ation.^71 But these are not all of equal interest for the purposes of heroic
narrative. It prefers an element of contest, of difficulties to be overcome. The
premise is a woman so desirable that her hand is sought by many men of
distinction.
In one type of myth winning her constitutes a challenge, not just because
of the competition but because unsuccessful suitors must forfeit their lives.
As with the life-or-death poetic contests mentioned at the end of Chapter 1, it
may be doubted whether this was ever a real-life practice. But it makes for
good stories.
Men who wanted to marry Hippodameia had to compete in a chariot-race
against her father Oinomaos, and if defeated they were killed. Atalanta’s
suitors had to race on foot against her and lost their lives if she beat them;
according to one version she chased them with a spear. The Scottish queen
Herminthrud, until won by Amleth, had despised all her suitors and made
every one of them pay with his head (Saxo 4. 1. 12 p. 88). The Nart heroine
Gunda would wrestle with hers and humiliate those she defeated by cutting
off their ears or branding them with a hot iron.^72
In classical Indian literature a king’s daughter is generally represented as
selecting her own husband by the procedure called svayam
̇
vara, ‘self-choice’.^73
When she reaches marriageable age her father makes a proclamation, and
swarms of suitors –– kings and princes from various regions –– gather and
enjoy his hospitality for a period of days. The damsel is displayed before them.
More often than not they are required to undergo a contest or test of skill, and
she will choose the winner as her husband, his ‘manly deed’ (vı ̄r yam) being
regarded as the bride-price.
In several examples the contest involves stringing a powerful bow and
performing a difficult feat of archery (MBh. 1. 175–9; Rm. 1. 65 f.; 2. 110.
37–52). There is a striking analogy here with the contest which Penelope sets
for her suitors in the Odyssey and which the disguised Odysseus wins, where-
upon he kills his rivals and recovers his rightful wife. The affair is in effect
asvayam
̇
vara. It has been implied at various points in the poem that if
Odysseus is written off, Penelope is free to choose her own husband
(2. 87–105, 4. 770 f., 18. 285–9, 19. 524–9, 20. 341 f.). The test she prescribes is
(^71) Cf. Feist (1913), 305–10; de Vries (1956), i. 185–7; Campanile (1990b), 114–20; id. in
Ramat (1998), 12 f.; Gamkrelidze–Ivanov (1995), 658–61, 664 f.; Sergent (1995), 224–31; EIEC
369 f.
(^72) Colarusso (2002), 364 (Abkhaz).
(^73) On this see H.-P. Schmidt, Some Women’s Rites and Rights in the Veda (Poona 1987), 76–
109; S. W. Jamison, Classical Antiquity 18 (1999), 244–9; ead. in K. Karttunen–P. Koskikallio
(edd.), Vidya ̄rn ̇avavandanam. Essays in Honour of Asko Parpola (Helsinki 2001), 303–15. There is
an allusion to the practice in RV 10. 17. 1.
- King and Hero 433