tricks the gods by giving them bones coated in a thick layer of fat during dinner, while the humans eat the delicious meat hidden in repulsive skin. Most interestingly, there are also non-Indo-European variants of A153.1, such as the Chinese myth in which Zhang E steals the elixir of immortality and brings it to the moon. We cannot simply ignore this data for the sake of the conventional Indo-European theoretical frame. What we could do, however, is 'ignore' the Indo-European theoretical frame to allow the usage of data from more, non-Indo-European, cultures. In this Research Master thesis, A153.1 is analysed in three different ancient cultures: Indian, Greek, and Chinese.