ABSTRACT
The quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, which dominates the Iliad, is compared with a quarrel in the Mahābhārata between Yudhiṣṭhira and Arjuna. In both epics, the Commander of the eventual Victors (‘the Goodies’) alienates a Subordinate who is his best warrior, but whereas in the Greek, the Subordinate withdraws his services for a matter of weeks, with disastrous results, in the Sanskrit, the episode lasts only for minutes or hours and receives little emphasis. However, in two other episodes of the Mahābhārata, a comparable estrangement between Commander and potential Subordinate lasts much longer and is much more public. Although these other episodes involve individuals who belong to the Vanquished (‘the Baddies’), it is suggested that the Homeric narrative derives from the fusion of stories that were distinct in an early Indo-European proto-narrative, as they still are in the Sanskrit.
