Epic DAIVAM

[Dominique.Thillaud]

Dear Kevin,
        You wrote:
>'Fate' or 'destiny' seem to be terms which have very little relation to
>pre-classical kshatriya culture.

        I can't agree fully. Hero's fate and it's acceptation by him is a
very important topos in Eurindian epics as you can see in many Germanic (cf
Jan de Vries "Die geistige Welt der Germanen") or Greek (cf Akhilleus)
stories. Even if I don't have knowledge of Indian divine characters
equivalent to Moira or the Norns, it seems that heroes like karNa or
zizupAla fit very well with the fact to be 'marked' by their destiny. In
this scope, it's probably interesting to remark that such heroes
(Starkadhr, Sigurdr, Herakles, Akhilleus) are never fully 'positive': sins
are their fate.
        Incidentally, I find very interesting the link dIvyati/daiva
suggested by Lars, much better than the classical derivation from deva
(curious evocation of the Einstein's sentence "God not plays dices").
        Best regards,
Dominique

Dominique THILLAUD
Universite' de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, France