Across Time and Space
Hydrological Insights from the Ramayana: A Comparative Study of Ancient and Modern Concepts of the Water Cycle
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jyoti Yadav
Throughout ancient India, science and technology studies encompassed every major field of human knowledge and endeavor. The drawing of Indian culture in antiquity marked the beginning of geographical studies in India. Certain important Hindu philosophies, epics, and mythology contain information. The primary goal of this manuscript is to extract and analyze the concept of the hydrological cycle from the Ramayana and to collate the hydrological cycle of Ramayanic period and modern period. For this, different research papers, Vedas, Puranas, Mahabharata and many ancient Indian literature has been studied thoroughly and more focus given to Ramayana. The epic Ramayana's Kishkindha Kanda (Chapter 28; Verses: 03, 07, 22, 27, 46) covers a number of topics related to the hydrological cycle. The production of clouds by the sun and wind and the precipitation are mentioned, and the overflowing of rivers during the rainy season is mentioned. Verse 22 describes the water-laden cloud transportation method as well as how the mountain's height affects the entire system. This is used to create a picture of the different phases of the hydrological cycle that is comparable to Horton;s description. The study concludes that insolation, evaporation, transportation, condensation, precipitation, and run-off are some of the components that make up the modern concept of the hydrological cycle. Interestingly, most of these processes and components were documented in the literature during Valmiki’s time while condensation, infiltration, and subsurface flow were absent.
The Achilles' Heel of Heroic Lives: Examples of Drama in the Ugaritic Epic of Aqhat and the Biblical Song of Deborah
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Eva Vymětalová Hrabáková
The question of how heroes may perish is a central theme in ancient Levantine texts, where the vulnerability of these figures serves as a crucial plot point. This paper examines the profiles of heroes in the ancient Mediterranean and explore how those around them learned from their failures. Rather than presenting a static ancient text alongside parallel clues from another ancient story, this offers an ever-evolving interpretation of the narrative in the contemporary world. The paper investigates the concept of envisioning the Ugaritic Epic of Aqhat and Biblical The Song of Deborah as dramatic scripts, aiming not to reconstruct a ritual performance, but rather to stage a performance of epic drama that conveys ethical implications for the present.
