Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time
by Krishna Dharma

List Price: $29.95
Our Price: $21.05
You Save: $8.90 (30%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Book Reviews of Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time

Book Review: A majestic saga from long, long ago
Summary: 5 Stars

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.

Summary of Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time

Fiction & Poetry Books

• Books > Subjects > Christian Books & Bibles
• Literature & Fiction > Classics
• Religion & Spirituality > Hinduism
• Religious Studies > History
• Philosophy