![]() |
[email protected] |
![]() |
3275638434 |
![]() |
![]() |
| Paper Publishing WeChat |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Saumitra Chakravarty
Full-Text PDF
XML 83 Views
DOI:10.17265/2159-550X/2026.08.002
VVS College, Bangalore, India
This essay attempts to analyze the principal themes of the Mesopotamian “Epic of Gilgamesh” and compare them with other ancient texts, chiefly the canonical texts of the Hindu scriptures. The focus of comparison remains the introduction of Enkidu as the unspoilt, primeval man, the restorative role he plays in the narrative, and above all, the death-immortality motif which occupies centre-space in the latter half of the epic after his death.
death, immortality, transformation, quest, flood, Hindu, body, soul
Saumitra Chakravarty. (2026). Death, Immortality and Reformation: A Comparative Study of the Epic of Gilgamesh and Hindu Scriptural Texts. History Research, August 2026, Vol. 8, No. 8, 444-453.
A1-A41. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://etcsl.orinet.ac.uk/section1tr1812.html (accessed on 1st Feb. 2022)
Albright, W. F. (1920). Gilgames and Engidu: Mesopotamian genii of fecundity. The Journal of the American Oriental Society, 40, 309-335.
Aurobindo, S. (1989). Essays on the Gita. Pondicherry, India: Aurobindo Ashram Press.
Campbell, J. (2001). The masks of god: Occidental mythology (1st pub in 1964). London: Souvenir Press.
Cooper, J. S. (2002). Buddies in Babylon: Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Mesopotamian homosexuality. In T. Abusseh (Ed.), Riches hidden in secret places: Ancient near eastern studies in memory of Thorkild Jacobsen (pp. 73-86). Indiana: Eisenbrauns.
Hammond, D., Jablow, A., & Brod, H. (2002). Gilgamesh and the Sundance kid: The myth of male friendship. U.K.: Routledge.
Hume, R. E. (Trans.). (1927). The thirteen Upanishads. London: Oxford India Paperbacks, O.U.P.
Mitchell, S. (Trans.). (2004). Gilgamesh: A new English version. New York: Free Press.
Peled, I. (2016). Masculinities and third gender: The origin and nature of an institutionalized gender otherness in the ancient near east. Munster: Ugarit, Verlag.
Radhakrishnan, S. (Trans.). (1989). The Bhagvad Gita. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Sollberger, E. (1962). The Tummal inscription. Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 16(2), 40-41.
Srimad Valmiki Ramayana, Part I. (1998). Gorakhpur. India: Gita Press.
The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. (n.d.). Retrieved from etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk (accessed on 31st Jan. 2022)
Thompson, C. R. (2025). The epic of Gilgamesh. Global Grey E-books (1st pub. in 1928).
Wolff, H. N. (1969). Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the heroic life. The Journal of American Oriental Studies, 89(2), 392-398.




