ABSTRACT
Indo-European languages have received intensive comparative study, for which Greek and Sanskrit (with Latin) are often regarded as the fundamental pillars. Much less has been done to compare the epics recorded in these languages; most students of one epic simply take for granted that the other is of no interest to them.
After noting various ways in which gods involve themselves in the struggles of mortals, I focus here on gods who fight other gods in the course of human battles. Thus, in the episode of the Khāṇḍava forest fire (Mbh. 1), Agni (= Fire), assisted by Arjuna, opposes Indra (here = rain, i.e. water), while in Iliad 21, Hephaestus (here = fire), assisting Achilles, opposes the river Scamander. The rapprochements involve not only the elements and several additional deities but also many details, including some similes.
The similarities are naturally accompanied by many differences, and the major theoretical issue is how to demonstrate that the traditions are in fact cognate and derive from an early common origin. It is surprising how much detail has been preserved by oral tradition over a period of the order of two millennia.
