Hi my friends! Today I'm starting a very interesting topic.
We know that Mahabharat was written after Ramayan, & most probably there was a very long gap between our two epics. During that interval, our country India faced a change in its society, & as a literature is always affected with its society, one can identify those changes evidently by reading Ramayan & Mahabharat. But still there are several similarities between the two great epics. As Ramayan was written first, an unavoidable impact of Ramayan can be found in Mahabharat.
Firstly, the main important events of the two epics are almost similar. Let's see them first.
1) King Dasharath was cursed by a sage, as he mistakenly pierced the sage's son, & that curse was responsible for his tragic death. Similarly, King Pandu was also cursed. He too made same mistake, as he didn't recognize the sage who was disguised as a deer. Pandu too, died of that curse!
2) The swambar of Draupadi was based on the test of Astra-Vidya, which is similar to the case of Sita. Both Drupad & Janak wanted the real hero as their sons-in-law, & arranged swambar. Only the breaking of Haradhanu is replaced by the piercing of fish.
3) In both epics, the elder prince had to sacrifice his kingdom & all royal belongings, & both were banished with wife & brother. I know that the background of the Van-gaman of Dharmaraj is not similar to that of Ramchandra, but it may be thaught that the idea of banishing an innocent prince unfairly is the direct effect of Ramayan. Vyasdev has modified the fact & changed the background to keep pace with his society, but couldn't avoid the effect of Valmiki.
4) In both epics, heroin welcomed vanavas with her husband, & was abducted. Draupadi was abducted by Jaydrath, but Jaydrath was punished at once by Bheem & Arjun. Besides, Sita had to suffer painful insult from Ravan, similarly Draupadi was also insulted by Duhsashan & Duryodhan.
5) In both epics, the hero burst into anger after his wife was insulted severely, & became ready to take revenge. In both epics, the causes of war are very close. Ram started war to make Sita released from Ravan's hands, while Pancha-Pandav started war to get back their kingdom! "Patni-uddhar" in Ramayan & "Rajya-uddhar" in Mahabharat, are the main causes of war.
6) Both of the heroes became the winner, & both were Dharmayuddha. After both of the wars, Dharma was well established in earth.
7) In both the cases, the desire of the hero was fulfilled, but none could enjoy them! Neither Ram nor Yudhisthir could spend a completely peaceful & happy life even after the war! In both epics, when all of the external problems were finished, the internal problems came into play & threw the heroes into the ocean of unbearable grief. Ram had to banish Sita in order to serve the Raj-Dharma, & Pandavas lost their mental peace, in Shanti Parba, Dharmaraj broke down completely & wanted to leave the kingdom. It can be noted that they didn't face any mentionable happy moment after the war was finished! Rather they had to watch destroy of Yaduvangsa like a dumb spectator; they lost their relatives, & the best friend Krishna. All of those incidents were responsible for the decision of Mahaprasthan.
8) Both the epics have a tragic end. All the main characters died at last. But it's noticeable that, Ram had to sacrifice Sita & Lakshman first, & then he decided to leave the earth. Similarly, Yudhisthir also had to sacrifice his four brothers & Draupadi, & then he went to heaven!
So I think these similarities are not only co-incidental, but also the impact of Ramayan on Mahabharat. To find that how much Mahabharat was affected with Ramayan, I got that above points. There may be more points which I have missed, if you can find them, then please post here with your analysis. Besides, what do you think about this impact? You can also share your any feelings regarding this topic.
I started research about this topic & found two different articles in which both the authors claimed that, not only the incidents, but also a few characters of Mahabharat were affected by Ramayan's characters! They mainly pointed out the following characters,
1) Yudhisthir. His character was close to Ram, as both dedicated themselves in the service of truth & Dharma. Both were calm & full of mercy. None of them became angry when they were deprived & banished, & both of them easily welcomed their grief. The great sage Markandeya also compared the condition of Yudhisthir with that of Ram during Vanavas. In Van-Parba, when Dharmaraj asked if there is anyone who had suffered like him, then that sage retold the story of Ram. We find there a smaller version of Ramayan in Van-Parba.
2) Arjun. Both the authors claimed him as the Lakshman of Mahabharat! They wrote, Lakshman & Arjun are similar in their heroic nature. Both are Mahavir, & protected their elder brothers during the time of adversity. Besides, both had brotherly love towards their elders, & both were "Jitendriya"! Last but not the least, both of them suffered Vanavas for almost same reason!
(I have a little addition here; I think the incident, in which Yudhisthir had to banish Arjun for 12 years, was affected by the incident of Lakshman-barjan. Lakshman had to enter into Ram's chamber violating his order, just to save the people of Ayodhya from curse of Durbasa. Arjun also had to enter into Yudhisthir- Draupadi's room, just for welfare of a Bramhin! Both were then punished by their elders!)
3) The author has claimed that, Bheem is the new creation of Mahabharat who is not affected by Ramayan, but he thought Bharat & Satrughna became the Nakul & Sahadev later in Mahabharat!
(I could not support this theory till now, as I could not find any similarity between Bharat & Nakul. Can you find any point to support it?)
4) Later one of the authors said that, Bheem was created with a small part of Kumbhakarna.
5) Vidur can be considered as the avatar of Vibishan, as both of them were the embodiment of justice & were unable to tolerate any unfairness, even if it is done by his near & dear ones!
6) Duryodhan can also be considered as Ravan. Both were proud of own power, both had the lust of power & wealth which became the cause of their death.
7) They considered Avimanyu as the part of Indrajeet, as both fought like real hero till his death.
(But I did not find any other similarities! They don't have the same type of character. Besides, their processes of death were not similar. What do you think, friends?)
8) The Babhrubahan incidents of Manipur are close to the Lav-Kush incidents of UttarKand. Both are the first meeting between father & son, & in both cases, father was defeated by his son! Then the reunion became easy.
Thus, Ramayan has a great impact on Mahabharat. Now I want to see what you are thinking about this topic.
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