Mythical Character Research Articles

Pagan Ecofeminism: A Study of Alice Munro’s “Princess Ida”

This paper attempts to explore Alice Munro’s short story, “Princess Ida” from an ecofeminist lens. “Princess Ida” is one of Munro’s stories from 1971 short story collection, Lives of Girls and Women. The paper uncovers the elements of paganism, one of the strands of ecofeminism, present in the story. It offers pagan ecofeminist study of the text by opposing monotheistic religion and embracing any religion that worships the earth, nature, or fertility deity, such as the various forms of goddess worship or matriarchal religion. It establishes a connection between earth-worship and the Gaia hypothesis. The present paper attempts to underline that Earth as a living organism, like any other living thing, invariably tries to exert constant or stable conditions for itself (homeostasis). And these exit groups and beliefs that come under the category of earth religion, such as paganism, a polytheistic, naturecentered religion; animism, a doctrine that all natural objects and the universe itself, have souls. Munro associates many female characters with primordial vitality, renders them with pagan and mythic qualities, constructs a narrative of female goddess figures, signifying pantheistic religions of the primitive world. The paper exhibits how Munro’s character withdraws herself from the masculine Christian mythology and is drawn towards pagan religious context of Astarte and Isis where both woman’s and earth’s life-giving powers are associated and respected.

О пушкинском мифе Ф. К. Сологуба

The article shows that the mythologemes of Pushkin Myth manifest themselves in Sologub through the proper names of the Symbolist poet, those assonated with or corresponding to the names of the historical or mythical characters of the Golden Age of Russian culture. V. A. Sollogub’s attitude to A. S. Pushkin might have predetermined the stance of F. Sologub in his essay The Poets’ Demons that contains certain allusions to the Memoirs of the famous prose writer of the 19th century. The fact that the Symbolist poet (Fyodor Kuzmich) bears the same name as the legendary starets might account for the emergence of certain elements of Sologub’s fictional universe that are polemically directed against Pushkin.

ТЕЛЕСНЫЕ ОБРАЗЫ ОЧЕЛОВЕЧЕННОГО ПРОСТРАНСТВА У КОРЕННЫХ НАРОДОВ ЮГРЫ

The problem of a person's perception of himself in the world has always been socially significant. Studies of the history of ideas about space are most significant for our vast Russia. The processes of their formation are associated with both ancient and modern times. The objective of the publication is to analyze the mental modeling of space as a kind of corpora in the traditional culture of the indigenous peoples of Yugra. To achieve it, it is necessary to resolve the following tasks: to consider the aspects of mutual evolution of the images of human corporality and the outside world among the Ob-Ugric peoples of Yugra on the basis of a preliminary reconstruction of the causes of the emergence of corporal representations in antiquity. The methodological basis of the study is an interdisciplinary approach using a number of theoretical provisions of anthropology. According to these provisions, in the processes of anthropogenesis our ancestors were able to adapt to the external environment through corporal imitation to representatives of the animal world. In turn, the naive zoomorphism of man was mentally supplemented by the anthropomorphism of the surrounding world. Ethnographic materials on the traditional culture of the peoples of Yugra testify that the properties of the human body were mentally transferred to the natural world and then to social relations. The transfer was carried out through myths. The obtained results prove the inconsistency and ambiguity of the interaction of corporal images, objects of nature and mythical characters of the Ob-Ugric folklore. We assume that the direction of further research will be related to the consideration of the specifics of the historical and cultural evolution of the images of the social corpora in the humanized space of outlying lands, among which Yugra can be attributed.

Hereford: Prigionieri italiani non cooperatori in Texas

Hereford: Prigionieri italiani non cooperatori in Texas

REPRESENTATION OF LANGUAGE DATA ON HORSES: A COMPARATIVE ASPECT

"The article discusses the comparative aspect of the representation of linguistic data about horses in Kazakh and English. The article summarizes the ethnocognitive nature of language units in relation to horses. We know that the horse occupies a special place in human society, it has become a means of transportation of the nation, a close friend, even a sacred totem character, and now it has become one of the most revered mythical characters of the nation. It was also mentioned that in most of the winged words and alternative proverbs often used among men, a horse is often found, and it has been supplemented with phraseological language units. This scientific article analyzes the data obtained from historical sources of the two countries, is supplemented with comparative information, provides accurate and concise information, consistent data on the identity of each nation, phraseological units and proverbs. The study also attempted to compare the data of the language components used in Kazakh and English in relation to the horse. The theoretical significance of the work is determined by the growing interest in the study, the scale of the use of linguistic units in general in the Kazakh and English languages. The practical significance of the research results lies in the possibility of their application in pedagogical practice. The article uses a descriptive method, methods of linguistic and component analysis. The article summarizes the scope of application of linguistic data on horses from a sociolinguistic point of view and their adequate scientific assessment. "

Zerdüştîlik ve İşrâkîlikte İnsân-ı Kâmil Örneği: Keyhüsrev

Innovations and creations in fields such as religion, thought, art, literature, music, wisdom, gnosism and philosophy are the common products of the human civilization epic. Almost all these creations are the result of chained and cumulative efforts based on the common heritage of humanity throughout history. Again, every thinker has established and grounded his system of thought by interpreting, renewing, updating and adding to the legacy of previous thinkers. As a matter of fact, each successor set out with the power and inspiration he received from his predecessor, deepened and grounded the legacy of previous civilizations with his criticisms and contributions, or changed his route and qiblah. In this respect, it can be said that every wise humanity is a "sparrow on the back of an elephant", which consists of the huge accumulation of the civilization epic. The metaphysical fire of love, which never goes out in the depths of man, has led him to reach peaks, to produce superhuman mythologies, to create mythical characters, to assume divine qualities, to create perfect human or human-idols and prophetic characters who imitate God and it led him to attempt to establish a luminous realm, the city of the sun, the holy harem, the ideal place, the madina al-fazila or the city of God on this cold and dark earth. When the history of Iran is examined religiously and intellectually, it is seen that Iran has a deep-rooted and very ancient tradition formed thanks to this metaphysical love of people. It is understood that this deep-rooted tradition preserves its existence even under major crises and shocks, and does not lose the traditional Iranian theme despite all interruptions and disconnections. Traditional Iranian wisdom has accomplished this by changing shirts, renewing and updating in every change and transformation, but always nurturing the Iranian traditional spirit and preserving its main codes. As a matter of fact, Iran transferred the Greek philosophy spread by the world conqueror Alexander to Hellenism, the harsh Mongolian shahs to the Sufis, the God-centered strong Semitic tradition to the human-centered Arya tradition, the Semitic prophets to the mythical Iranian shahs, Zal to Ali, Husayn to Rostam, Turan wars to Karbala literature and in the final analysis, converted Islam to Shi'ism and turned it into an Islamic-i-Iranian based on its own existence. The subject of this article is Kayhosrow, an example of perfect human in the ancient Iranian mythical and religious tradition. The central position of Kayhosrow, who is considered to be the most important of the Iranian mythical prophet-kings who have hurrah, expressed as divine charisma, magnificent light and magical nature, has been traced throughout the study, especially in the texts of Zoroastrianism and Illuminationism (Ishraqiyyah). In this study, the phenomenological method was followed and the characteristic features of Kayhosrow, who constituted the ideal perfect human portrait of both religious and intellectual schools, were revealed. The aim of the study is to capture the timeless spirit of eternal wisdom (al-hikmah al-halidiyah), primordial yeast (al-hamirah al-ezeliyah), transcendent wisdom (al-hikmah al-mutaliyah) and unchanging truth by drawing attention to the qualities of Kayhosrow, who is considered the most important example of a perfect person in Zoroastrianism and Illuminationism. At the end of the study, it was concluded that Kayhosrow, thanks to his divine charisma (hurrah), was a prophet-king who combined both material world management and spiritual sovereignty, a perfect human being who carried the Nur-i Mumammedi, an ideal ruler who set an example for the rulers of all times. With this study, in addition to Kayhosrow’s life full of adventures such as what he experienced before his birth, what happened to him after his birth, the way he was brought up, the way he came to the rulership, and the right-minded and successful world management, his chose to go into isolation, especially when he was at the peak of power and power, and ascended to the sky and disappeared from the eyes with ascension, have been shed light on the fact that Kayhosrow have become one of the most attractive and extraordinary characters in history, showing the mortal man the way to immortality.

Invention or Inversion? Revisiting the Question of Caste Tradition

The main theme of this paper is to revisit the question of caste and the politics of/on traditions. We have explored the questions of mythology; how ‘we’, the lower caste people associate and (re)interpret the mythical characters as a process of social upward mobility. So, is it the invention of tradition or is it the inversion of tradition or both? Interestingly, we could be able to locate a distinct regional pattern in this case. Thus, we argue that in the Northern part of India, specifically in Uttar Pradesh, though it is the process called the invention of tradition, it can be framed as a little tradition under the grand Hindu tradition. On the other hand, in the Southern part of the country specifically in Tamil Nadu, it is rather the process called the inversion of tradition which is much more radically grounded in sub-national ethos. Based on these premises, this article further argues that Uttar Pradesh’s caste politics is based on the invention of a tradition model which can incorporate the lower castes’ little traditions within the larger ambit of the Hindu grand narratives. Thus, new Hindutva politics has easily appropriated them within their polemic. On the contrary, in the South, due to the inversion of the tradition model embedded in a pre-existing political tradition and sub-national ethos, Hindutva failed to get a proper hold in recent times.

Examining Caste Consciousness in Kavita Kane’s Karna’s Wife and Fisher Queen’s Dynasty

Use of mythological tales for creating revisionist literature is contemporary approach of the modern Indian writers. Some famous works of literature, based on mythology are written by writers like Devdutt Pattanaik, Amish Tripathi, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Volga, Kevin Missal, SarathKomarraju and Krishna Udayashankar. These writers try to reinterpret mythological characters like Shiva, Rama, Draupadi, Amba, Krishna etc. Kavita Kane is one of the popular woman writers of India who renders Indian mythological texts and writes novels. Her ficitons are known for portrayals of the mythical characters who are less discussed. She picks up marginalized women characters from the mythical literature of India and retells their stories. She raises isssues of identity, individuality, gender, caste, femininity and patriarchy in her fictional works. In her novels, Karna’s Wife and Fisher Queen’s Dynasty, Kane has woven issues of gender and caste. Both of them are based on the Mahabharata. She retells the stories of Uruvi, Karna’s wife and Satyavati, Shantanu’s wife from their perspectives and explore their struggles against discriminations based on gender and caste. The novelist depicts these women characters with their courage, confidence, individuality and power to resist the class or caste-based violence. As modern literary works, their intersectionality is evident and they can be examined keeping in mind multidisciplinary approach. The present article examines caste consciousness as expressed by Kane in her Karna’s Wife and Fisher Queen’s Dynasty.

John Singer's Comedic Drama and Western Culture

The writing of the West in Irish drama began in the Irish Renaissance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and continues to this day. During the Irish Renaissance, in order to resist British colonial rule, writers endowed the western frontier region of Ireland with romantic imagery and mythic qualities, seeing it as a cultural symbol embodying nationhood, poetic idyll and Irishness. The West of Ireland fits perfectly with the writers' construction of Irish culture during this period in terms of its colonial history, economic environment, sense of national identity, language and culture, and religious beliefs. Thus, the Irish West became not only a symbol of Irish identity, but also a unique ideological field for the revitalisation of the Irish nation.

The aesthetics of open-ended mourning: The statue of a holy-madman in Dersim, Turkey

What happens to the notion of commemoration when its object is not fixed in time? Intervening in scholarly discussions on the contested nature of public remembering, this ethnographic research analyses how the afterlives of genocidal violence, of people and of mythical characters, are intermingled in divergent temporalities of public memorials. Through the case of the statue commemorating a locally known holy-madman, Şeywuşen (1930–1994), inaugurated in 1995 in Dersim (Tunceli), Turkey, it examines the possibilities and limitations of the statue's aesthetic form in representing madness and holiness both of which lie beyond the bounded character of rationality in its normative form. The article first juxtaposes the fluctuating temporality generated by the statue of Şeywuşen with that of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), representing the official memory regime of nationalism. Secondly, it contrasts the temporal multiplicity enabled by the statue of Şeywuşen with the statue of Seyyid Rıza (1863–1937), which commemorates the officially denied Dersim Genocide (1937–1938) and represents collective trauma. By putting it into conversation with monumental and counter-monumental aesthetic representations, the article illustrates that the statue of Şeywuşen paradoxically memorializes what is uncontainable within the political order and temporality of the nation-state. It argues that this case presents the possibility of joining different communities of loss by generating space for open-ended mourning for multiple injuries resulting from state violence.

Following in the Footsteps of the Sun: Gilgameš, Odysseus and Solar Movement

Abstract During the heyday of the solar-myth paradigm it was a norm to interpret every single mythic character and his or her actions in terms of either the annual or diurnal solar movement. With the paradigm’s inevitable demise, the body of evidence that was central to its approach was relegated to a more peripheral position by the adherents of succeeding paradigms that successively dominated the field. This has left a significant number of references to solar phenomena in ancient text on the margins of scholarly interest, including those that appear in the central texts of both Mesopotamian and Greek traditions. This paper focuses on a re-evaluation of the presence of solar resonances in a section of the Epic of Gilgameš that contains clear and explicit references to the sun and its course. At the same time, following in the footsteps of many earlier scholars, it offers a parallel analysis of a section of Odysseus’ itinerary of a similar character. This re-evaluation has shown that the respective sections of the heroes’ itineraries are partly structured on an analogy with solar movement, but that the dominant use of solar references in these texts is more haphazard and reflects more circumscribed intentions of the texts’ authors.

Pragmatic features of theonyms in Rabguzi's Story «Adam ata – Haua ana»

This article is devoted to the study of  the pragmatic features of religious names in Rabguzi's Story «Adam ata-Haua ana». The use of theonyms in the work is based on examples of a religious, historical and mythological character. In addition, the article deals with the meaning and uses of religious and mythical antpoponyms. The authors of the article  emphasize the important role of religious and mythological characters, which make it possible to determine the main intention of Rabguzi in the transmission of information. They are explaining the meanings of terms that are similar in content: theonym, mythonym, agionim, saint, etc. Rabguzi used names of mythical characters to represent the religious and mystical interests. Theonyms reflect the history, ethnogenesis, realities of life and life, experience, customs, beliefs, economic culture and worldview of the ethnos of that period. Therefore, the description of the characters, the reflection of the picture of events and ideological content, the systematic study of theonyms allow us to reveal the nature and features of the genre of the work and the author's thoughts. The purpose of the study is to reveal information encoded in the cultural and linguistic semantics of theonyms, considering them as a complex mental unit expressing spiritual and moral values. Theonyms as a source of ethno-cultural information are reflected in the language as images-names of mythological and religious characters. Religious-theoretical conclusions will find its application in the field of theolinguistics. The results of the research contribute to the solution of theoretical problems, the definition of the principles of ethnolinguistics. Key words: Theonym, Mythonym, Agionim, Prophets, Saints.

Nikolay Gogol and Raphael Patkanyan: The Philosophy of Horror

The article is dedicated to the study of the artistic impact of the Russian writer Nikolay Gogol (1809-1852) on the creation of the Armenian author Raphael Patkanyan (1830-1892). The object of the research is the horror stories and their philosophy. From this perspective, Patkanyan appears as a student of the Gogol school of horrors by masterfully using the artistic technique of his teacher. The first parallel is the place and time of the action. Night becomes the time axis of the stories, and the plot turns around national holidays - Russian Navi day, Ivan Kupala, Christmas, Armenian Carnival, etc. Actions take place in a cursed or enchanted place (a scary house, an old church, hell, a mortuary, a cemetery, etc.), which allows the two realities to collide, as a result of which extramundane forces penetrate into our world. By taking the national folklore as a basis, both authors set the plot of mythical characters in motion portraying witches, demons, spirits, zombies and other terrible creatures as antagonists. The works of both authors are similar in terms of some functional motifs like the sale of the soul to the devil, metamorphoses, dance and laughter of death, implying specific rituals.

The 11th Dimensional super power man from the short story Lion's Tail

Dr. C.S. Lakshmi uses the pen name Ambai for publishing Tamil fiction. Ambai, a Sahitya Akademi Award winner in 2021, has written works with feminist themes. A skilled short story writer. It is only possible for a few writers to mix science and novel short stories. Embedding modern scientific theories in the short story, Ambay has created a short story called "Lion's Tail" without compromising his literary taste. This short story gives an understanding of the eleventh dimension related to physics theories such as the Theory of Everything, M Theory, and String Theory. Are we still alive after the death of Mr. Haror, a Germany-based Sri Lankan writer named Rajshiva, on Facebook in 2014? Ambai's narration has helped with the article posted under the title. This article was reposted the same year by Saravana Dev in the Ekara Tamil Repository. The earth we live on has three dimensions. Scientists like Einstein confirmed the fourth dimension of spacetime. His Theory of Everything was followed by String Theory and M Theory. Physicists believe that eleven dimensions are the final result of all these theories. They suggest that life may exist in this first dimension and that they may have different energies than humans living on Earth. A cyborg is a combination of man, animal, and machine. It can also be considered a ghost. The aim of the article is to show that the story of "Lion's Tail" is written with the hypothesis that a creature in the eleventh dimension might be like a cyborg. In this short story, concepts and details about the eleventh dimension, the nature of the creatures living there, and the morphology, character, and power of the character Achyuth, who is a cyborg, are explained. M theory and string theory rank as nominal theories. In this short story, concepts and details about the eleventh dimension, the nature of the creatures living there, and the characters are explored. The power of the character Achyut, who is a cyborg, is explained. M theory and string theory rank as nominal theories. Mythical characters inherit concepts of birth and death, and concepts of female space are also seen. The short story is an analogy that takes science and combines it with traditional ideas.

SHIVA, THE REAL HERO IN AMISH TRIPATHI'S THE SECRET OF THE NAGAS

Amish Tripathi turned to be a prolic writer from being a banker. He imbibes the mythological stories that are evergreen and transforms it with modernity to suit the contemporary times without blemishing their uniqueness and greatness. His family background being bibliophiles enabled him to become more knowledgeable about myth and other aspects related to it. In his work The Shiva Trilogy, he focuses on drawing the attention of the people towards current barriers that affect the society. The mythical characters and their endeavors serve to be a source for interpretation from social, political, ecological, and many more aspects. The Protagonist in the three novels is an archetypal hero who can be emulated to become a better human. Monomyth acts as an archetypal narrative that showcases the Hero's journey from his initial attempts and struggles to nal success. Shiva an embodiment of strength, erce nature, dancer and protector is projected with humane tendency, gets elevated to the position of Hero by his actions and noble thoughts. The mythological god is brought down to the level of a human being to illuminate the idea, that man can raise to the higher level of life if he realizes his mistakes, self worth and duty to society , and involve in meaningful endeavours. Nature being destroyed does avenge upon the humans and this truth is palpable through his work.

Arab Psyche, Indian Dream, and the Ethics of Psychoanalysis

Arab Psyche, Indian Dream, and the Ethics of Psychoanalysis

Black Sun That Destroys Inner Darkness


 
 
 There is a widespread belief in Hinduism that Vyāsa, the alleged editor of the Vedas and author of the Mahābhārata, is identical with Bādarāyaṇa, the author of the Brahma-sūtra. The identification of these two mythic characters, however, originated between 800–980 CE, after the likes of Śaṅkara, Padmapāda, and Bhāskara, but before Vācaspati Miśra, Prakāśātman, Sarvajñātman, and Yāmuna. The purpose of this paper is to understand how and why such identification took place. The argument developed here is that the Bādarāyaṇa-Vyāsa identity was invented by the author of or community behind the Bhāgavata Purāṇa as part of a complex of self-representation strategies. The Bhāgavata intentionally makes itself a work of Vedānta, indeed the Brahma-sūtra itself, over which it builds a new soteriology that is centered on the idea of bhakti. Two factors in particular stand out in light of the Bhāgavata’s Vedāntic background: Vyāsa’s paradigmatic character as the preserver of old dharma and the innovator, visionary, of new soteriologies; and the image of Vyāsa’s son Śuka as the model ascetic and ideal candidate for the new soteriological vision, through whom the Bhāgavata community chose to represent itself.
 
 

Riding East—Western Myths, Nostalgia, and the Crossing of Generic Boundaries in Hidalgo (2004)

<i>Riding East</i>—Western Myths, Nostalgia, and the Crossing of Generic Boundaries in <i>Hidalgo</i> (2004)

Looking From a Window: A Critical Analysis of the T'boli's Worldview Through their Oral Traditions

This study analyses a collective worldview through the values embodied in the oral traditions of the T'boli, an indigenous tribe in Lake Sebu, the Philippines. Utilising ethnographic method, data collection is made primarily through informants' in-depth interview and literary criticism of the oral traditions. The study records, transcribes, translates, codes and classifies the T'boli's oral traditions according to their genre. Framed under Carl Jung's Archetypal Criticism's perspective, it identifies T'boli's religious, human, and cultural values in the mythical characters and in the recurring motifs and themes of their oral traditions. The prominent motifs in T'boli's oral traditions are the controlling imageries of a deity and a body of water. The recurring didactic teachings in the themes are devotion, altruism, and deference. The embodied values are faithfulness, generosity and respect and obedience to authority. These values shape the T'boli's worldview in terms of their cultural and religious practices and traditions.

Karnan: An Assertion of Dalit Identity

Indian films, both mainstream Bollywood (Hindi cinema) and regional films have captured issues related to caste, class and gender disparities, and have enabled directors/producers to experiment with techniques so as to challenge stereotypical representations. Tamil cinema in this context has gone through a sea change in its representation of the subaltern class. From being silent and passive sufferers, the characters on screen now raise to speak for their community and assert their identity. This article explores the representation of Dalits on visual platform and how contemporary filmmakers seek to challenge and demystify the established narratives/canon. The article further analyses the recent Tamil cinema titled Karnan (April 2021) which challenges dominant ideologies that perpetuates discrimination, objectification, exclusion and silence to sustain its power. Using the Mahabharata mythical characters and employing cinematic techniques, the film resists and subverts dominant perception which aims to silence the other.