Mahabharata
by William Buck
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Book Summary Information
Author: William BuckIllustrator: Shirley Triest
Introduction: B.A. van Nooten
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-11-14
ISBN: 0520227042
Number of pages: 440
Publisher: University of California Press
Book Reviews of Mahabharata
Book Review: An accessible version of Mahabharata for the uninitiated
Summary: 5 Stars
In a nutshell it is an Indian story of Cousin's War that takes place more than two to three thousand years ago. I have read and heard narrations of Mahabharata in three Indian languages; Telugu, Oriya, Hindi as well as tried reading it aloud in English to my 10 year old. It is very hard for any Indian well versed in another Indian language to relish reading it in English. To use another metaphor,may be as discomforting as it will be for a Chinese person, adept at using chopsticks, to eat noodles with fork and spoon. Hence all the panning and bad marks heaped on this book from many readers who claim Rajagopalachari or RK Narayan or some other Indian has written better versions. Yet for anyone totally uninitiated in ancient Indian mythologies and epics as many of my current friends are, this happens to be a very succintly written version that conveys the essence. Yes, there are a few inaccuracies like Arjuna, in stead of his son Abhimanyu, marrying Virata's daughter Uttara and omissions of many sub plots like Ekalavya's triumphant self taught archery and devotion to a virtual teacher. But author himself has acknowledged that it is not a scholarly transliteration, and I am glad he made it more readable in the process. Even Tolstoy is accused of historical inaccuracies while creating a masterpiece called "War and Peace". I always like to compare Mahabharata with Tolstoy's epic novel with its multitude of characters and centrality of war as a metaphor for human life for those who have not yet been familiar with either of them. Anyone who has grown up in India may have been exposed to Mahabharata in one form or another, including many movies, one of the good ones made by Peter Brooks and a popular TV series in late 1980s. Yet; I could open any page in William Buck's Mahabharata and read it to enjoy the story. His English rendition is more palatable than the Indianized idioms of many other translators. In his short lifespan of 37 years he seems to have fallen in love with the Indian epics of Mahbharata and Ramayana after discovering them in a Nebraska library and translated them for the uninitiated. However my best version happens to be what my late uncle(he would have been 90 years old now) used to narrate to us during long evenings of summer vacation get-togethers of myriads of cousins. Alas we did not have access to even a basic tape recorder to record at least one his many evenings' narration of Mahabharata(he used to break it in to 12-18 episodes);where princes in disguise were meeting their consorts in forests, getting married and begetting children instantly by only touching tongues; his simplification of the whole process for the minors in the audience. My uncle and narrators like him spanning many generations of Indians added color to the story in their native languages and in the process enriched the narrative and rendered it more enjoyable, long before writing materials and the scholars came to codify an authorised version. Hence I will strongly recommend William Buck's version of Mahabharata as the next best thing to having an audio cassette of my own uncle's narration in Telugu. Hope the publishers release an E-book version so that one can easily search for an episode for its topicality in a day's event. Wish they could also hire someone like Roshan Seth to read it as an audio book CD or audible.com for the road.
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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