Gilgamesh

Project: Gilgamesh
Author: Lem Chuck Moth

Started date: April/01/2019
Last updated: June/30/2019
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Note:
Since this paper is still drafted, the readers would be advised to ignore any context errors. The content is not final and subjected to be reviewed. Please kindly notify me of the discrepancies.

INTRODUCTION
The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, through its existence, is often regarded as the earliest surviving great work of literature. The history that begins with five Sumerian poems about Bilgamesh (Sumerian for "Gilgamesh"), must to start early during the Sumerian period. By then, one of the main personages of the story line Utnapishtim, the great flood deluge's hero already existed. As to Gilgamesh, it is not clear that the Uruk's ruler of the third dynasty that was found in the king list, was the actually the real hero of the stoary line. It might have been that the Uruk's ruler adopted his name according the epic story instead. In any way, evidences show that the Sumerian poems became the sources of later works. Attempts to combine these independent stories as source material for a single epic story of Gilgamesh could be checked out by many versions that were unearthed since, through archeology. The first version, known as the "Old Babylonian" version dates to the 18th century BC and is titled after its incept, Shutur eli sharri ("Surpassing All Other Kings"). Only a few tablets of it have survived until to day.

The Standard Akkadian Version
The standard and final version was compiled in Akkadian language by Sin-liqe-unninni sometime from the 13th to the 10th centuries BC. Twelve-tablet version have been recovered in the library ruins of the 7th-century BC Assyrian king Ashurbanipal in Nineveh. From its discovery, it was intensely worked on by Sumeriannologs and their works had been published to the general audience. As much as we had our own reservation about the theme of the epic story, we agreed with most of their finding so far, including the following statement. From the fact that the lines at the beginning of the first tablet are quoted at the end of the 11th tablet, Scholars postulated that the epic story was originally compiled in eleven tablets. It was about the city wall of Uruk being built by the best of back bricks, standing tall when Gilgamesh began to build it at the start of the story line. It still stood tall when he returned back from his adventure abroad, at the end of the story line. The story of the 12th tablet moreover bears little relation to the well-crafted original 11-tablet epic. It was about Gilgamesh sending Enkidu to retrieve two gifts from Ishtar (a ball and a mallet) that fell into the Underworld and returned in the form of a spirit to relate the nature of the Underworld to Gilgamesh. Many scholars found it to be a reproduction of an earlier Sumerian tale to be added as a sequel to the original 11, clearly at a later date to complete the whole epic story.

THE INTERPRETATION
Many works on the epic had been published and are made available for the general audience by various scholars. So far, we agreed in most of their works of deciphering the text and translation. Even though there are slight differences between them, the main story line appears to be the same. We will work on the most recent of the standard Akkadian version (1200 BC) of which we hope to find a different outlook of the intended meaning as alternative to what have been available through previous works. We start by looking deep into the theme of the story line that might give us clue on what the compiler(s) had in mind about the story line.

The Theme of the Epic Story
As most abstract Sumerian epic stories compiled for religious purpose, the theme was often hinted either explicitly or hidden along the story line. In the epic of Gilgamest, the story line presented itself almost like a fictional work convincing us that it was actually a religious abstraction rather than a historical narration of the real events. Even though the hero of the epic, Gilgamesh, could be verified as a real ruler of the third dynasty of Ur, it is unclear which of the stories were actually part of his personal history of the time. On the contrary, evidences show that earlier materials of Sumerian period were used to build the story line. In addition, the opening words of each one of the single versions tell us clearly that the epic has a theme. In the Old Babylon version, which titled "Surpassing All Other Kings" had an hidden theme that the compiler wanted to convey to his general audience. According to our understanding, it was referring to Gilgamesh obtaining from the flood hero Utnapishtim wisdom's words that would change him to become a better ruler of Middle East. Our own impression is that both versions were compiled, using Gilgameash as a model representing Middle Eastern rulers in general, during the transitional time into the Kalayuga. The main theme was about their fascination with eternal life and their drive to obtain it at all cost. Gilgamesh was tipped by the Sun God Shamash that the eternal life is a privilege of god and that human being had to earn it. Undeterred, Gilgamesh insisted on making the trip to see Utnapishtim, just to be confirmed of what he already knew from the Sun God Shamash. Utnapishtim made it clear to him that he and his wife were granted the eternal life by the god Ellil, because they earned it. Even though they were still human beings, the main reason that got it because they had elevated their spiritual status to be equal to god. Gilgamesh returned home disappointed, but he and other contemporary Middle Eastern did not give up of finding out of other alternative solution, particularly provided by the forbidden fruit "Knowledge of God and Evil". By doing so, they were committing the same mistake, as did their common ancestor Adam and Eve in breaking God's rule. Other versions hinted that both Gilgamesh and Ishtar made their trips to the underworld and judging to what happened next in Middle East, they obviously brought the tree of "the Knowledge of God and Evil" to the west. A new wave of Cultural Revolution appeared to take Middle Eastern societies by storm as idoling through mummification became the common practices of Middle Eastern royal courts. Under the oppression, the Moon God Tsin tried to regroup support among Abraham 's descendants to resist the change, but would find out that his time was running short. After founding Israel, the Israelites themselves fell under the sway of Zoroatranism leaving the Moon God Tsin no other option than to exit himself out of Middle East. His last presence at the court of Babylon among his few last faithful supporters, was to prepare for the final exit from Middle East (to the Gangetic India) with the apparent accommodation of king Nebuchadnezza of Babylon.

The Religious Background
the tablet one introduces Gilgamesh who was born of two-thirds god and one-third man, to be king of Uruk. From the king list, we know that he was belonged to the third dynasty of Ur, reigning between 2112-2064 BC. The epic story took place during the late Dvaparayuga (5,000BC- 0 AD), already in transition to the start of the Kalayuga (2500 BC-2500 AD). By this time, the Moon Culture was degrading, under the Ashura God and as expected the abuse of power is the norm among the power elite of lower spiritual status. As most of Middle Eastern rulers of the time, Gilgamesh was mentioned to be two-thirds of divine nature and was gifted with a particular physical strength that made him dominant over other male contenders of his kingdom at the time. It appears that his divine parental connection only secured him the physical strength, giving him the personal pride that led him to the personal misconduct over his subjects. On the spirituality issue, it appears that he did not inherit anything from his parents of whom he was entitled to, but instead he was born with what he was entitled to according to his own previous karma. While keeping others male contenders in submission, he decrees himself the right to sleep with all brides on their wedding night. The implication might have been as a personal gratification for him, could suit him politically as well. As the first child of the married couple could have been his, he or she would look upon him as a father figure. Nevertheless, there were undeniably deep resentment among the people about his policy and while praying for a change, there were apparently on solution in sight. An animal trapper noticed that his traps set for a group of animal no longer worked. When he went to investigate, he found out that a primitive man was living among them and helped them from being caught by the traps. He was probably one among modern men who by any reason, fell short of being civilized as part of normal humanity and had to live in the wild among animals of the forest. Collaborating the epic story of Atrahasis that modern men were created by cloning gods through the primitive stock of archaic mothers (Atrahasis: The Meru Connection: On the Creation of Men). The epic story of Gilgamesh tells us that many centuries had passed, but there were primitive human kinds who were still living their archaic life-style in isolation. Contrary to the secular view that interbreeding between archaic and modern human kinds were the norm, the epic conveys that difference of live-style separated modern men from making any contact, let alone any intimate contact with them. Nonetheless, interbreeding could be done through a special accommodation. The trapper used a prostitute to lure Enkidu sexually and tamed him into becoming human and when that happened, Enkidu could no longer living with the animals he used to live it, as they started to fear him. Seeing that he had the same physical stature as Gilgamesh, the trapper brought him to face off Gilgamesh for a personal show down. At the mean while, Gilgamesh was having dreams about the encountering with the challenger of whom he would turn to become his new companion. He asked his mother, the goddess Ninsun, to help interpret these dreams. Consistent with Buddhist cosmogony, the epic story conveys the transition between the degrading Moon Culture to a new breach of the Sun Culture that would take its turn to degenerate into the Solar Eclipse Culture. In the story line, Gilgamesh still worshipped the Moon god Tsin who helped him to win over a pact of lions during his trips to find Utnapishtim (Tablet nine). But it was just for a remote incidence that was not taking place at Middle East, where in that particular time was under the charge of the Sun God Shamash. With the tamed Enkidu on their side, the people now had their best opportunities to fight off Gilgamesh despise rule. When Gilgamesh attempted to visit the wedding chamber, Enkidu blocked his way and fought to stop him from committing his hideous act. After a fierce battle, Enkidu acknowledged Gilgamesh's superior strength and they became friends. The new relationship suited Gilgamesh well as he already had a plan to make a trip to the Pine Forest to slay the monstrous demi-god Humbaba in order to gain fame and renown for his rule. Despite warnings from Enkidu and the council of elders, Gilgamesh went ahead for the plan and intended to use Enkidu to help him fighting against his challenger.

The Historical Background
In tablet three, Gilgamesh seek the elders' advice for his battle against Hambaba. His mother, the goddess Ninsun, also seeks the support and protection of the sun-god Shamash for her son' s campaign. For he became now a close companion of fight with Gilgamesh, she adopted Enkidu as her own son. In the next tablets four and five, Gilgamesh and Enkidu made their way to the Pine Forest to fight off Hambaba. As they approached the Pine Mountain, Humbaba's skirmishing through insults and threats took a toll on their determination. Hambaba accused Enkidu of betrayal and vowed to disembowel Gilgamesh and feed his flesh to the birds. Gilgamesh was afraid, but with encouragement from Enkidu decided to go forward with the campaign and started the battle. The Sun-god Shamash then sent winds to bind Humbaba enabling the two friends to capture him under their control. Restrained, Humbaba pleaded for his life. He offered to make Gilgamesh king of the Pine Forest and to serve him as slave, Gilgamesh was about to accept the proposition, but Enkidu did not give in and persuaded Gilgamesh instead to kill Humbaba. Arguing that by eliminating a former contender, Gilgamesh could establish himself a long lasting reputation among his supporters. Humbaba cursed them both and Gilgamesh dispatched him with a blow to the neck, killing him instantly. After that, the two heroes cut down many Pine trees, which included a gigantic one that Enkidu planned to fashion into a gate for the temple of Enlil. The event was not particularly concerning about Gilgamesh 's personal story, but was on the general politic of Middle Eastern rulers, in general. During the transition from the Dvaparayuaga to the Kalayuga, major political shifts occurred to make way for the goddess Ishtarr to exert her power to the world. The challenge of Hambaba to the rule of Gigamesh reflected the overall Middle Eastern political unrest of the late Dvaparayuga. Rebellions from un-subordinated states would lead to the collapse of the current institutions around the globe. In Egypt, the rise of the Middle Kingdom dynasty of Egypt (2055-1650 BC) to take control of the Akkadin Empire of Middle East could be traced to the event to the end of the third dynasty of Ur. During the campaign, the last king Ibi-Sin was defeated and captured by an Akkadian ruler around 2050 BC. The real event might start earlier in 2340 BC after the attack by Sargon of Akkad on the first dynasty of Ur that coincided with a major development of dynastic change after the end of the Old Kingdom' s era. At the start of the Kalayuga, the Akkadian Empire was about to take its turn of becoming history. Driven by the oppression exerted by current rulers, a movement was initiated by Ishtar in forming a new syndicate to topple out the old system. Gilgamesh himself was one of Ishtar's targets for political manipulation. In tablet six, Gilgamesh rejected the advances of the goddess Ishtar because of her known mistreatment of Dumuzi and many other previous converters with her. To retaliate Gilgamesh's refusal, she asked her father Anu to send Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven to fight with him. When Anu rejected her requests, Ishtar threatened to raise the dead from the underworld to devour the livings. Anu became frightened and gave in to her demand. Ishtar led Gugalanna to Uruk to which the bull of heaven caused widespread devastation. On their own effort, Enkidu and Gilgamesh attacked, killed the bull and offered up its heart to Shamash. When Ishtar cried out, Enkidu hurled one of the hindquarters of the bull at her. The city of Uruk celebrated the victory, but it was not the end of the war with Ishtar who, with a great revenge returned to take on the control of the Kalayuga, At the mean time, Enkidu had an ominous dream about his future destiny.

THE GENESIS
The Great Deluge as recounted by Utnapishtim to Gilgamesh in tablet XI was exactly the same one that was portrayed in the earlier Sumerian epic of Atrahasis. From all its account, scholars postulated that it was the source of the Bible 's book of Genesis Great Flood the God unleashed upon human kind to punish their wickedness. Now that the Flood Deluge had been long gone, the rest of the epic story would tell us that instead of concerning about their growing wickedness that was the cause of the Great Deluge, human kinds were back to their obsession of their own eternal life.

The Fear of Death
In Enkidu's dream that was recorded entirely in table seven, Gilgamesh and Enkidu were judged by the congress of gods. Because they killed Humbaba and Gugalanna, the gods decided that one of them must die and Enkidu was marked for death. Of his distress, Enkidu cursed the great door that he has fashioned for Enlil's temple. He also cursed the trapper and the prostitute Shamhat for removing him from the wild and inducted him into civilization. Shamash conveyd to him that he had no reason to curse all his friend for they meant no harm to him and consoled him that Gilgamesh would be consumed by grief and would bestow great honors upon him at his funeral. In a second dream, he saw himself being taken captive to the Netherworld by a terrifying Angel of Death. After a lament that he could not meet a heroic death in battle, finally he died. In the last of the tablet, Enkidu fell sick and after twelve days of which he never recovered, died leaving Gilgamesh in full distress. In tablets eight and nine, Gilgamesh delivered a lament for Enkidu, in which he called all of Uruk to mourn for his friend' s death. He commissioned a funerary statue and provided grave gifts from his treasury to ensure that Enkidu have a favorable reception in the realm of the dead. A great banquet is held where the treasures were offered to the gods of the Netherworld. Having been grieving for his friend Enkidu, Gilgamesh now became fearful of his own death. The fear prompted him to seek Utnapishtim and learned the secret of eternal life from him. Gilgamesh then decided to make a land trip passing through difficult landscapes and many obstacles in the destination to the garden of the gods, a paradise full of jewel-laden trees where he hope to find the answer of his dilemma. Seeing Gilgamesh loosing his mind the sun-god Shamash tried to intervene, clarifying that he was not going to find the eternal life that he was looking for.
You attempt to seize the ripples spread across the Euphrates. They are not real, Gilgamesh, only wind running over the waters. (GC: Tablet IX: p. 91)
The sun-god Shamash then tried to persuade Gilgamesh of abandoning the trip to see Utnapishtim, but Gilgamesh was undeterred and Shamash had no other choice then to give him instruction on how to proceed there. Despite of the epic's fanfare description, we could trace his journey to be through the Kun-lun range of mount Himalayas where the small community of Brahman supposedly resided before it was desolated. It was the Kun-lun range of mount Himalayas (Mashu im Sumerian) that he had to head for. From there, Gilgamesh had to travel cross the Waters of Death of which we could identify as the Gange river and the bay of Bengal to reach the southern island where Utnapishtim lived. The long journey that he made from Ur to the southern island conveys that Utnapishtim or Noah was actually a Southeast Asian islander and not a Mesopotamian residential people, as most Abrahamic schools believed. When he met him, Gilgamesh observed that Utnapishtim was not different from him, and asked how he obtained his godly privilege. Utnapishtim then explained to him that he got it from the god Enlil, after he survived the flood deluge set forth by the gods to annihilate the new created human beings. The description that is given in tablet eleven, conveys the same Great flood of the epic story of Atrahasis of which Utnapishtim and his family were the few to survive with the help of the god Ea. From there we could identify that Utnapishtim, Atrahasis and Noah of the Bible book of Genesis was actual the same person and that the Great Flood was actually the same Great Flood of Southeast Asia. Utnapishtim tried to convey to Gilgamesh that eternal life that was granted to him by Enlil, was actually in recognition not only of his perseverance during the flood, but also of his spiritual merit. Utnapishtim challenged Gilgamesh to stay awake for six days and seven nights as a test that Gilgamesh could survive the flood. Utnapishtim instructed his wife to bake a loaf of bread on each of the days he is asleep, so that he cannot deny his failure to keep awake. Gilgamesh, who was seeking to overcome death, cannot even conquer sleep. After instructing Urshanabi the ferryman to wash Gilgamesh, and clothe him in royal robes, they departed back for Uruk.

The Race of Giants
Gilgamesh knew from Utnapishtim that eternal life was not a gift for human being. Utnapishtim and his wife got it because they earned it. As mentioned in the epic story of Atrahasis, they were known of their own high spirits that forced Enki to break the gods' rule to save them while others were left to perish under the flood deluge. After a heated argument with Enki, Ellil must to recognize his mistake of treating Atrahasis as other human beings, and to make up with it he inducted both husband and wife as members of the god society. In fact the epic story mentions that Utnapishtim and his wife were treated by other gods as their peers. Rooted from the Brahma world, the gods were actually of high spirits as compared to the regular souls of human beings. Even though having he same physical body, they were expected to have longer lasting life-spanned and through out their existence on earth, Brahmans had their own life-style to maintain their longevity. Nevertheless, Budhism still stresses out that eternal life was not possible for any kind of physical body (Notes: Buddhist view on Eternal Life). Gilgamesh must to understand by then that without the same merits, he and other human being could not have the same privilege. Even parented by gods, he could not have eternal life with a human soul, unless he perfected the soul self-cleansing himself. His mistake was shared in general by western religion that was based more or less on the knowledge of God and Evil. To console him of his disappointment, Utnapishtim's wife asked her husband to tip Gilgamesh of an alternate solution that was then concealed in the Brahman society. Utnapishtim told him that at the bottom of the sea there are a boxthorn like plants that will make him young again after consuming them.
There exists a plant that has roots resembling the boxthorn. The thorns of this plan are much like a rose, and will prick you, but if you can attain this plant, you will find eternal youth.
Because of some unknown reason, Gilgamesh did not consume the plan right away and waited until he went back to Uruk to test the plan with an old person first before he use it. He would regret of not consuming the plan right away, as the decision would cost him dearly. When he stopped to take a bath in the river, a serpent stole the plan and after consuming it, shed its skin before it departed. Gilgamesh wept of his losing chance to attain long lasting youthful life. Little he know that the plant also had a serious side effect; while keeping him youthful, the plan also induces his body to keep growing. That was when the Bible book of Genesis mentions what happened to the offspring of gods and the daughters of men in those days. Like Gigamesh, they were fathered by gods, but still stayed mortal as regular men. The plant obviously allows them to keep their youth, but along the way their body kept growing to become giant. Due to widespread practices, new generation of Middle Eastern rulers and Anunnaki gods were actually members of this new race. The Sumerian clay tablets often portrays them to have unmistakably high stature, as compared to regular human beings. Gilgamesh might become one of them if he did not lose the plant to the serpent. Like Gilgamesh, many other Middle Eastern rulers and members of the Anunnaki 's god were more and more fascinated by the eternal life. Judging from the fact that giantism growing, it was actually the secret knowledge of the boxthorn plants that would do the trick. There were also evidences of the banned knowledge of God and Evil being transferred to Middle East as part of the cultural development under the Kalayuga. The bad practices could be checked out by archeology that commonly found among other vestiges of the Egyptian valley of the death, are mummified bodies to trap its spirit for esoteric application.

The Sura 's Effect
Scholars postulated that Utnapishtim's account became actually the source of the Bible 's book of Genesis Great Flood. Cross-referencing between the two sources allow us to solve enigmas that pertained in literally interpreting the highly abstract Bible's book of Genesis. The first enigma is about the identity of God whom the Bible portrayed as an entity with all the hard decision to make first to create Adam and Eve, to chase them out from the Garden of Eden after they broke his rule. During the start up of the Kalpa, the Meru Culture comments on the split of God's role God's role in the Book of Genesis into pantheism of which Brahma intervene through nature during the Satyayuga and the theism of which Shiva intervene personally through incarnation during the Tretayuga. During the Dvaparayuga, Shiva was still in control through the dark side of the Meru Culture. Nevertheless, the Kalayuga would start with the Sura's effect of which the red energy would play important role in the development of humanity. While all decision making would fall under subordinated roles of many gods of the Sumerian pantheons, evidences show that both Brahma and Shiva would still intervenes under the effect of the Eclipse God Sura. Many epic stories were compiled independently on clay tablets to be available through archeology, conveys the working relationship of the congress of gods under hidden supervision of either Brahma or Shiva. On human creation, the epic story of Atrahasis conveys to us that the creation of modern men in homo-sapien shape and form was done through god's cloning under the initiation of the god Enki (Atrahasis: The Creation of the Man Species: The Cloning Process). The development of the humanity itself was since fell under the responsibility of the goddess Ishtar and it was the god Ellil who out of modern men' s wickedness convinced the congress of gods to unleash the great deluge upon them. When Enki heard the call from Atrahasis, he came to his rescue by instructing him to build a boat that would save him and his family from perishing by the flood. When Ellil found out about Atrahasis surviving about the flood, he was so upset and went into argument with Enki who through rationality won over Ellil. In correlation with the Book of Genesis of which God (instead of many gods) took the main role of intervening with humanity, God could be identified as the essence of his intervention through both Enki and Ellil antagonist forces. In kalayuga where chaos are strongly expected, God's intervention is often carrien on with twists and turns. Different role-plays were carefully crafted for gods of different power background to carry on, but for the same result of God's interference during a normal situation. Often than not antagonism popped up between them, but through highly controversial circumstances appear to create setback to his plan, God's intervention always got accomplished. The epic of Atrahasis tell us that during the Kalayuga, Enki and Ellil at first played different role of God's intervention, but after the flood they came into agreement that Atrahasis deserved to be saved and to be rewarded of his hight meritual spirit. Recognizing of his mistake, Ellil furthermore inducted Utnapishtim (Atrahasis) and his wife as members of gods and granted them the eternal life. When King Samanta started on a new kalpa, Utnapishtim and his wife lived as members of gods, while their offspring Hem, Sem and Jephets became members of the world class rulers of the new earth.

THE BOOK OF LIFE
The theme of the tablet twelve appears to be an addendum to the contents of the story of Gilagamesh. According to some Sumerianologs, the tablet is an Akkadian translation of an earlier Sumerian poem to be added as the last of the twelve tablets. The story line was concerning the same two heroes Gilgamesh and Enkidu in their adventure with the underworld, far awy from Ur. It appears that the book of life was not completely lost to the western world after all. After Gilamesh and Ishtasr trip to the east, an attempt to revive the knowledge was under way, but evidences would show that the book of "God and Evil would be next to revive instead.

The Underworld
The story starts with Ishtar, after picking up the huluppu tree from the current of the Euphrates River, brought it to Uruk to plant it in her sacred garden. For our interpretation, the one and only one huluppu tree represent the tree of life of the western culture. It was first planted on the fertile shore of the Uphrates river, but was swept into the river's current until Istar found it. After ten years, the tree grew tall and when Ishtar went to check on it, unwanted creatures already took their residency on the tree.
An insufferable serpent nested among the root s of that tree. The Anzu-bird placed its youngling s in the branches of that tree. The night maiden Lilith built her home in the depths of its stem. (Gil: Tablet XII: p.126)
The insufferable serpent making its nest at the root of the tree suggests that the Meru Culture still constituted the base of the western civilization. At the same time, the Semetic Culture as represented by the night maiden Lilith constituted the power holder of the Akkadian Empire, while the Anzu birds representing the Hittie Culture already made their nest at the branches of the tree. Ishtar cried out, but they refused to leave the tree. She spoke to her brother Shamash, but he did not help her. She then spoke to her brother Gilgamesh, he agreed to help her. He entered the gate of Ishtar's sacred garden fully armed to chase out the occupants of the tree.
Gilgamesh hit the insufferable serpent, who was not easily swayed. The Anzu-bird and its younglings flew to the mountainous tracts. Lilith demolished her home and fled into the vacant wilderness. Politically, it was the demolition of The Harrian and the Hittie legacies to make room for the Ishtar's reign during the Kalayuga (The Western Civilization: The Impact of the Kalayuga: The Harrian and the Hittie). For a complete year down of the huluppu tree, Gilgamesh tore out the roots which secured the life of the three. The young men of the city, who were with him, sawed off the limbs. Wood from the trunk was made into a throne for his holy sister. Planks from the trunk were formed into a bed frame for Ishtar.(Gil: Tablet XII: p.128)
Ishtar now had a throne and was ready to take control of the earth, thank to Gilgamesh. He was referred in this specific account as her brother. With his help, the huluppu tree was completely destroyed and to show her appreciation, she took up its root and made a ball and from the tree limbs she made a mallet for him. Gilgamesh took them to play in the public square. In a course of event both ball and mallet fell into the underworld. Enkidu offered to bring them back for Gilgamesh. Knowing of strong reputation of the underworld, he gave Enkidi the last advices of what he must and must not do to be able to return back from back from the sinister place. Enkidu does everything that he was told not to do. The underworld kept him. Gilgamesh prays to the gods to give him back his friend. Enlil and Sin don't reply, but Ea and Shamash decide to help. Shamash makes a crack in the earth so Enkidu could escape out from it. The tablet ends with Gilgamesh questioning Enkidu about what he has seen in the underworld. Otherwise unrelated, the inquiry hints of a situation that Middle Eartern rulers (represented by the personage of Gilgamesh) made their first intrusion into South Asia. After the Mahabharata's war that completely wiped out the stronghold of the big Brahman community of Southeast Asia, South India became under the control of the Panduvas and a cultural extension of Middle Eastern culture.

Reference
  1. Gil: The Epic of Gilgamesh, Timothy J. Stephany

Notes
  1. Chronology:
    10,000 BC: The Great Flood of Southeast Asia, the start of our current kalpa; 10,000-2000 BC: 10,000 BC- 5,000 BC: The Satyayuga; 7,500 BC-2,500 BC: The Tretayuga; 5,000BC- 0 AD: The Dvarayuga; 2500 BC-2500 AD: The Kalayuga; 2070-1600 BC: The Xia Dynasty (China); 2055-1650 BC: The Middle Kingdom (Egypt)
  2. Buddhist view on Eternal Life
    Even tough Brahman 's life seams to be eternel as compared to human 's lifespan, Buddhist doctrine states that Brahmans are still mortal. Only spirit has eternel life-span.
  3. The Flood Deluge
    ...this discovery is evidently destined to excite a lively controversy. For the present the orthodox people are in great delight, and are very much prepossessed by the corroboration which it affords to Biblical history. It is possible, however, as has been pointed out, that the Chaldean inscription, if genuine, may be regarded as a confirmation of the statement that there are various traditions of the deluge apart from the Biblical one, which is perhaps legendary like the rest The New York Times, front page, 1872