Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Basket with a child inside and a river

As far as similarities go, this is definitely something worth noting. Two great epics, one being the Bible and the other the Mahabharata have very similar situations.


But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. Exodus 2:3

The above verse from the Exodus talks about how Moses (one of the great heroes from the bible) was put in a basket and left in the river Nile. The below sentence taken from the Mahabharata refers to Kunti leaving her son Karna (also a central character) in the river Ganga.

Having placed him in a basket made of light materials, Kunti committed him to the current of Ganga. THE MAHABHARATA, SANTI PARVA, SECTION I

Could it just be a coincidence that in both epics, a baby in a basket is committed to a river? Other possibilities include (a) It was common practice to throw unwanted children into a nearby river (b) Stories might have had some gene flow between them over time. Do you have a different explanation?


No comments: