America’s Personal Values, Compared Essay -- Literary Analysis

Americas Personal Values ComparedGreat Indian authors have written luxuriant epics that depict heroic characters performing unadulterated deeds. Many of these epic tales feature fearsome and godly battles, while others toweringlight the soft side of human emotions. Despite seemingly unrealistic characters such(prenominal) as tal office hawks and ten-headed monsters, and unlikely conflicts that feature bloody battles, many of these grand epics display many traditional value that Americans value in innovational society. When construing three particular celebrated Indian epics (the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad-Gita, and the Ramayana), readers would easily glean the values and belief system that antediluvian Indian society held in high esteem many thousands of years ago. Moreover, by comparing and contrasting various(prenominal) ideals and principles, similarities between Ancient Indians and Americans would espouse to surface.The Mahabharata teaches the value of integrity through th e point of a deal between a king and a hawk. At a nearby river performing a ritual sacrifice, a king comes across an injured dove trying to escape the clutches of a hawk. He makes a vow to protect the dove and says, This bird has come to me for asylum. It is my duty to protect it, (From the Mahabharata). The hawk rebuts and cites his need for food consequently, the king cuts a deal and promises to exchange his own flesh to compensate the hawks loss You shall have my flesh and nothing less, (From the Mahabharata). The gods reward him for his integrity and tote up upon him the gift of prosperity. Certainly, our modern society values integrity to a huge extent, but the king in this story goes above ordinary morals and endures pain to protect an innocent life. While most Americans might not s... ... integrity, duty, and honor. The mere prevalence of these regarded values in modern society indicates their public utility company and tenability. Even though modern Americans might not on a day-to-day basis physically sacrifice themselves, go to battle, or budge a ten headed monster, they share the same principles of integrity, duty and honor with heroes of Ancient Indian Literature toward their perspective towards life. Works Cited From the Bhagavad-Gita. learner Hall Literature. Trans. Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood. amphetamine Saddle Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004. 182-89. Print. From the Mahabharata. Prentice Hall Literature. Trans. R. K. Narayan. Upper Saddle River Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004. 174-81. Print. From the Ramayana. Prentice Hall Literature. Trans. R. K. Narayan. Upper Saddle River Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004. 190-98. Print.