IL MAHABARATHA

R.K. Narayan’s abridged, prose version of India’s national epic, The Mahabharata , is concise, fast paced, well written, and – unfortunately – passionless. Narayan has excised nearly everything not directly related to the Pandavas (Yudhistira, Bhima, Arjuna, and Nakula and Sahadeva) and their wife, D Leggi tutto

Bagi seseorang dengan daya ingat yang pendek, terutama soal nama, awalnya membaca kisah epik Mahabarata ini merupakan sebuah tantangan. Untungnya sang penulis, mungkin penerjemah dan penyunting juga, paham mengenai kerumitan nama Sansekerta ini sehingga membuatkan daftar tokoh dan tempat serta glosa Leggi tutto

A great easy to read version of the story. Everything that is out there is in here...what is not here, is nowhere.

The Mahabharata is one of the most complex stories I have ever read. I read this book following The Ramayana by R.K.Narayan. The ethical dilemmas presented in this story is at a whole different level than Ramayana. While in Ramayana, there are good guys and bad guys in Mahabharata there is nothing l Leggi tutto

I picked this book for my admiration for this epic and how much I had enjoyed R. K. Narayan's Malgudi Days in my childhood. Unfortunately, I was thoroughly disappointed. Even though Narayan in his Foreword clears that he cannot make it sound as lyrical it is in the original Sanskrit, this shortened

This book left a good mark in my heart and mind. Vyasa was indeed a wonderful philosopher.

Long while ago, while I was deputed back to a different city, I was so desperate to spend my time in contemplation after reading a book. I thought this particular effort will weed away the time. By then , several of my endeavour with various genres have never satisfied my appetite , even though I en Leggi tutto

This shortened version must have taken all the juice out of the original. It gave me very little except for a family tree of over 20 names who apart from Bhisma, Krishna and Arjuna left few impressions of themselves apart from their names. I'd try the longer version (for which this could serve as a

Yudhistira's Grief after the end of the war is something I have faced and many do one time or the other. That is the thing about great fictions. They capture minute realities to such perfection. Whether it be straight or woven in fantasies is just a choice of the masters hands which are at work of h Leggi tutto

Mahabharat is an epic of such magnitude that even this bare-essentials-retelling is worth reading.