Dr. swati Joshi
Gujarat
There are two types of Epics.
1 Primary (Traditional) Epics
2 Secondary Epics
Traditional Epics are also known as Folk Epics. It talked about the culture directly in the form of oral and performance. This type of Epic is considered as ancient epic. The Epics which belongs to this category are- Gilgamesh- Sumerian Epic, Iliad and Odyssey in Greek culture, Shah Namesh, Bahman Nameh, Borzu Nameh, of Persia and the Ramayana and the Mahabharata of India. Primary or Literary Epic are written in regular and skillful technique but also influenced by traditional view point. For Example- Aneid of Virgil based on Illiad and Odyssey and the Biblical incident can be seen on Paradise Lost.
Along with Traditional and secondary types of Epic the other third category can be seen which is based on its subject. The categories are - Epics based on Mythologies, and Epics based on the life of the hero who deals with his heroic incidents and considered death as better option in comparison with embarrassment and humiliation. For example- Rustam in Shah Nameh etc. The Religious Epic depicted hero as man who is abide by religion and the plot and the theme based on Dharma only. For Example- The Ramayana, The Mahabharata, and celestial comedy of Dante.
The Epic can be seen from its style, which is considered as majestic and having highest moral or spiritual value represented by using language and words. Epic technique represents imagery, enhancing its dignity and provide enormity to its theme. In the Epic technique there is a comparison between heroes and animals/ Gods. They are sometime compared with lions, fishes, dragons, snakes etc.
Epic technique or pattern is unique because of its uses of Exaggeration; not only dealing with imagery or symbols but also represents the truth of nature and universe. The Epic technique also deals with supernatural elements of heroes, villains, and Gods. This is most important technique of Epics. There is another good use of allegory in most of the Epics of the world. The characteristic of Epic is again significance to differentiate with the other genres. Epic is always describes combat, gallantry, voyage, obstacles, fights, encounters etc. The Epic cannot be called as an Epic without the description of animals and supernatural creatures. For example- the horse (Xanthos) of Achilles who has the power to speak and can see the future even the death of Achilles. Rustom’s horse Raxsh, even Adam and Eve is having description of Snake and peacock. Ramayana describes the importance of animal as monkeys in form of Hanuman and his army, golden deer, horses, Jamvantji, -the big bird, seven headed dragon etc. It is believed that the heroes are in the form of Supernatural creatures in Epic. The quality of supernatural creature makes the Epic hero different and unique from the common hero of novel or any short story or poem. In Epic supernatural creature means having the quality of God like supremacy and heavenly attribute as the quality of sun, fire, water, having one part of human and another part of body is divine. For Example- Jesus is considered as the son of God, Rama is considered as God having the ability to spread spiritual and religious (Dharma) on the earth. Another feature of Epic is its magical effect and the magic is in many forms. The magical effect can shape in form of saints, sages, dragons, Gods, death, life, birds and many more. Sometime magical effects work in symbolic meaning, not in literal or direct way. One can easily noticed direct or hidden aspect of magical effects in Epic.
The chief characteristic of Epic is based on the war between two equally strong heroes but the twist comes when one hero is supported by God against another one. Then the war is converted into a war between hero who is having support of God (for Dharma) and another hero who has the support of evil (for destroying the Dharma) on the earth. Epic cannot be imagined without God and religion (Dharma). Epic work on Good and Evil and focuses on binary vision as for example- Sun- Moon, Black- White, Good- Bad and every Epic provide moral lesson and shows a path to humans “How to live life?”
The hero of the Epic is considered as the nationalized or cultural hero because he is the only person who becomes the medium of any tradition to represents. For example- Milton’s Paradise Lost represent humanity through the medium of hero, Iliad did the same in form of Achilles, Rustom from Shah Namesh, Ram in Ramayana, Krishna and Arjun in Mahabharata. The heroes of Epic are more powerful in comparison to common man. They are courageous, independent, social, having various attitude and vision for the religion and society. Another chief characteristic of the Epic hero is his opponent and the enemy is also very powerful similar to the Epic hero. The Epic features are creating the events for war between hero and the enemy. For Example- Ram (hero) fights with Ravana (enemy) and the reason is kidnapping of Sita.
The Epic is also about the long journey and travelling of the hero. For example- Rustom and Esfandiar, Odysseus, Ram, Pandavas etc. The Epic fights or war is literally between hero and the enemy but symbolically the war is between nations, cultures, traditions, good and evil, right and wrong, Dharma and Adharma, Theist and Atheistic, and the war has universal and unique appeal. The war represented different types of weapons used by heroes and the enemy. This type of description can be seen in Epic only. These weapons are having special and supernatural powers given be God at the time of the birth of the hero or another important character of the Epic. For Example- Indian Epic represents weapons like Bramastra – the weapon of Bhisma in Mahabharata, Pashu – the weapon of God Parshuram, etc. Epic depicted politics as the main weapon in war. The death is the universal theme of Epic. The essential aspect of Epic is also revolving around curse and forecast which gives shapes to theme and plot. Epic represents death of hero sometime death of evil and that turn Epic into Tragic Epic. But Indian Epics are not having any tragic end.
There are many Epics in the world which can be categorized as from the date of coming into existence. The Epics can be divided into three categories.
1 Ancient Epics/ Earliest Epic (500 A.D)
2 Medieval Epics (from 500 to 1500 A.D)
3 Epics after 1500 A.D
It is believed that Gilgamesh (around and approximated 3000 B.C) – Sumerian Epic is considered as the earliest Epic work in the category of Ancient Epic. After it Iliad and Odyssey (around 1000 B.C) by Homer is considered ancient Epic. But in Greek mythology it is believed that Theogony (700 B.C) is the earliest Epic in comparison with Iliad and Odyssey. The reason is that in Theogony there is the description about universe in Chaos and believed that everything comes from it. Indian Epic Mahabharata and Ramayana are also considered as Ancient Epic. It is believed that Ramayana was written by Valmiki around 4 the century B.C and Mahabharata was written by Vyasa around 5th century B.C. Next is Aeneid - Latin great Epic Poem written by Virgil around 1st century described the Trojan War. During that period there were many works like Metamorphosees by Ovid- Latin Mythology, in Roman Mythology Pharsalia by Lucan. Virgil considered Ovid’s work as Epic on the basis of its method and tenor but it is rejected as an Epic because of the lack of vital hero. Lucan’s Pharsalia is about the battle between Caesar and Pompey. It is believed that it is an incomplete work. But it is renowned as the greatest epic poem in the world of Latin Literature. During the 2nd century in Indian Mythology there were many epic poems written as- Buddhacarita and Saundaranandakavya written by Asvaghosa. Buddhacarita is about the life of Goutama Buddha. There are 28 cantos written in Sanskrit but the first 14 are complete and the rest are incomplete. Saundaranandakavya is about the transformation of Nanda who is the brother of Buddha. Asvaghosa used the Kavya method for the description of preaching of Buddha. The Kavya method talked about the deliverance to attain the serenity. Indian Literature is very vast not limited with Sanskrit, Pali or Hindi Literature. Even in Tamil Literature there are many Epics during the 2nd and 5th centuries.
The Epics are-
1 Jaina Poet written Valayapati
2 Tirutakakatevar written Civaka Cintamani
3 Manimekalai written by Seethalai Saathanar
4 Ilango Adigal written Silappadikaram
5 Kundalakesi
The third and fourth century witness the great epics like Posthomeric by Quintus Smyrnaeus, Greek Epic Poet. He has written about the Trojan War a continuous process after Homer. In fourth century Evangeliorum libri is written by Juvencus, (Latin Poem) and Kumarasambhava and Raghuvamsa were written by Kalidas. There two Epic poems of Kalidas is consider as the finest example of the use of Kavya method. During the 4th century De Raptu Proserpinae is again incomplete poem by Claudian – Roman Poet. These are the Epics in form of Poetry and in the category of Ancient Epic. But some of the works only are considered as great and accepted Epics of that time.
Medieval Epic period can be considered from 500 to 1500. It is believed that during this period most of the Epics cover the heroic poetry. 7th century witnessed the great Sanskrit epic Bhattikavya, and Astadhyayi based on Ramayana. It is considered as one of the Mahakavya in Sanskrit Literature. Another chief epic work of medieval Epic is Beowulf, considered as oral epic but there is not information about its author. Next is Bhagavata Purana another name is Bhagavata Geeta, is one of the main epic of Indian Mythology which is related with Mahabharata. Around tenth century Shah Nameh – Persian Epic emerged as medieval epic of that period. Along with Shah Nameh, Waltharius –Latin work written by Ekkehard St.Gall during the same period. There are six epic can be considered during the 11th century as – Arabic Literature Taghribat Bani Hilal, Greek Literature- Digenis Akritas, French work- The Song of Roland, The work of Tibet – Epic of King Gesar, The Epic of Manas from Kyrgyz. 12th century witnessed the great epics like – Shota Rustaveli, Georgian Poet has written - The Knight in the Panther Skin, Latin Epic – Alexandreis by Walter Chatillon, etc. Antar from Arabic Literature and Nibelunggenlied in the form of translation as The Song of the Niberlungs , De triumphis ecclesiae written by Johannes de Garlandia – a Latin Epic, Wolfram von Eschenbach has written Parzival – a German Romance are the products of 13th century. The 14th century deals with the heroic poetic work of Dante who has written Divina Commedia – Italian literature which means The Divine Comedy, Petrarch has written Africa, The Epic of Japan is The Tale of the Heike. Matteo Maria Boiardo – the Italian poet has written Orlando Innamorato is the gift of 15th century epic literature.
The Modern Epic Poetry can be called Renaissance Epic Poetry and considered as the uppermost structure of literature. It is believed that during the period Epic Poetry has taken the shape of novel or a prose. Mikhail Bhaktin tried to explain the relation and balance between Epic and novel and also talked about how Epic can be seen as in form of Novel in his essay “Epic and Novel: Towards a Methodology for the study of Novel.” He believed that novel is having all the quality as Epic is having. Even Novel can easily express the contemporary reality, and can adopt the change, but the problem is that we do not have common set standard forms for novel as in form of Epic or Poetry.
The fact is that as we know Epic is the earliest and oldest genre of the world and having its unique structure, technique, narration, theme, plot, characters, form, content and characters. It is assumed that all the unique features of Epic are in finished and final quality, and thus there is no scope of re-evaluation, changes and re- thinking. But Bakhtim discussed about Novel that Novel is like a clay pot that can be molded or even remolded according to the circumstantial fact, truth and necessity of present time. In contemporary world Epic is broaden to accept another forms as novels, plays, even movies in which the hero is in the centre position. Epic always keep hero as its centre one but in modern world it can be expected that heroines can be seen in the central position.
“Even if we know very little about literature we know that the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid, the Divine comedy and Paradise Lost are epic poems, and once this is established we can make other definitions. The Rape of the Lock is a mock epic poem. War and Peace and Ulysses are novels with an epic quality, the Book of Job and Gilgamesh are near epics. It is fairly easy to reject other candidates as unworthy of being called epics; an epic is not just a long poem dealing with a philosophical subject like the Prelude or a long poem dealing with adventure and chivalry like Idylls of the king.”54
Modern Epic is not only remains with its nation or culture but become the part of world. The features of Indian Epic can be seen in Greek Epic or in Japanese Epic. Epic means “Universally accepted work.” It can be said that notable transformation of Epic can be seen age to age and these transformations in Epic categories it from ancient to modern Epics. Scientific Films can be the part of modern Epic. For example- A Space Odyssey (1968) and Star Wars (1977), Disney movie like Hercules, Aladdin, Tarzan, The Lion King, The Jungle Book. 16th century symbolizes modern Epic in form of Orlando Furioso by Aristo, La Araucana by Alonso de Ercilla Zuniga, Ramcharitmanans, by Goswami Tulsidas, Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser etc. The 17th century modern Epics are- The Purple Island by Phineas Fletcher, Davideis by Cowley Abraham, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained by John Milton, Price Arthur by Richard Blackmore etc. The 18th century works are- Eliza by Richard Blackmore, Leonidas by Richard Glover, Rossiada by Mikhail Matveyevich Kheraskov, Vladimir by Mikhil Matveyevich Kheraskov etc.19th century modern Epic can be seen in the form of Milton: a poem by William Blake, The Lady of the Lake by Walter Scott, Don Juan by Lord Byron, Prometheus Bound by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, The Prelude by William Wordsworth, The City of Dreadful Night by James Thomson, Idylls of the king by Alfred Lord, etc. 20th century represents modern epic as The Ballad of the White Horse by G.K.Chesterton, Kurukshetra,(1946) Rashmirathi,(1952) Uravashi, (1961) Ramdhari sing ‘Dinkar’ has written Hunkar – Epic poem , Frederick Turner has written Genesis: An Epic Poem etc.
It can be said that nineteen and twenty century brought some queries and necessity to differentiate truthful Epic and something like the genre of Folk Epic. Previously it was considered that because of the Folk lore Epics came into being. Another vision is that Epics were in oral form and the oral form is the part of Folk. To give peculiarity to epic and folk a prefix is given to Epic as “Oral Epic” a kind of limit and difference and then modern description for the term folklore added the word Traditional to Oral Epic Poetry. Finally, a new word came in twentieth century –“Oral Traditional Epic Poetry.” It differentiates Epic which is in the written form and Folk which is oral form.
“The comparison between an epic, which has developed to us in manuscript and a folklore which has never been collected and must therefore only be hypothecated is predicated on several assumptions.”55
