Nolan’s masterpiece Odyssey makes waves across the world its similarities with the Ramayana is remarkable. Written by Greek poet Homer between 2nd and 8th century BC the Odyssey is a tale of a exiled Prince who faces many challenges in his long journey in exile. The epic poem was passed down orally by bards long before it was written down. Like Ramayana it is a magical story of fight between good and evil. It has many fascinating characters. Like Ramayana this Greek epic continues to awe and fascinate not only Greeks but European societies.
In The Odyssey, Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, spends 10 years fighting in the Trojan War before embarking on another decade-long journey home. During the journey, he is met with various roadblocks, including shipwrecks and monsters, as well as temptations, before finally returning to his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. The Ramayana followed a similar pattern when Rama, along with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman, was exiled from Ayodhya for 14 years. The journey takes them through forests, across the sea, and into a war with Ravana after Sita is abducted. In the Ramayana Rama string the bow to win Sita similarly in Odyssey Penelope asked her many suitors to string a bow. It was only her husband Odysseus dressed as a beggar who could string the bow. In both the Ramayana and Odysee there were many super natural forces and demons. Homers other great poem the Iliad has an almost same story as the Mahabharata. Just as in the Mahabharata the Iliad has two warring camps which resulted in a 14 day war. In the Mahabharata Sanjay gives a commentary on the war to the blind King Dhratrashtra from far away. In the Ilyad too the King is given a commentary on the war from far away.
The Greeks were impressed with the Vedic culture as far back as 200 BCE. We can see this evidence in what is called the Heliodorus column which was erected by the Greek ambassador to India in 113 BCE at Besnagar in central India. ( present day city of Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh ).The inscription on the column, as published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, says:
This Garuda column of Vasudeva (Vishnu), the god of gods, was erected here by Heliodorus, a worshiper of Vishnu, the son of Dion, and an inhabitant of Taxila, who came as Greek ambassador from the Great King Antialkidas to King Kasih Putra Bhagya Bhadra, the Savior, then reigning prosperously in the fourteenth year of his kingship. Three important precepts when practiced lead to heaven: self-restraint, charity, conscientiousness. This shows that Heliodorus had become a worshiper of Vishnu and was well versed in Hindu texts. There are statues of Greek men wearing a Indian Dhoti with a Vaishnava mark on their forehead. The Greeks were known as Yavanas in India and there is a mention of them in the Mahabharata.
The legendary story of Hercules has parallels to stories of Krishna and Balaram. Hercules killed many demons as a child and one of them was of killing a demon who came to breastfeed him. It is an exact replica of the story of Krishna killing Putana. So many other Krishna adventures are similar to adventures of Hercules.
Plato’s ( 428-347 BCE ) book Phaedrus follows similar themes as the Bhagvad Gita. The idea of the Soul, its release from the body and its transmigration are all explored by Plato. The Chariot allegory mentioned in the Katha Upanishad (1:3:3-9), one of the oldest and main Upanishads is also used by Plato. The following is a brief translation of the allegory by Charles Johnston:
Know the Higher Self as the lord of the chariot, and the body as the chariot; know the soul as the charioteer, and the mind and emotional nature as the reins. They say that the powers of perception and action are the horses, and that objective things are the roadways for these; the Self joined with the powers through the mental and emotional nature is called the enjoyer of experience by the wise.
All the great Greek philosophers were fervent vegetarians. Plutarch, Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras and Socrates all were vegetarians and promoted a vegetarian lifestyle. They also believed in the fundamental Hindu ideas of the eternal soul, reincarnation and the idea that the external world that we perceive through the senses is ultimately unreal. Plato in his book the Republic recommended that an ideal city should be a vegetarian city. He also said that an ideal society should be divided into four groups just as the Hindu system.
.The legendary story of Hercules has parallels to stories of Krishna and Balaram. Hercules killed many demons as a child and one of them was of killing a demon who came to breastfeed him. It is an exact replica of the story of Krishna killing Putana. So many other Krishna adventures are similar to adventures of Hercules.
Plato’s ( 428-347 BCE ) book Phaedrus follows similar themes as the Bhagvad Gita. The idea of the Soul, its release from the body and its transmigration are all explored by Plato. The Chariot allegory mentioned in the Katha Upanishad (1:3:3-9), one of the oldest and main Upanishads is also used by Plato. The following is a brief translation of the allegory by Charles Johnston:
Know the Higher Self as the lord of the chariot, and the body as the chariot; know the soul as the charioteer, and the mind and emotional nature as the reins. They say that the powers of perception and action are the horses, and that objective things are the roadways for these; the Self joined with the powers through the mental and emotional nature is called the enjoyer of experience by the wise.
All the great Greek philosophers were fervent vegetarians. Plutarch, Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras and Socrates all were vegetarians and promoted a vegetarian lifestyle. They also believed in the fundamental Hindu ideas of the eternal soul, reincarnation and the idea that the external world that we perceive through the senses is ultimately unreal. Plato in his book the Republic recommended that an ideal city should be a vegetarian city. He also said that an ideal society should be divided into four groups just as the Hindu system.
Greece also became a centre of Buddhism. The Greco-Buddhist was a mix of Buddhist and Hellenic culture. With the arrival of Christianity spelled the end of Greek heritage and its culture. Buddhist statues were destroyed with great zeal between 4th and 6th century CE.
Nitin Mehta
July 2026
Recent Comments