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1Just last night, I was re-watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: part 2, and after thinking about the whole series, I was stunned to see that there were many similarities between Harry Potter and Ramayan/Mahabharat.
Ramayan Harry Potter Lord of the rings
Hero Ram Harry Potter Frodo
Place Ayodhya Hogwarts School Middle Earth
Villian Ravan Voldemort Sauron
Sita Hermione -"may be Smeagol"
Laxman Ron Sam
Hanuman Dumbledore Gandalf
During past one month I saw Ramayan, Harry Potter & LOR. And I was stunned to see the similarities between all three of them. All three are legends in their respect. Ramayan is oldest of all three & is a religion for close to 1 billion people. Harry Potter & LOR are recent writings & have huge fan following.
All three have a similar story line: there is an evil that is feared by all & by his croakiness wants to rule whole world. So to destroy the evil, a hero is born & who after lot of struggle finally kills the evil. In all three, evil once was a good character, but eventually gets corrupt under influence of power.
More stunningly, Ramayan & Harry Potter looks to be Xerox copy of each other.
Just like in Ramayan, the hero has to go undergo lot of challenges & fights right from his childhood days & he wins all of them by his wisdom, patience & power.
Just like Ramayan, the hero is always accompanied by two other central characters: one male & other female. Moreover both the novels are named after its main central character.
I often feel, if given same environment & time as Ramayan, Harry Potter also has potential to become a religious text in itself, with its central characters as god.
The beauty of J.K. Rowling's "epic" is that it is so close to myth
while being a having a "modern" background. One could easily find a lot
of similarities in the events, themes and characters of HP with myth
from different civilisations. Norse, Christian, English and Arthurian
symbolisms are often used in the series.
One could also find elements of Hindu mythology in the events of the
series. It's probably so because all mythological concepts basically
build on the same premises. The Mahabharata in Hindu mythology is an
account of a great war between the Good and the Not-So-Good. Although
the war is believed to have lasted only 18 days, it had changed the face
of civilisation. Here are some points about the epic which are in
essence similar to some events in the HP Series.
1. The war between Right and Wrong, and the importance of choices: In the Mahabharata, the Pandavas fought their own cousins, the Kauravas over the issue of the right to rule over a kingdom. The kingdom symbolises the "Final Purpose" – the end of evil in the HP world. Arjuna – the warrior master among the Pandavas, was initially reluctant to take up arms against the baddies – his own kins. The Kauravas on the other hand were only too eager to get on with the fight. Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu (the Preserver of the Universe in Hindu faith) sought an interview with Arjuna and Duryodhana (leader of the Kaurava warriors); and placed before them a choice.
"If you must fight against each other", he said, "I'll be glad to offer my help to both of you, as you're both my kin. One of you will have the services of my Narayani Sena (Krishna's army), and the other shall have ME on their side. Be informed, though, that I shall not touch a single weapon in the war. I will serve not as a warrior, but as a charioteer. Which of you wants my army?"
Duryodhana said, "I do"
"And you, Arjuna?" asked Krishna.
"I'll have you, Lord, and I couldn't choose better!" said Arjuna
Arjuna's choice would make him emerge victorious in the Mahabharata. Krishna would be his charioteer in the war, instructs him to perform his duties as a warrior, and guides him in the war.
2. The wise old warrior CHOOSES to die:
Bhishma, grandfather of the Pandavas and the Kauravas had been granted
the boon of "icchamrityu" (death at will). He chose to die when he
thought his duty was done and that he should do well to die than see the
end of the war. Not like Dumbledore except that I think Dumbledore also
"chose" to die.
3. The wise old warrior requests his favourite subject to kill him: Bhishma requested Arjuna to give him the death of a warrior.
I believe that Snape was Dumbledore's man, and did the unthinkable at the behest of his true "Master"
4. The War of Equals: Arjuna for the Pandavas and Karan for the
Kauravas were seen as each others' nemesis. If there was one warrior who
could defeat Arjuna at archery, it was Karan, and vice versa!
Their strikes at each other bore no result, until Krishna instructed
Arjuna to strike at Karan when he was unprepared. Krishna had to
repeatedly advise Arjuna on the illusions of morality, life and death,
etc, before he could convince Arjuna that he should strike Karan when
the latter is unready if he wanted this war to end.
Harry's and Lord Voldemort's wands don't work against each other. They
are, as per the prophecy, each others' Nemesis, and if there's a way
either could kill the other, it's when the latter is unready.
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