The fact that Afanasij Nikitin was the first Russian to visit India
provoked widespread interest in his travel account, which has became
an object of extensive historic commentary. Each step of the traveler
has been traced and inspected as a source of insight about the reality
of fifteenth-century India. Approaching the familiar English fairy
tale no one is about to look for an actual beanstalk in an Asian
jungle, it is rather to suggest that a beanstalk doesn't come from
objective reality. It seems possible to make a brief symbolic
interpretation of Afanasij Nikitin`s
During a regular trade expedition to the Caucasus the Russian
merchant was robbed. Rather than return home, he went on to find his
luck beyond the seas. The reason for such a long and dangerous voyage
can be found in Russian folklore. The hero of tradition can be a
significantly important role model for a real person, and the folk
patterns can be used to describe and even inspire his action. The hero
of the fairy tales has to go to the other world
to get
what he desires. To grow rich, to marry a princess, to qualify for the
throne, to get any goodies, the hero must make a trip. He is unable to
deal with his problems at home; all problems can be decided only
there, far away. This model often has been reproduced in Russian
history, literature, and even in some modern examples of human
expression.
The destination of travel is unknown for a folklore hero. In the
text of fairy tales it commonly is presented as he went the way
he did not know himself.
The hero describes his path: I
go where eyes look, myself not knowing
(Afanas&soft;ev,
170). We can find the same formula in and
they went wherever they could, just where they set their
eyes.
The actions of a folk hero often are described in a repetition of
forms; these basic forms connect with basic rhythm and stem directly
from magic. Repetition of verbs seems to be an older way of signifying
duration. The doubling patterns of folklore narrative can be compared
to the doubling patterns in
To reach the other world, the hero has to cross some border. It may
be a river, a sea or a fire in folk tales. The where an eternal fire is burning.
He reached the island which is flooded by the sea twice a
day
and where sun is blazing hot and may burn
one.
In a fairy tale, the hero can't cross a border on his
own. He always needs some magic helper (donor), such as a person, a
bird, a ship, or a horse. The main duty of the magic horse in fairy
tales is to make a connection between two worlds. It is strictly
connected with the old belief that the horse carries dead people to
the land of death. Afanasij Nikitin purchased a horse in Persia and
arranged for it to be transported to India. This purchase has puzzled
many scholars and Afanasij Nikitin himself. A horse was not a common
import.
Before his travels, Afanasij Nikitin may have perceived a concrete
image of India as the other world,
the land of death
derived from both Russian folklore and medieval literature. According
to the novel
The other world
in Russian folklore is described as
the land with treasures and characteristics opposite to those in the
human world.
Many of the picturesque and puzzling
details in spring came
with the Feast of the Intercession of Holy Mother of God
). The
outlook and behavior of Indians are described in terms opposite to
norm for a Russian traveler's human outlook and manners
(everyone is naked, the men and women are all black, many women
are pregnant, horses are fed with pulse, and rice meal with sugar and
butter is made for them
). Very puzzling features have come to
India from Russian folklore (army of monkeys, ghugguk, a bird spitting
fire, whenever it settles on a house top, someone dies in the
house
).
other world
and
back.