The Mahabharata" and "The Tamil Anthologies": Comparative Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper shows how the figurative language in Book II of "The Mahabharata" and in the selected poems from "The Tamil Anthologies" stand in stark contrast to one another primarily because the language in "The Mahabharata" has war and heroism as its sources, whereas the poems in "The Tamil Anthologies" have the affairs of the heart as their sources. The author shows that both works rely heavily for their figurative language on the realm of nature as well, although for very divergent purposes and effects.

From the Paper:

"Both works deal with both themes--war and love--but The Mahabharata clearly focuses more on war, while the selected poems from The Tamil Anthologies clearly focus more on love. Inevitably, these sources profoundly affect the figurative language of the two works and portray worlds--one of heroism in battle and conflict, the other of love and its consequences--which stand in contrast with one another. In addition, the reader finds in Book II of The Mahabharata an immediate sense of the epic, of the grand city, of conflict on as grand scale, with much at stake beyond the individual's emotional or romantic destiny. On the other hand, in the poems from The Tamil Anthologies, the reader just as immediately finds an exploration of the "small" aspects of life and human interaction and particularly those aspects which exist in the lives of individuals. The rural landscape dominates the figurative language of the poems in The Tamil Anthologies, while the urban landscapes dominates in the epic tales of The Mahabharata."

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