When an individual has read and understood two or more texts, identification of any similarities between them becomes very easy (Riegler 196). This requires a very keen reading of the texts so that the contents of each text can be well understood and a reasonable argument can thus be made. The literature from the comparison of the texts can provide some useful information to any person who reads them. It is on this basis that I am writing this piece of work to compare and contrast between two texts: “The Epic of Gilgamesh” and “The Bhagavad Gita”.
Immanence can be described as a condition of operating within a given limit. It can also be explained as a condition of existence especially of a supernatural being with supernatural powers (Flood 293). In the epic of Gilgamesh, it is indicated that there was a ruler who ruled the land of Samaria very many years ago (Cranefield 137). The ruler was known as King Gilgamesh and it is indicated that King Gilgamesh had superhuman characteristics which implied that he was a superhuman (Kovacs 83). This makes the existence of Gilgamesh more like a mythical ruler than a ruler who actually existed. There is no concrete evidence to indicate that King Gilgamesh actually ruled the Sumerians. In the epic, it is indicated that most scholars believe that King Gilgamesh actually existed and he became a legendary hero just like Britain’s King Arthur or Beowulf of Anglo-Saxon (Damrosch 179).
Fragments of the epic of Gilgamesh which were found in Me-Turan showed that when Gilgamesh died, he was buried underwater (George 203). It is also claimed that the flow of the river Euphrates was diverted so as to allow the burial of Gilgamesh under the river bed. Even though some people doubt the existence of Gilgamesh, most people believe that he existed and they even cite evidence that has been found to prove it.
Bhagavad Gita is a spiritual book used by believers in the Hindu religion (Easwaran 206). In the Gita, it is stated that there is a supernatural being called God. In the same Gita, there are no contradictory statements that can make anyone doubt the existence of God. It is believed that God exists because His effects have been felt by those who believe in Him. This is normally explained by Krishna who is a teacher of Gita (Minor 184).
With regard to transcendence, there is a difference between God who is described in the Bhagavad Gita, and Gilgamesh who is described in the epic of Gilgamesh (Mitchell 113). Transcendence can simply be explained to mean the state of possessing supreme powers and greatness. Even though it is indicated that King Gilgamesh was superhuman and possessed a tragic flaw, he lost his friend Enkidu when he insulted the gods and rejected the love of Ishtar who was the goddess of war and love (Hammond 19). This implied that although Gilgamesh was supreme, his powers were limited by the gods and the goddesses. In the Bhagavad Gita, God is described as a being with absolute powers as demonstrated when Krishna explained to Arjuna that he should do his duties and fight the battle without fear of killing his friends or relatives since all human beings are mortal except God. Thus, the two texts are different because in the epic of Gilgamesh it is indicated that Gilgamesh had supernatural powers but was limited by other supernatural beings. In the Gita, it is indicated that God is the most powerful being.
References
Cranefield, Paul. Fact and Fantasy in the Seduction Theory of Gilgamesh. New York: Charles Scribner’s sons, 1970.
Damrosch, David. The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh. London: Henry Holt and Company, 2007.
Easwaran, Eknath. The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living Volume 3. Berkeley, California: The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation Publishers, 1984.
Flood, Gavin. An Introduction to Hinduism and its Requirements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
George, Andrew. The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic – Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Hammond, David. Gilgamesh and the Sundance Kid: the Myth of Male Friendship and The Making of Masculinities. Boston: The New Men’s Studies, 1987.
Kovacs, Maureen. Fact or Fiction- The Epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1989.
Minor, Robert. Modern Indian Interpreters of the Bhagavad Gita. Albany, New York: State University of New York, 1986.
Mitchell, Stephen. A New English Version of the Epic of Gilgamesh. New York: Free Press, 2004.
Riegler, Robinson. Cognitive Psychology: Applying the Science of the Mind. Boston: Pearson Education, 2008.