This is one of those important texts that I have always wanted to read, but have never gotten around to reading. To be honest, the length daunted me (1.8 million words), and I never know which abridged version to buy or which is worth reading.
This abridged translation weighs in at 216 pages, and the translator prepared this book with the purpose of providing only the main story of the epic. In his own words: "I have selected only those verses which relate to the main theme, and which help provide a more or less continuous narrative. This process of selection reduced the total number of verses translated to some 4,000." (The 4,000 is out of the possible 74,000.)
Although the nature of an abridgment like this nearly guarantees that the poetry in an epic poem will be lost, I still found it worthwhile to read. The nested story-in-a-story was great, and the rivalry between the Pandavas and the Kauravas was interesting. I have read enough references in Indian literature to be aware of the story without ever really understanding the subject. This gave me enough base to connect the dots.
I am sure that there are scholars out there who can point out the positives and negatives of this particular translation. I am uniquely unqualified to say anything at all about its respective qualities. It does seem to be generally well-respected.
What I can say is that for someone who wants to get a bare-bones understanding of the narrative, then this appears to be a good choice. It is clearly and cleanly written. |
The Mahabharata Books In Print, Audio Books.