The wandering mendicants of India who shun the householder’s life and wander in the wilderness lost in the dull haze of the narcotic Indian hemp can be equated with the mild and harmless Lotus-eaters of Greek mythology.
Odysseus is described as a man who is cunning, resourceful and naturally curious, eager to discover and learn, as we find in his many adventures. He is not merely a ‘sacker of cities’ despite what he does in Cicona.
The land of the Lotus-eaters is sometimes identified with Libya and the blue lotus of the Nile is considered the source of the narcotic drug.
The story of the Lotus-eaters is based on a recurring theme in the Odyssey: that of forgetting. Odysseus is being offered the chance to forget everything, the pain, the suffering, even the longing for home, and submit to a life of meaningless bliss. He refuses, as a hero should.
Cyclopes
Odysseus then reached the island of the Cyclopes, one-eyed giants who herded sheep. He did not realize the danger he was in until he found himself trapped in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus. He watched in horror as Polyphemus grabbed and ate his companions raw. Like sheep, he found himself being herded into a pen in the cave, awaiting his fate.
The clever Odysseus found grapes in the cave and turned them into wine. He then identified himself as Nemo, or Nobody, befriended the Cyclops, got him drunk and, while he slept, punctured his single eye with the trunk of a tree that he had spent all day sharpening to a point.
As Polyphemus howled in agony, the other Cyclopes of the island came to his cave. ‘Who hurt you?’ they asked. ‘Nobody,’ Polyphemus replied and so they left him alone and went away.
Polyphemus was determined not to let his attackers leave the cave alive. So when it was time to let the sheep out, he rubbed their back to make sure no one was riding them. But Odysseus was smarter and escaped by clinging to the underbelly of a sheep.
As he set sail, a relieved and ecstatic Odysseus could not help but shout, ‘Polyphemus, you killer of my men, know that you have been blinded and outsmarted not by “Nobody” but by Odysseus, king of Ithaca, husband of Penelope and father of Telemachus.’
His hubris cost Odysseus dearly. For Polyphemus invoked his father Poseidon and the sea god whipped up storms and churned out currents ensuring Odysseus’s ships sailed aimlessly for days in no particular direction.
Homer describes the Cyclopes as simple one-eyed herdsmen, children of Poseidon. Hesiod’s Theogony, written at the same time as Homer’s epic, describes the Cyclopes as the children of Uranus and Gaia, which makes them the siblings of the Titans.
The Cyclopes forged the thunderbolt for Zeus, the trident for Poseidon, bows and arrows for both Apollo and Artemis, and the helmet for Hades. Later, they came to be portrayed as assistants at Hephaestus’s forge.
Ovid’s Metamorphosis, a Latin work dating back to first century CE, tells of how the Cyclops Polyphemus was in love with the sea nymph Galatea who preferred the shepherd Acis. Coming upon the lovers, the jealous and violent Polyphemus picked up a rock and crushed Acis.
Aeolus
Finally, Odysseus reached an island that was home to the wind god Aeolus. The wind god was kind and generous and, after taking care of him and his crew for a month, gave him a bag saying, ‘It contains all the winds except the West Wind that will gently take you straight home to Ithaca.’
And sure enough, the gentle West Wind took Odysseus’s ships straight towards Ithaca.
When the shores of Ithaca appeared on the horizon, Odysseus decided to take a nap. ‘Wake me up after we beach the ship!’ he told his companions. But when he shut his eyes and started snoring, his crew decided to investigate the contents of the mysterious bag, tied with a silver string, that Aeolus had given to Odysseus. Did it contain treasure?
As soon as the string was undone, all the winds were released and the ships were pushed back to the island of Aeolus. When Odysseus woke up and realized what his foolish crew had done, he begged the wind god to help with the West Wind once again.
‘I will not help one who the gods so oppose,’ said Aeolus, slamming the door to his house on Odysseus’s face.
Aeolus, the warden of winds, was a son of Poseidon who lived on a floating island.
In some tales, Aeolus had six sons and six daughters. He got his sons married to his daughters and they lived happily according to Homer. But this tale of incest did not appeal to later writers such as Euripides, who told the tale of how Aeolus killed his son and his daughter and the child of their incestuous union.
Laestrygonians
Confused by the shifting currents that Poseidon continued to throw in their path, Odysseus, his sailors and his ships travelled for a long time and finally reached the land of the Laestrygonians where they were greeted by a rather tall girl who invited them all to her parents’ house for dinner.
But when they reached the house, they realized that they were the dinner, for the Laestrygonians were cannibals, delighted at having a rich supply of food sail into their harbour. Odysseus and his crew—those who managed to escape the trap—ran back to the shore, but the Laestrygonians followed them over the nearby cliffs and hurled stones that smashed all the ships, save one. Odysseus and a handful of sailors managed to escape on the vessel. The others were trapped on the shores where the cannibals got to them, tearing them from limb to limb and eating them alive.
When Odysseus leaves Troy he has twelve ships. He is left with only one after his encounter with the Laestrygonians.
It is believed that the Laestrygonians lived in what is now called Sicily.
Circe
Odysseus’s lone ship finally made its way to the island of Aiaia.
Odysseus waited on the shore while the sailors explored the island. Long hours passed until at last one sailor returned with horrifying news: the island was home to a sorceress named Circe who pretended to be kind and offered food and drink to strangers, only to turn them all into pigs.
Determined to release his men from the enchantress, Odysseus marched to her house. On the way, the god Hermes met him and gave him a herb to eat which would keep him safe from Circe’s magical potions.
Circe was welcoming, charming and seductive and offered Odysseus a drink, but was surprised to find that it had no effect on him. Odysseus then drew his sword and threatened to kill Circe if she did not release his sailors from her spell. Circe released the soldiers but asked Odysseus to stay with her for a few days and share her bed, while his sailors ate, rested and recovered their strength. Odysseus, not wanting to upset the witch, and finding her rather enchanting, agreed.
A few weeks later, he decided it was time to go.
‘You will reach home only after you consult Tiresias, the oracle, and ask him how your journey will end,’ said Circe.
‘Where is he?’ asked Odysseus.
‘Across the great ocean, beyond the River Styx, in the land of the dead. I will show you the way. Do not be afraid.’
In the folklore associated with wandering Indian mendicants known as Nath yogis there is reference to yoginis, or sorceresses, who turn men into donkeys and pigs and goats for their pleasure, until they meet their match in the sage Jalandar-nath.
Circe is the daughter of Helios, the sun. Her sister Pasiphae marries Minos. Her brother Aeetes is the keeper of the Golden Fleece in Colchis. This makes the witch Medea her niece.
In 1955, Nirad C. Chaudhari published his book The Continent of Circe where he compares the transformation of a militaristic Indian society, from the times of the Aryans through the Maurya and Gupta periods, into a non-violent pacifist society by the Mughal and European rulers of India, to the transformation of Greek warriors into pigs by Circe.
The Odyssey is strongly influenced by the Mesopotamian epic Gilgamesh, which tells the story of a king who goes in search of the herb of immortality and has many adventures on the journey. Like Odysseus’s encounter with Circe, Gilgamesh encounters a power woman, the goddess Selene who is associated with fermentation, hence alcohol.
The idea of a goddess or a witch who helps as well as distracts the hero is a common theme in mythologies around the world. In the Ramayana, a similar role is played by the ascetic lady Swayamprabha, who offers food to the starving monkeys who get lost in a dark cave. The monkeys do not want to leave until Hanuman insists they do and so Swayamprabha helps them go over to the other end of the cave and reach the southern tip of India.
The Underworld
Directed by Circe, Odysseus made his way to the land of the dead. Leaving his ship and his sailors on the edge of the great ocean, he entered a cave that led him to the Styx, the river that separates the land of the living and the land of the dead.
Odysseus paid Charon, the boatman, the fee to ferry him across. He gave Cerberus, the hound of Hades, honeyed cakes. When he encountered the ghosts who lived on the other side, he offered them blood, but refused to let them drink it until Tiresias answered his question.
Tiresias came and said, ‘I know your question and I know the answer to your question: your journey will end not when you reach home, but when you journey with a rowing oar in your hand, beyond your house, so far inland where people have never seen the sea, and will mistake the oar in your hand for a winnowing fan. Fear not, Odysseus, you will not die on the sea but death will come to you from the sea.’
In Hindu mythology, the journey to the land of the dead, the Pitr-loka, located beyond the River Vaitarni, is described in the Garuda Purana.
Tiresias appears in many stories in Greek mythology. It is he who tells Amphitryon that the mystery lover of his wife Alcmene is none other than Zeus; who tells the mother of Narcissus that her son is safe as long as he does not know himself; who tells Oedipus that his wife is his mother and that he killed her first husband, his father.
In Greek, the word katabasis is meant for an inward journey, such as one from the coast inland, or a descent from the world of the living to the world of the dead. The word nekyia refers to calling upon ghosts. Ghosts clearly play an important role in the adventures of Greek heroes. In the twentieth century, Jung used these words in the context of psychoanalysis.
In Greek mythology, death is the loss of individuality, the transformation into a faceless ghost with no identity. When Odysseus makes the journey to the land of the dead, he hears their meaningless chatter, the complete depersonalization that follows the end of living. This gives more meaning to the life that one has, that one must experience to the fullest and whose wonders one must relish.
Sirens
After visiting the land of the dead, Odysseus returned to the island of Circe and she explained how he could journey home, warning him of the dangers that lay in his way. The very first hurdle in the way were the Sirens.
The Sirens were bird-like creatures that sang beautiful songs that enthralled sailors and made them sail their ship towards the rocky island inhabited by them. Here, their ships would get stuck between the rocks, and the Sirens would feast on them.
Circe had advised, ‘Fill your ears with beeswax when you are sailing by their island so that you will not hear their irresistible song.’ But Odysseus was curious about the Siren song, and he came up with a plan to hear it. He instructed his sailors to tie him to the mast of the ship and not untie him even if he ordered or begged them.
Thus with Odysseus tied to the mast, and the sailors’ ears filled with beeswax, the ship sailed past the island of the Sirens. Unable to hear the song themselves, the sailors watched as Odysseus’s eyes filled with longing upon hearing the song of those enchanting creatures. Later he would tell them how the song spoke of the glory of his days past and the wonders the future held for him.
‘I wanted to hear more of it . . . to break free and swim towards them,’ he confessed when the ship had moved into safe silent waters.
On the southern edge of the west coast of India there are tales of seductive damsels known as yakshis who seduce young travellers, take them to their home, and then eat them alive.
Traditionally, Sirens were imagined as bird-women with the head of a woman and the body of a bird. In modern writings, they are often confused with mermaids who seduce sailors.
The Sirens lost a music competition to the Muses, who plucked their wings and used the feathers to make crowns for themselves. Rendered flightless, these women with claws for feet sat on the island in the middle of the sea and used their song to enchant sailors.
In Christian times, Sirens were seen as metaphors for prostitutes who lured sailors away from their purpose.
Charybdis and Scylla
Then came the narrow strait between two monsters, Charybdis and Scylla, that Odysseus and his men had to navigate. Charybdis was a monstrous whirlpool that sucked in everything that came near her. Scylla was a six-headed dog-faced woman who grabbed and ate anything within reach.
Navigation was not easy as the waters were restless. Circe had told Odysseus to steer the ship straight ahead. They managed to avoid Charybdis completely but not Scylla who was able to snatch six sailors, one with each of her six heads. The sailors begged Odysseus to stop, screaming as Scylla slowly ate them alive, tearing into their flesh. But Odysseus carried on; he had no choice but to keep moving if he wanted to escape. Sacrifices had to be made.
In Hindu mythology, there are few, if any, tales of sea routes and entrances to seaways. But there are gateways protected by ferocious doorkeepers, often twins, such as Jaya and Vijaya who guard the gates of Vaikuntha, and Laya and Maya who watch over the entrance to the forest of Shiva and Shakti.
Circe fell in love with the sea god Glaucus. But he preferred Scylla. Enraged, Circe turned Scylla into a dog-faced monster with six heads.
Charybdis was the daughter of Poseidon who angered Zeus and so was turned into the bladder of a monster with an insatiable thirst for seawater. As she sucks in water, she creates whirlpools. Aesop in his fables said that with her first sip, Charybdis exposed the mountains, with the second she exposed the islands, and with the final sip she would dry out the sea.
The story of Charybdis and Scylla being on either side of a narrow strait through which ships had to pass gave rise to phrases about being trapped between two problems: between the Devil and the deep sea, between a rock and a hard place, out of the frying pan into the fire.
The Strait of Messina is the narrow passage between the eastern tip of Sicily and the western tip of Calabria in the south of Italy, and is often identified as the strait across which stood the two monsters Charybdis and Scylla.
Helios
After many days of travelling over silent and safe waters, during which they exhausted all their supplies, the hungry, thirsty and miserable sailors reached an island where they saw cattle grazing.
‘It is the island of Helios,’ said Odysseus. ‘Circe told me of this. We must not stop here, for we may upset him.’
But the sailors wanted to stop. They were tired and sick of the sea. A night’s rest was all they desired. Odysseus gave in finally but warned them to leave the cattle alone. Yes, said the soldiers, but at night, while Odysseus slept, they slaughtered one of the sweet lowing cows and ate to their heart’s content.
An angry Helios complained to Zeus and shortly after Odysseus’s ship set sail, a bolt of lightning struck it. The ship broke, the mast sank, and the soldiers drowned. Only Odysseus survived, clinging to a piece of wreckage.
In Hindu mythology, killing a cow is the greatest of crimes as cows give life-sustaining milk. This has led to a strict taboo against the inclusion of beef in Hindu dietary habits, though the tales say nothing about bulls or buffaloes. While the Greeks had no rules against killing or eating cows, harming animals sacred to the gods was strictly forbidden.
Odysseus’s fellow sailors do not listen to him. Despite clear instructions, they open Aeolus’s bag and let loose the winds, and they kill cattle that belonged to Helios. Perhaps this suggests that Odysseus functioned better as a lone wolf than as a pack leader. His cunning won him the friendship of kings but not the loyalty of his people.
Guarded
by his daughters, Helios’s cattle do not breed and do not reduce in number. In other words, they are immortal.
Helios is sometimes identified with Apollo, just as Artemis is associated with Selene.
Calypso
The shipwrecked Odysseus washed up on an island that was the home of Calypso, a lonely nymph who fell in love with him.
For the next several years, she washed him, clothed him, fed him, entertained him, took care of his every need, but turned away every time he spoke of going home. In other words, Odysseus lived in a beautiful, comfortable cage that he could never leave. Eventually he would forget, of that the nymph was sure. But Odysseus was determined not to.
At last a day came when the goddess Athena could bear the suffering of Odysseus no more. For years she had watched him spend hours staring at the sea, weeping for his home. Athena begged Zeus to order Calypso to let Odysseus leave. ‘Let him go,’ Zeus commanded. Calypso agreed, but she had one last trick. She offered her beloved Odysseus the unthinkable: immortality!
Odysseus refused, for he knew with immortality he would lose any memories of his home and family. He preferred the joy of living to an old age and dying surrounded by his loved ones. Calypso had no choice but to let Odysseus go. With a broken heart, she watched as her beloved made himself a raft, filled it with supplies and made his way towards Ithaca.