Helen's "viewing" of the Greek heroes from the walls of Troy in "Iliad" 3 and its relation to the duel between Menelaos and Paris later in the same book are much-discussed episodes in Homeric criticism. Comparison with a cognate epic tradition, that of ancient India, produces insight on these problematic scenes. The illegal abduction and correct reabduction of Draupadī, the wife of the heroes of the Mahābhārata, show striking parallels to the sequence of the events in "Iliad" 3, and the (...) narrative pattern in both epics appears to reflect inherited Indo-European legal institutions that bear upon the legality and correct procedure of marriage by abduction. (shrink)

Kleine Schriften. By Eva Tichy, edited by Axel Metzger. Bremen: Hempen Verlag, 2018. Pp. xviii + 698. €98.

In India it is a commonplace that the great epic, the Mahābhārata, is a dharma or legal text. It can also be demonstrated not only that there are explicit references to ritual in the epic narrative, but that the narrative sometimes covertly encodes ritual, allowing the audience to experience the narrative on several levels at once. I will suggest that it is possible to read the Odyssey both as a legal and a ritual text and that explicit reference to the (...) rich legal, ritual, and epic materials of ancient India clarifies much that is murky in the Odyssey, given the Indo-European heritage that they both share. The paper focuses on three issues: A legal point: the legal status of Penelope, particularly with regard to her remarriage. Should she remarry, and if so, who has the authority to arrange such a marriage? Both legal and epic materials in Sanskrit treat in detail the situation of a woman whose husband has gone abroad and disappeared. A legal institution: the marital self-choice and its relevance to Penelope and the suitors. The self-choice is a common type of marriage for kings' daughters in Sanskrit, in which the princess "chooses" a husband from a group of assembled suitors. Often the "choice" is governed by an act of strength and skill, just as Penelope's marriage contest was. A ritual: the consecration of the king and its relevance to Odysseus' return. Odysseus' return to Ithaka can be read as a covert encoding of a royal consecration ritual similar to the Sanskrit Rājasūya. In particular, the theme of the bow, the importance accorded to Eumaios' pigs, and the narrative of the boar hunt all find their counterparts in the Sanskrit ritual. (shrink)

“Persia beyond the Oxus.” Edited by M. Rahim Shayegan. Bulletin of the Asia Institute 21 : 147–96.

The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization. By Asko Parpola. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. Pp. xviii + 363. $105 ; $38.95.

Selected Papers. By Colette Caillat. Bristol: Pali Text Society, 2011. Pp. lxxiv + 387.

Zur Didaktik mittelindischer Sprachen. By Klaus Mylius. Beiträge zur Kenntnis südasiatischer Sprachen und Literaturen, vol. 23. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2013. Pp. 100. €24. In the same series, with the same author and publisher:Lehrbuch der Ardhamāgadhī...., vol. 24...., 2014. Pp. 110. €29.Māhārāṣṭrī: Grammatischer Abriss und Wörterbuch...., vol. 25...., 2016. Pp. 131. €29.90. Śaurasenī: Grammatik und Glossar...., vol. 27...., 2018. Pp. 89. €29.90.Māgadhī: Grammatik, Textproben und Glossar...., vol. 29...., 2019. Pp. 74. €29.

For the Sake of the Vedas: The Anglo-German Life of Friedrich Rosen 1805–1837. By Rosane Rocher, with Agnes Stache-Weiske. Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, vol. 118. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2020. Pp. xx + 396.

Lucrările Simpozionului Internaţional Cartea, România, Europa. Ediţia a II-1, 20–24 septembrie 2009. Edited by Julieta Rotaru. Secţiunea a treia: Studii Euroasiatice şi Afroasiatice—De la mit la ritual. Bucharest: Editura Biblioteca Bucureştilor, 2010. Pp. 461–738. Travaux de Symposium International Le Livre, la Roumanie, l’Europe. Troisième édition, 20–24 septembre 2010. Vol. 3: Études euro- et afro-asiatiques, III A: La Veda-Vedāṅga et l’Avesta entre oralité et écriture. Edited by Jan E. M. Houben and Julieta Rotaru. Bucharest: Éditeur Bibliothèque de Bucarest, 2011. Pp. 11–532.