2021-4211-AJP 1 Greek, Sanskrit and Tamil: Comparison between Ion 2 (Euripides) and Karna (Mahabharat) on the 3 Mythological Theory of Binary Opposition 4 5 Ion is a Greek play authored by Euripides depicting the story of Ion. The 6 Mahabharata is the epic written in both Tamil and Sanskrit languages. The 7 story of Karna is one of the sub plots in this epic. In the Greek play, Creusa 8 who is impregnated by Apollo, the Sun God keeps Ion in a casket together 9 with a breast plate for his protection. In the Tamil myth, Kunti who is 10 impregnated by the SUN god places her son Karna in a casket and lets it 11 afloat in a river to conceal the birth of the child. Regarding the breast plate 12 in this story it is shown that Karna was born with the breast plate glued to 13 his breast. Creusa, the mother of Ion has had an illegal son born to her 14 before marriage and remains with no children after getting married to 15 another person. Kunti too gives birth to a son before marriage and remains 16 with no children after her remarriage. The offsprings of Ion are related with 17 the ancestors of Asians. Thus the Greek myth of Ion related with Asia has 18 resemblance with Karna, the Asian myth. 19 20 Keywords: Ion, Karna, Myth, Sanskrit, Tamil 21 22 23 Introduction 24 25 Myths are mostly seen as imaginary literatures. Some times myths have 26 also links with history. ‘Ion’, a Greek play written by Euripides consists of the 27 myth of ‘Ion’. The author relates this myth of Ion with the history of the 28 Ionians and Asians. Here the Asian myth, Karna has some resemblances with 29 the myth of Ion. Further, both the myths can be looked with the background of 30 mythological theory called binary opposition. 31 Ion – Play 32 Iōn - Ἴων is an ancient Greek play written by Euripides between 414 and 33 412 BC. It talks about an orphan Ion who was in search of his origin. Some 34 scholars lay their emphasize on saying that the myth of ‘Ion’ is not only a 35 simple play, but it shows the search of identity of the race of the origin 36 (Jonathan Hall 1997) 1 (Meltzer 2006)2. This play highlights many myths of 37 Ion, among which one of the myths of Ion has resemblance with the myth 38 related to Karna of Mahabharata. 39 1 Although Ion is a relatively obscure mythological figure, Euripides does make several innovations which bring together the two competing versions of Athenian identity. One foundation story highlights the Athenians as Ionians, who were one of the main (but less noteworthy) migratory Greek peoples. 2The story provides convenient justification for Athenian domination over the largely Ionian empire.. 1 2021-4211-AJP 1 The Myth of Mahabharata 2 3 Tamil is an ancient classical language which has its first available 4 literature called the Sangam literature. One of the poems of the Tamil Sangam 5 literature mentions about the Mahabharata war as the war between five 6 brothers versus hundred brothers (Tamil Virtual University 1995). 7 8 Greatness who gave unlimited food, until those hundred men wearing 9 golden thumpai flower garlands had seized the land and perished in the 10 field fighting furiously against the five whose horses wore swaying plumes! 11 Puranānūru 2, Poet Muranjiyūr Mudinākanār 12 Sang to Chēramān Perunchōtru Uthiyan Chēralāthan 13 14 Thus this reference mentions about the war that took place between 15 hundred men and five brothers. There is a reference that the Tamil king 16 Chēramān giving food to both the armies. It means in a way that the war has 17 taken place near his kingdom. This Tamil king Chēramān is denoted as 18 ‘Κηπροβότρου - Cerobothra’ in Greek (Wilfred 1912). Besides, another Tamil 19 king Pāndiyan also took part in the war. He is denoted as ‘Πανδίονος – 20 Pandion’ in Greek (Wilfred 1912). He fought on the side of the five brothers 21 (Tamil Virtual University 1995). 22 23 The five brothers praised your war skill 24 Line 775, Mathuraikkānji 25 Poet Manggudi Maruthanar, 26 Sang to Pandion Nedun Chezhiyan 27 The war bull of five brothers 28 Puranānūru 58, Poet Kāviripoompattinathu Kāri Kannanār 29 Sang to Pāndiyan Velliampalathu Thunjiya Peruvaluthi 30 31 Thus these references are the proof for the relation of the historical Tamil 32 king tradition called Pandion (Πανδίονος) with the myth of Mahabharata. This 33 myth was then written as an epic by a Tamil poet ‘Baratham Paadiya Perun 34 Devanar’ with 12,000 verse, in which only about 830 remains now. ‘Baratham 35 Paadiya Perun Devanar’ means a great poet who had written the epic 36 Mahabharata. He was in black in complexion3 so was he called Krishna and 37 because of his relation with water bodies he was called as Dwaipayana. The 38 other name is Vyasa meaning the divider or arranger of text. So, when he wrote 39 the epic in Sanskrit he was denoted as Krishna-Dwaipayana or Vyasa (Kisari 40 Mohan Ganguli 1896). 41 The sage Krishna-Dwaipayana completed his work in three years, raising from 42 bed very early in the day and purifying himself and performing his ascetic 43 devotions, he composed this Mahabharata. 44 Section LXII, Adivansavatarana Parva, 45 Book I, The Mahabharata 3Normally Tamilians are black in colour 2 2021-4211-AJP 1 2 And the child of Parasara so born of me in my maidenhood hath become a great 3 Rishi endued with large ascetic powers and known by the name of Dwaipayana 4 (the island-born). That illustrious Rishi having by his ascetic power divided the 5 Vedas into four parts hath come to be called on earth by the name of Vyasa (the 6 divider or arranger), and for his dark colour, Krishna (the dark). 7 Section CV, Sambhava Parva, 8 Book I, The Mahabharata 9 His Sanskrit work consists of over 100,000 śloka or over 200,000 10 individual verse lines and about 1.8 million words in total. It also ensures the 11 thoughts of Tamil Sangam literature (Tamil Virtual University 1995) (Kisari 12 Mohan Ganguli 1896). 13 14 Pandya, who dwelt on the coast-land near the sea, came accompanied by troops 15 of various kinds to Yudhishthira, the king of kings. And, O king, when all these 16 troops had assembled, his army, finely dressed and exceedingly strong, assumed 17 an appearance pleasant to the eye. 18 Section XIX, Udyoga Parva, 19 Book 5, The Mahabharata 20 21 This reference ensures that the historical Tamil king Pandion or Pandyan 22 (Πανδίονος) fought on the side of the five brothers where he fought against a 23 king called Karna (Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1896). 24 25 Pandya at the time was slaughtering the army of Karna. That force, swelling with 26 cars and steeds and teeming with foremost of foot-soldiers, struck by Pandya, 27 began to turn round like the potter's wheel. Like the wind dispersing a mass of 28 congregated clouds, Pandya, with his well shot arrows, began to disperse that 29 force, destroying its steeds and drivers and standards and cars and causing its 30 weapons and elephants to fall down. Like the splitter of mountains striking down 31 mountains with his thunder, Pandya overthrew elephants with their riders, having 32 previously cut down the standards and banners and weapons with which they 33 were armed, as also the foot-soldiers that protected those beasts. And he cut down 34 horses, and horsemen with their darts and lances and quivers. 35 Section XX, Karna Parva, 36 Book 8, The Mahabharata 37 38 This Karna who is one of the warrior in this myth has some resemblances 39 with the myth of Greek Ion. These resemblances can be seen based on the 40 mythological theory of binary opposition. 41 3 2021-4211-AJP 1 Binary Opposition 2 3 Binary Opposition is a mythological theory which deals with how the 4 opposite units operate a myth (Aimukhambet 2017, p.13)4. High born versus 5 Low born, Immediate child birth versus having no children for the long time 6 are some of the binary opposition. These can be seen in the myths of Ion and 7 Karna. 8 9 Ion and Karna – Characterization 10 11 Ion, who is the son of Apollo is the main character in the play. 12 Euripides naming his play as ‘Ion’ shows the important place he has given to 13 this character. 14 Ion Ἴων 1476. …. Mother, who was my father? 1476. ……..μῆτερ, πόθεν; Creusa Κρέουσα 1482. By the nightingale's rock, Apollo— 1482. παρ᾽ ἀηδόνιον πέτραν (Potter Robert 1938) Φοίβῳ — (Murray Gilbert (1913) 15 Karna 16 17 Karna is the sub-character in the myth of Mahabharat. He is picturized as 18 son of Sun God (Kisari Mohan Ganguli 1896). 19 20 Karna, …. Begotten by the Sun himself,…… And that foremost of eloquent 21 men, the offspring of the Sun. 22 Section CXXXVIII, Sambhava Parva, 23 Book I, The Mahabharata 24 25 Here Karna is the son of Sun and Ion is the son of Apollo. Phoibos is the 26 surname of Apollo. Phoibos means ‘the shining or brilliant’, which is 27 frequently applied to Sun. Thus Ion and Karna both are sons of Sun God. In 28 this way both have resemblances in their myths and its shown in the Figure 1. 29 4The binary opposition in modern works of art originates from the system of mythical thinking has been proven in the analysis of the relationship of knowledge mythical and poetic thinking, guided theoretical research.