Icelandic Sagas are
famous all over the world as one of just a handful of founding
legends on which later Western literature has built. These marvelous
tales are presented in a very direct prose style, unlike many other
tales that belong to a much larger corpus of literary epics with
which they are often grouped. The Saga tradition is considered to be
a kind of primitive, early record of Icelandic culture. This is a
collection of discrete stories that together represent a magnificent
and unique human achievement. I am going to discuss only one core
tale here, the one known as The Vatnsdaela Saga. This tale describes
the very first people to settle in the Vatnsdal region. These
immigrants were from Norway and were backed by the king there. He
hoped these wealthy landed men from in his own country would remain
his allies and establish new farms in this far away land. Their
success abroad would eventually flow back to Norway, bringing him
added power and fame.
My underlying intent
in this essay, however, is not to delve into Iceland’s colorful
history, but rather to compare this particular Saga with an
equivalent South Indian story known as The Legend of Ponnivala. The
Ponnivala tale is a core oral legend initially known only in one
interior area of South India, the area along the south bank of the
Ponni (Kaveri) a little bit West of Trichy near the smaller city of
Karur, in Tamilnadu. The Vatnsdala and Ponnivala epics have much in
common but unlike the Icelandic Sagas, the latter is virtually
unknown to the world. I wish to stimulate interest in both stories,
but particularly in the latter, so that it may begin to claim its
rightful place amongst other tales of its kind.
I only visited
Iceland for one week, and the Vatnsdaela Saga was the one story for
which I was able to collect some details. I was also lucky in that I
encountered some very interesting visual images that depict most of
the key characters in this particular epic tale. Many other
Icelandic sagas await my further study and then additional
comparative work.
The Vatnsdaela and
Ponnivala legends have absolutely no direct cultural links, even
though both the Vikings and the Tamil traders of South India were
nurtured by skilled sea-going merchant cultures. Both had a zest for
foreign adventure, and as far as we can tell, the two traditions both
thrived during roughly the same time period (800 to 1500 AD). Yet I
do not believe they ever met up, even through intermediaries. What
my comparison will hopefully show is that both stories provide an
entertaining narrative folk account of a regional population’s
linguistic and cultural roots.
Both legends
rest their development on larger-than-life social ancestors. Their
heroes and heroines are men and women whose exploits and courage
clearly shaped the social traditions of a proud people who live on
today. In both regions, one very hot and the other very cold,
modern-day residents still love to recount their links to these
hero(ines).
In both
cases, too, the core story lives on locally through references in
folk art, folk festivals and local landmarks a traveler can see on
the ground. Both are lively and very human narrative masterpieces
meant to honor certain unique events now seen as related to laying
down the social foundations of that region. I will tackle the
ambitious comparison of the Vatnsdaela Saga and the Legend of
Ponnivala under twenty four separate headings:
- ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST PIONEERS
- THE BELOVED LAND
- BIRTH IN A NEW PLACE
- STRUGGLES WITH THE CLIMATE
- A REGIONAL IDENTITY LINKED TO WATER
- THE PIONEER HOMESTEAD
- THE TAMED LANDS AND SOCIAL CONTRACTS
- THE WILD LANDS AND MAGIC
- A WISE LEADER & FATHER FIGURE
- THE STORY TELLERS
- HEROES VERSUS VILLAINS
- WOMEN VERSUS MEN
- FEUDS AND ARGUMENTS
- MORALITY AND DIVINE JUSTICE
- ADOPTION
- PRESTIGIOUS GIFTS
- STORY WOMEN
- MAGICAL TOOLS
- NEGATIVE POWERS & CURSES
- DIVINE FORCES
- BIRDS
- HORSES
- EDLER AND YOUNGER BROTHERS
- EACH A KEYSTONE STORY
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