Customer Reviews

Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is pretty much the best English version of the epic. The sole reason for this is that it's pretty much the most complete version that's readily available. It's definitely enjoyable to read... The battles are described in a manner that will keep your attention. There are lots of moral dilemmas that keep you thinking. This is great especially if you're unfamiliar with the Mahabharata.

However, Dharma himself admits that this is no scholarly translation. I recommend that you also read other abridgements as well to get a full scope of the story. While the action in this version is well articulated, some of the inbetween discussions and descriptions seem to be a bit drawn-out. I say this in comparison with other versions. For instance, absolutely way too much forshadowing is given. The entire plot of the story is blatantly given away repeatedly. "This will happen." And it does. In actuality other versions also have this, as I'm sure it's part of the story. However, it seems as though it wasn't repeated as much in the other versions. For instance, reading another version you might hear Bhima make his threat that he will "drink Dushashana's blood." This might be repeated once or twice throughout the remainder of the story. But in this version, it seems like every page says something like "Arjuna will surely slay Karna, Bhima will surely kill Dhritarashtra's sons, Krishna ordains it, it will happen, yes it will happen." There's absolutely no surprise when it happens at all. In fact it makes reading the otherwise thrilling action sequences annoying because you know the inevitable outcome. Yes, Bhima will strike Duryodhana's thigh. Yes, where Krishna is there is victory...And so on. This is a lot of what makes it drawn-out. Lines like that are constantly inserted into every page. This alone isn't that bad though.

A major problem that I personally found was the extreme bias toward the Pandavas. In every version I have read, the Pandavas are generally accepted as the virtuous side. There's no problem with this. However, in the other versions it makes it sound as if neither side deserves to be slaughtered. Other versions also create an ambiguity about who is truly the side of virtue which creates a moral dilemma. This moral dilemma adds to the overall drama and enjoyability of the epic, and exercises one's own moral consciousness in learning from the actions portrayed in the story. However, Dharma is relentless in deifying the Pandavas and inexorable in blindly cursing and condemning the Kauravas. True, the Pandavas are virtuous, true, the Kauravas did some bad things. However, this could have been skillfully articulated rather than constantly hammered at the reader in might I say...an offensive manner? The prolofic use of adjectives which do not appear anywhere else that I have seen is annoying. For instance, it's always "noble, mighty, virtuous, great, chaste, sinless, (other superlatives) Pandavas." At a certain time, you get the point. However, we listen to long descriptions that seem like personal commentaries regarding the greatness of the Pandavas. The eventual outcome is that one tires of hearing "chaste Draupadi was violated" every 3 lines along with "noble Yudhisthira" allll the time. I mean, I'm not saying the Pandavas weren't great, but come on! The Kauravas are villified to a point where it's annoying to read the tirades against them. For instance, we always hear "That sinful blind king and his foolish brain-dead evil horrible unintelligent demonic son Duryodhana will surely reap the consequences of their actions, surely destiny is all-powerful, it must all be arranged by providence." Something very, very similar to that is said approximately every 10-20 sentences. This truly ruins the surprise and grandeur of it all. We know from about the first chapter of the book that the Kauravas are evil and that they are going to lose, we know exactly who will kill whom, we know Krishna's real identity from the start. So we must painfully sit through the -same things said over, and over, and over!!- I was particularly upset of Dharma's version of the Bhagavad-Gita. I have read several completely unabridged versions and though his rendition wasn't bad, it wasn't completely accurate. While reading the Gita is usually awe-inspiring it seemed overdone here. Namely because in all other versions of the Mahabharata, not as much is revealed ahead of time as in this one. In fact, it seems as though the entirety of the Gita and its message is revealed long before you get a chance to read the Gita.

In spite of the extreme forshadowing and bias, these were only my nitpickings. It is a very good version and it's worth a read. The price is the only thing that should hold you back. For all the editorializing and personal commentary disguised as verses from the actual epic, it's too expensive. All in all, I would read it if you could borrow it from someone else who has it, but it's not worth buying. 4 stars simply because the Mahabharata is the Mahabharata, and as long as the story is there, no tautology can ruin it. And tautology is a fitting word; the commentary expressed isn't necessarily bad, but it's repeated over and over and over... Please, don't ruin the story for those that want to be surprised at what events unfold!

It was very refreshing to find such a readable and exciting rendition of this classic. For the most part, translations of India's spiritual writings are quite heavy going, usually stilted and hard to follow. Not so this one. Written in highly accessible modern prose, it is a fluid narrative that grips the reader like a modern day bestselling novel. This is no mean feat. Having read the original text I know it is a complex tale with many interwoven strands that span vast periods of time. Every character has his or her own fascinating story that ties in with overall theme of the epic, and Dharma has managed to incorporate them all into a tight narrative that never loses the reader. He plainly knows the story inside out, and has cleverly structured his book so that it all fits together into a coherent whole. When I read the original I found myself constantly turning backwards and forwards in order to follow the story, and I was grateful to have it clearly spelled out by Dharma in his book.

This treatment of the epic is perhaps unique. Other writers have tried something similar, I know, but in my view none have been quite as successful. And from what I have seen, none of them have shown so lucidly the spiritual import of the Mahabharata. I would say that this is Dharma's greatest contribution to the epic. He brings out the spiritual meaning intended by the original author Vyasa. Being himself a spiritual disciple in the line that comes from Vyasa, he is well positioned to understand its sublime and uplifting message. I found the passages of spiritual instruction, such as the text of the Bhagavad Gita (which forms one chapter of the Mahabharata) particularly enjoyable and very moving.

It is a big book, but I read it in a few days, taking every opportunity to immerse myself in the ancient world it so nicely depicts. As a stirring tale of heroes, warriors, gods, saints, mystics and beautiful damsels, it is without rival, in my view. And as a guide to universal spiritual practises it is a book to be treasured and studied again and again. Highly recommended.

The Mahabharata is one of the biggest mysteries of humankind. A book written in a time where science had not established the limits of what is possible or not. A time where visitors from other planets came down from the sky in vessels and interact with humankind. A time where yogis had powers beyond our understanding and wars where fought with arrows empowered by mantras. A time where meditation was a common practice and science was not about matter but about soul and spirituality.

This is a war story. A war fought against warriors, which as samurais knew about honor, word, and values. A war in which as in any war, human values are put into consideration and the meaning of life and dead is uncovered and exposed to the reader.

The Mahabharata is also one of the oldest, largest, and deepest books ever written by mankind. As the pyramids, or Stonehenge, it is a monument of the human intellect, and a legacy for future generations. However, an attempt for reading it is often overcome by its extension and complexity.

Krishna Dharma offers in this resumed version a perfect book to know what The Mahabharata is about. His book its very easy to read, goes right to the point, and presents all the important facts and things that are important to know to understand the main story, without sacrificing the spirit of the book. As a result, this is one of the best available resumed versions in existence.

This book is not a replacement for the original version, but it is such a good introduction that after reading it, I am sure most of the readers would like to read the complete version.

In addition, it is important to let to know to the readers that the story of The Mahabharata does not finish with this book. At the end of The Mahabharata, king Yudhisthira gives his kingdom to his son Pariksit. The story of king Pariksit is narrated in The Srimad Bhagavatam. In this book king Pariksit is cursed by a sage to die in 7 days, as a result; Pariksit decides to leave his kingdom and spend the last 7 days of his life with sages in order to learn what every man has to know before dying. In this context, The Srimad Bhagavatam explains the spiritual meaning of The Mahabharata, and uncovers the mysteries of this book.

Sacred text of Hinduism gets blockbuster treatment

By James Meek

LONDON: Salman Rushdie was threatened with murder for it. William Tyndale was strangled and burned for it. Altering,challenging or even translating sacred texts can be dangerous. But a British Hindu priest expects only praise, high sales and converts from an epic effort of literary digestion launched next week: the 100,000-verse Mahabharata, turned by him into a 1,000-page blockbuster novel.

The novelization of one of Hinduism's holiest texts by the Manchester-based priest, Krishna Dharma - once Ken Anderson, a merchant navy officer - is already on sale in the US, where it has sold more than 5,000 copies.

"I suppose I didn't expect it to be so successful. It's unique, in the sense that there aren't any other English versions like it," said Dharma.

The Mahabharata, which contains the core text of Hinduism, the Bhagavad-gita, has been rendered in English before. But previous attempts have been immense verse-for-verse translations by Sanskrit scholars, or slim, super-abridged paperbacks.

"I want it to become the definitive English version," said Dharma. "I'm pretty confident it will. There's nothing around to compete."

Like the Holy Quran and the Bible, the Mahabharata is believed by Hindus to be largely the work of God (or gods, as some Hindus consider).

Five thousand years ago, the half-divine visionary Vyasadeva is said to have dictated the verses to the elephant-headed being Ganesh. The book's divine origins have not stopped the hard sell. Under the title, the bookjacket proclaims "The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time".

The cover illustration shows the saintly Queen Draupadi, lost by her husband in a dice game, being stripped of her garments by an evil prince as leering aristos look on and the god Krishna unreels heavenly robes to cover her virtue. With its intense love scenes,jewelled palaces, vast battles, superheroes, magical weapons and warring families, the novelised version resembles a 20th century saga-cum-soap opera, a marriage of Barbara Taylor Bradford and Arthur Hailey. It has, after all, already been turned into a TV soap, broadcast earlier in the decade on the BBC.

"Ambika peered curiously into the mirror as her maidservants finished adorning her in preparation for the nuptial bed," the book begins. "She had lost none of her beauty despite her months of mourning. Her skin was flawless and as white as milk."

Dharma said: "All I wanted to do was present the original as exactly as I could. I'm not embellishing or interpolating. I'm not adding any of my own ideas.

"There is a message in the original, a profound and sublime message, and I've tried to convey that. It shows the conflict between two sides and its outcome, what happens to those who choose to take shelter and surrender to the Lord and what happens to the others."

Although the advance publicity for the book, published by the US firm Torchlight, promotes the Mahabharata's "timeless message of spiritual enlightenment," and its usefulness for "peace and relaxation", the epic is remarkably gory, with killings, amputations, banter about weapons, and bloody mayhem on almost every page.

In the Bhagavad-gita, the god Krishna urges a hero to overcome his qualms about slaughtering his old friends and relatives in an enemy army because it is his moral duty to correct the error of their ways by killing them and because they will be reincarnated anyway.

Dharma admits there is a lot of war in the Mahabharata.

He said the Nazis, fascinated by Hindu mythology, perverted the epic's message to justify their killing.

"It's a story of conflict, no doubt about it. But even the war is fought in a different way: not, as we have now, a wholesale slaughter of the innocents. In those days it was always fought between warrior classes only. Ordinary people were not involved."

Dharma, who was ordained as a Hindu priest in the monotheistic Vaishnava tradition in 1979, runs a Hindu studies centre and a free kitchen for the homeless in Manchester.

The book is to be launched on Sunday to coincide with the annual Krishna festival parade through London, Rathayatra, which proceeds from Marble Arch to Trafalgar Square.-Observer News Service (c) London Observer.

I have read several versions of the Mahabharata, but this is by far the best. Dharma draws you straight into the action and keeps your attention riveted. His language is a little elevated, but that is quite in keeping with the original text, to which he has closely adhered. Students of the original will find that Dharma has very much retained its poetic flavour and splendour. It is not like modern novels, in that it does not employ the techniques of suspense and the like, but your mind is held by the wondrous descriptions of a long past age of chivalry and virtue, and by the descriptions of truly heroic characters. And there are some highly beautiful exchanges of dialogue which made my heart soar.

Fans of the Greek classics will love this, as will anyone who reads heroic literature of any kind. For those already familiar with the Mahabharata, you will not be disappointed with this version. It is unashamedly devotional, but then so is the original text. Anyone wanting to start their exploration of India's most read and popular epic would be well advised to begin with this book. It will launch you on an inner journey that takes you to regions of unimaginable transcendental happiness. As the Mahabaharata itself says, 'Whatever is to be found elsewhere will also be found here, and anything not contained here will not be found anywhere else.'

Enjoy!

Review written by ZahraAftab@hotmail.com

Krishna Dharma's Mahabharata is far and away the best edition in existence! His talented story-telling has made the usually choppy, stilted versions written by people for whom English is a second language look like amateur works. This retelling of Mahabharata is so enthralling, it is hard to put it down! After my husband read it, he reluctantly let me have it (he wanted to start all over again), and I am now reading it aloud with my older kids. They love it, too! And who wouldn't? The stories are intriguing, sometimes filled with gripping excitement, sometimes with intense emotion, sometimes with deep spiritual insight. This book literally has something for everyone! And woven throughout are many valuable lessons one can learn about life, love, honor, character, and many other worthy topics. It is a book that can bring out the best in all of us, while remaining highly entertaining. The worst part of it is coming to the end...

But I'd say that if you already know about the Mahabharat, then this version won't do much for you. Here's what I enjoyed about Krishna Dharma's version:

It is very descriptive. He obviously enjoyed writing this piece of work. There's even a family tree in one of the appendices. The vastness of this version is largely attributed to the detailed descriptions he uses for battles. These parts are written well.

But the flaws:

He is constantly telling the reader that Krishna is God. Constantly. K. Dharma must have thought his readers had short term memory loss after every page.

He strips away the political aspects. Instead of showing a family grappling for power, he makes this is a good vs. evil story. And that is the point of view of ISKCON, I believe. So that makes sense. But it makes the entire story boring. He doesn't delve into the Kauravas motives, or Bhisma's conflicted state, or Vidur's pain of seeing his country torn. By making it good vs. evil, a lot of character development is killed. This makes the story bland.

Seriously, the best Mahabharat I've seen is the B.R. Chopra DVD set. The acting is ok, but the script is phenomenal. Characters are richly developed, and you can completely connect with each character's point of view, even the villains.

Don't buy this, borrow it. I'm still searching for a better literary version of the Mahabharat.

The Mahabharata says of itself, "What is not found here in the realms of religion, economic development, pleasure and liberation, will not be found anywhere else, and what is found anywhere else in these realms will also be found here." The original text contains a hundred thousand Sanskrit verses (although it is also said that in higher planets the text consists of a million verses), so there is certainly enough scope for this statement to be true. And having read the original several times I for one would not want to argue. The wealth of both material and spiritual wisdom found in the Mahabharata is phenomenal, truly mind-blowing to use the modern vernacular, and what is most wonderful is that it is presented in such a palatable way, through the medium of so many fascinating tales. We hear of kings and sages, of gods, demigods, nymphs and angels, and of heroes dedicated to the path of holy virtue. As we read we feel uplifted and edified, transported to some amazing ancient world where life had a purpose, where everyone understood that we are eternal spiritual beings, and that all of us are on a journey that ultimately ends in liberation, in freedom from the cycle of birth and death and all its concomitant suffering.

It would take a brave man therefore to attempt to contain all this in a single book, and Krishna Dharma is to be commended for his effort. His main aim has plainly been to convey the spirituality of the text, but he has not done so at the expense of the critical elements of the story. The narrative flows smoothly and entertainingly. Dharma's turn of phrase is stirring, elevated and often wryly humorous, which is quite in keeping with the original. Indeed, he has adhered closely to the original, as far as I can see, very much keeping the voice of the sage Vyasa - the book's original author - resounding throughout the pages. I believe this was a major concern of his, and in fact he is a disciple in a spiritual line that descends from Vyasa himself, so it is hardly surprising.

Although Dharma has used a writing style somewhat similar to a modern novelist, it has to be remembered that the Mahabharata cannot be compared to a contemporary novel. It is not a book of suspense that aims to titillate and keep us on the edge of our seats until some dramatic climax occurs. Rather it seeks to present profound spiritual truths and worldly wisdom, couched in various stories that are all woven around one central narrative. There is therefore a certain amount of repetition and Dharma has often abbreviated lengthy and repetitive sections of the original to make it more readable, but without losing the essential points. His treatment of the Bhagavad-gita is a good example. This forms one chapter of the work and consists of seven hundred philosophical verses in the original. Dharma has expertly condensed it into a fascinating narration, managing at the same time to present the core messages in an easily assimilable way.

One thing I particularly liked about this version was the way that Dharma gives insights into the inner life of the characters, which is rarely found in the original text. This is a real strength of the book, in my view. He brings the characters to life in a dramatic fashion that keeps the interest of his reader as well as any fast paced novel might do. Like one of the professional reviewers cited here, I also found that I could hardly "tear my mind away." But more than that I found myself moved on a deep spiritual level, inspired to embark on the inner journey that the Mahabharata so vividly portrays through the pastimes of Krishna and his pure followers, the Pandavas, who are the book's main characters. At the end of the day, this was the intention of Vyasa, so I would say that Dharma has succeeded in this endeavour. Certainly the best modern rendition that I have read. Highly recommended.

This beautiful and timeless spiritual classic abounds with profound moral insights and a profuse number of more or less veiled teachings with bearing on cosmology and metaphysics. In fact, it seems to me that the Mahabharata (though some consider it actual history and others see it merely as fast-paced and breathtaking fiction) is perhaps first and foremost an allegorical account of how evil comes into the world and how in each Manvantara humanity proceeds, inexorably, from yuga to yuga towards the inevitable apocatastasis. The blind emperor Dhritarastra, a vicar himself for his deceased and far more deserving brother, lets in the nefarious forces of discord and dissolution by favoring his own ill-disposed sons in matters of governmental succession while "closing his eyes" to the injustice and humiliation suffered by the righteous and true heirs to the throne, his nephews. Thus, the transition from the heroic times of valor, dignity and truthfulness to the somber age of cowardice, insolence and spiritual dormancy seems to be brought on by the apparently minor weaknesses of omission and attachment, a teaching reminiscent of a fable reproduced in Plato's "Republic" (Book III), where kings, whose sons happen to have been born with "souls of silver" instead of "souls of gold", manage to produce a similar result by not admitting the disastrous consequences of instating these as rulers in their place.

The claim on the dust jacket ("in the realms of ethics, economic development, worldly pleasure and ultimate liberation, whatever is found in this epic may be found elsewhere, but what is not found here will be impossible to find anywhere else") may at first sound rather presumptuous, but little by little one nevertheless gets the impression that a great many customs, rituals, teachings, objects and implements usually associated with other Indo-European cultures and historical periods may have had their origin in the opulent and many-splendored civilization of ancient India, perhaps even long before the bloom of the Mesopotamian and Near-Eastern traditions with which readers are likely to be more familiar. Krishna, the incarnation of the Supreme Person and one of the main characters of the Mahabharata, plays His part in the plot by assuming the outward form of a warrior-king, and not that of a sage, as some might have expected (the Mahabharata is very much a story for and about kshatriyas, while brahmins - though clearly stated as pertaining to a higher caste - play a rather accessory role in it mostly by sprinkling holy water on the warriors who bestow charity on them and singing mantras for all occasions). Krishna's actions are at times surprising, if not outright incomprehensible, baffling both the good and the evil, neither of whom can come to grips with His inscrutable will or quite grasp how God can possibly live among us in the form of a human being.

I shall not attempt to eulogize the Bhagavad-Gita here (Book II, chapter 4), a task to which much more erudite commentators have already given sufficient attention, though it should be mentioned, in passing, that many scholars seem to compare the place this chapter takes up in Hindu spirituality to that of the "Sermon on the Mount" in the Christian tradition. However, reading the Gita and neglecting the rest of the Mahabharata (as the limited translations of the past have obliged many of us to do) is like picking out Matthew 5-7 while shoving the rest of the Bible into a dusty, old library. Therefore do not skip any of the chapters in this wonderful epic, not even the rather longish war scenes in Book II or the peace negotiations prior to them, for you will certainly be rewarded as you find precious gems hidden just about everywhere you look (such as Krishna`s charging Bhisma with a chariot wheel in the middle of the war).

My scarce knowledge of Indian literature would make it pretentious to venture on an assessment of the quality of Dharma's translation, but I found the text to be energetic, straightforward and captivating. Some readers argue that the text is repetitive and takes away the surprise of the plot, but this is hardly the translator's fault, if it is a fault at all. It should be remembered that for reasons entirely unrelated to modern novel writing techniques scriptures are often either tautological or elliptical to a considerable degree, and that Vyasadeva's great saga, whatever form the translation may take, was written in order to enlighten the intellect rather than merely entertain or flatter our aesthetic self.

Indeed, a good five-star acquisition for your library (and not that expensive, if you consider the size, hardcover and color illustrations). Read it now - it may be unavailable for the next few thousand years.

Mahabharata, a part of the ancient Vedas of India, is a story quite unlike anything else. There are few books which have survived as long as this five thousand year old epic. Its enduring popularity is itself testimony to the profound wisdom contained in its pages. In fact it includes the Bhagavad-gita - a masterpiece of spiritual knowledge revered by millions worldwide - and is the narration of the factual events which surrounded the speaking of that illuminating text.

Mahabharata thus deals with the activities of Krishna, the supreme person and author of the Bhagavad-gita. This gives it a unique quality. Because of Krishna's presence, and the presence of many of his pure followers, one feels uplifted by reading the book. It soothes its readers on a deep spiritual level, bringing them closer to an understanding of the divine, and awakening a transcendental joy that surpasses all other happiness. Although from the external point of view it is a tale of conflict and intrigue among kings, demons, gods and sages, there is a deeper spiritual meaning which pervades the whole work. One can thus go on reading it again and again without it becoming stale or boring. On the contrary, one discovers different layers of meaning with each reading. Mahabharata is a book to be treasured and passed on from generation to generation.

As the writer I have simply tried to make the work easily accessible. Before this I wrote another, longer novelisation, but I felt that at 900 odd pages it might be a little long for some readers. I therefore condensed it into this smaller book, which I hope will be useful for those desiring a shorter overview of the epic. The essential story is still there, but obviously some details have been omitted.

I have remained faithful to the original, often presenting the dialogue exactly as it appeared in the Sanskrit manuscripts, but I have endeavoured to bring the text to life by the techniques of dramatisation and characterisation. I studied several translations, and cross referenced other Vedic texts for verification of detail where possible. I myself am a priest trained in the Vaishnava tradition, followers of Vishnu or Krishna, and Mahabharata is a Vaishnava text. My book is perhaps the first time that Mahabharata has been presented in English from the perspective of its original author, the sage Vyasadeva. It is suitable for a wide range of readers, from those coming new to the work, to those wishing to study it for academic purposes.

I hope you find it enjoyable. I am constantly endeavouring to improve my books, and am always open to any suggestions or feedback from my readers. Those unfamiliar with Sanskrit terms (i.e. most of us) may initially find some of the names a little difficult, but do perservere, you will soon master them and when you do you will be richly rewarded by reading Mahabharata. It is without doubt the greatest spiritual epic of all time, at least in my humble opinion.

Krishna Dharma