Showing results for "Mahabharata Now" in Literature & Fiction

It is a popular belief that the Ramayana is idealistic while the Mahabharata is realistic. Yet these two epics have identical building blocks, identical themes, and identical history. In this groundbreaking book, Devdutt Pattanaik, India’s most popular mythologist, explores the similarities and dissimilarities between the two epics in a ‘playful analaysis’. Whether it is the family structure, forest exile, or war, the comparison between the two epics prove a startling point - the Mahabharata is in fact a reaction to the events in the Ramayana.

Every person deviates from the path of righteousness in his lifetime, and for all these sins big or small, he has to pay - either during his present life or in some future rebirth. So, also, are his good deeds harvested. The cycle of Karma continues inexorably, far beyond our understanding.... This book takes us beyond the familiar reading of the great epic, moving away from a chronological recounting of events, to focus on the greater scheme of things by which each of these incidents is linked in a causal relationship, and therefore, had to happen exactly the way they did.

THE RAMAYANAM, an itihasa of the highest order, is considered adi kavya, the first poem to have been composed. Written by Valm ki during Rama’s time, and ratified by him, this timeless epic has been treated with utmost care by all acaryas in their famed commentaries. Since the advent of human civilization, it has inspired many poets and dramatists across the subcontinent and has been transcreated in almost all Bharat ya languages. Multiple layers of philosophy and theology are an embellishment to this classic. Its influence on Bharat ya music, dance, sculpture and textiles is unfathomable.

An essential classic, now available in Hindi.