ABSTRACT
Chapters 2 and 3 compared two epic journeys: they argued that Arjuna’s journey from the Gangetic forests to the Himalayas and Indra’s capital (Mbh. 3) was cognate with Odysseus’ journey from Ogygia to Scheria and Alcinous’ capital. But since Arjuna’s journey is described as yogic, does anything similar apply to the Greek journey? Since two accounts of yoga are drawn on – Patañjali’s and that in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad – six binary comparisons are presented (Mbh.~Od., Mbh.~Pat., ŚvUp.~Pat., ŚvUp.~Mbh., Od.~Pat., Od.~ŚvUp). For instance, Arjuna’s journey shows phenomena that parallel the five-plus-three-plus-one spiritual stages traversed by Patañjali’s yogin, and Indra’s chariot carrying Arjuna to heaven finds a parallel of sorts in the Upaniṣadic image of the person as chariot. The stages in Odysseus’ ordeal at sea parallel the ‘outer limbs’ in the yogin’s progression, and two similes in the account of Poseidon’s storm (thistles and chaff) find parallels in Patañjali’s thorns and cotton fibres. It is argued that the rapprochements point to a proto-narrative that was shamanic/yogic as in the Sanskrit epic, while Greek tradition developed in the direction of a de-spiritualized and terrestrial adventure story.
