Mahabharata
by William Buck
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Book Summary Information
Author: William BuckEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2000-11-14
ISBN: 0520227042
Number of pages: 440
Publisher: University of California Press
Book Reviews of Mahabharata
Book Review: Not for the Scholarly anyway
Summary: 5 Stars
This is by far the best written English version of this epic; William Buck strives for the essence and feeling of the text, not a scholarly literal translation that is archived elsewhere and is inaccessible to the many. There are other reviewers who criticise Buck's rendition for this very reason, however Buck never intended his rendition to BE scholarly, and as for the differences in the content mentioned elsewhere, it must be understood that there isn't any one version of the story, and instead Buck's approach was to develop the characters themselves and THEN the essence and spirit of the story, focusing on what the lessons and values instead of tedious accuracy.
Bottom line: If you know Sanskrit, go elsewhere as this wasn't meant for you. If you don't, and want the essence and spirit of this great epic; Buck rules supreme.
Summary of Mahabharata
Few works in world literature have inspired so vast an audience, in nations with radically different languages and cultures, as the Ramayana and Mahabharata, two Sanskrit verse epics written some 2,000 years ago.In Ramayana (written by a poet known to us as Valmiki), William Buck has retold the story of Prince Rama--with all its nobility of spirit, courtly intrigue, heroic renunciation, fierce battles, and triumph of good over evil--in a length and manner that will make the great Indian epics accessible to the contemporary reader.
The same is true for the Mahabharata--in its original Sanskrit, probably the longest Indian epic ever composed. It is the story of a dynastic struggle, between the Kurus and Pandavas, for land. In his introduction, Sanskritist B. A. van Nooten notes, "Apart from William Buck's rendition [no other English version has] been able to capture the blend of religion and martial spirit that pervades the original epic."
Presented accessibly for the general reader without compromising the spirit and lyricism of the originals, William Buck's Ramayana and Mahabharata capture the essence of the Indian cultural heritage.
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