The Mahabharata: A Modern Rendering, Vol 1

Okay, so this isn't a translation. Apparently there are only a few options for an unabridged translation (Ganguli at around 6000 pages, Debroy at nearly 6000 and P Lal, who called his poetic translation as "transcreation" and comes in longer due to being rendered in verse). Menon has also brought together a team which has produced an updated version of Ganguli which he says is "not a translation from the Sanskrit but based almost entirely on the Ganguli text" and is just upwards of 7000 pages.I deeply enjoyed Menon's rendering of the central story of the Mahabharata. In some notes at the back he mentioned that the original Mahabharata was estimated to have been about 24,000 slokas, which then swelled to 100,000 over some time. He said his telling comes closer to the length of the original 24,000 slokas. If you're like me and are afraid of the length of an unabridged translation, but don't want to miss out on the story of the Mahabharata (which is profound in depth as much as length), then Menon has done the work of artfully editing away the portions you might find less interesting (lengthy descriptions of pilgrimage sites, lakes, generals, warriors, etc). It's an exhilarating read!I have only read portions of other condensed versions of the Mahabharata, but I find Menon's most compelling. (with P Lal's abridgment behind that)The Mahabharata itself gives much to contemplate, and I can see myself returning to the story relatively soon. Personally, if I tackled the unabridged translation, I would attempt P Lal's poetic rendering. But then, there's always Menon's unabridged version...related: after finishing this, I bought Menon's version of the Ramayana. I have read Arshia Sattar's abridgment of Valmiki's Ramayana, which I enjoyed, but I think Menon's sense of immediacy and sense for imagery may be more accessible. time will tell...

In India in 2005, I prayed to be guided to a version of the Mahabharata that would be best for me. I found myself in a bookstore looking at the two huge volumes of Ramesh Menon's translation. These I shipped home and didn't see for some months. When they arrived I started reading and didn't come up for air till both volumes had been consumed during an intense reading binge that transported me into that world as an eyewitness.Ramesh Menon's story-telling skills are superb; his prose beautiful. In the Mahabharata lie the seeds of so many of the hero's journeys we flock to in modern tales and in film. (My biggest surprise is that George Lucas, Peter Jackson and the like have not yet seized upon it to make a full-scale Hollywood trilogy). After reading this version, I ordered Menon's rendering of the Ramayana; equally compelling. Recently I had the urge to re-read his Mahabharata, and as I am about to start the big fat second volume, discovered it is available in kindle format, which will spare me of lugging around the huge volumes as I doubtless return to it many more times. Menon acknowledges Kamala Subramaniam as a one of the sources for his translation. I've read her version of the Srimad Bhagavatum and find their styles very similar. Yet Menon is a true poet with a gift for bridging the ancient world in a modern rendering, as he calls it, and those weaned on the great epics can look forward to a great read. I should add that prior to reading this, I had very little background in the epics of India. These two volumes turned on a great interest in them, which has led to much broader readings.The Mahabharata an adventure and war story that is first and foremost is a disguise for a treatise on dharma. The agonizing of the main characters on the fine points of right-action as determined by law, virtue and motive under trying circumstances is set forth through many lenses. All the attributes of human emotion and existence from the most noble to the depraved, are embodied in divine and demonic spirits born to play out a great drama of and upon the earth. As in all great spiritual traditions, timeless truths are encoded in parables; our human attributes as characters in a play. This version is a great entry for anyone seeking to approach this ancient fountain of wisdom from which so much of earth's treasured lore has sprung.

Being from India, I am familiar with the Epic. But I had never read any rendition in its entirety. I went into this pair of 1,000 page books expecting a dated and/or perhaps a tedious lift from the Sanskrit or some variation of Kamala Subramanyam’s book. But oh wow - this is indeed a unique rendition! It is modern, relevant and edge of the seat breathtaking. Sure , it took me a couple of months to finish, but when I was reading it, there was not a paragraph I could skim - each piece was so engrossing. But the epic itself is so weird - it feels like it is describing an age and a place and a people that are gone - I mean not just dead and gone but probably that existed in another dimension that’s orthogonal to conventional history and pre-history. My only concern is if people like me liking this book are creating a bias and selecting a book that’s adding ‘noise’ to the original text. But I am only saying this because I found the book so engrossing and flew in the face of my expectation that dated literature, and any translation thereof, is always dreary!

Very detailed but never loses the reader.

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