Customer Reviews

The Mahabharata (2 Volume Set)

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This is an abridgement of the great classic. The author seems to be focussing on the central story, and cuts out huge quantities of tangential material which would bog down that story. The result is a book which is as readable and enjoyable as Lord of the Rings, a real pleasure. If you feel inspired to study The Mahabharata in greater depth after reading it, great, but it stands on its own as a great read, well worth the investment of time.

Mahabharata is not an easy epic to translate. It is huge. Several great writers have taken a stab at it. At some point they all lose their readers, either in the daunting elaboration, or sentimentalization, or in the sheer volume or even connecting the countless little stories that this epic is intertwined with. None so far has really gained the acclamation from the audience in a complete sense. It is hard. Also the audience themselves are quite segmented and have varied levels importance on different parts of this epic.

However, It is very hard to do justice to Mahabharata which is part of a larger history. But Ramesh Menon seems to have brought it home. It is written very nicely. At no part did the author lose my attention. Wow. This is an amazing translation. Simple, well woven, not much of a sensationalization. Seems very much like something witnessed and documented. I could not put this 1800 pages 2 Vol set down. Bravo!!

The book quality, editing and binding are excellent. A great one for a collection

Go for it!!