The Ramayana and Mahabharata Condensed into English Verse

by Romesh Chunder Dutt (Translator), Vālmīki

Like ancient Greece, India claims two great the Ramayana , recounting the adventures of a banished prince who wanders for years in the wilderness of southern India, bears a resemblance to the Odyssey ; the Mahabharata , based on the legends surrounding a war in which all the warlike races of Northern India took part, is the country's Iliad . Together, the two represent the epic literature of the ancient Hindus, offering latter-day readers the most realistic image of the civilization and culture of India 3,000 years ago — its political and social life as well as its religion and philosophy.
The Ramayana portrays domestic and religious life, with vignettes of tenderness, endurance, and devotion. The Mahabharata depicts the political climate of ancient India, with tales of valor and heroism, ambition, and chivalry. This condensed version of these extremely long tales features selection from cantos that convey the leading incidents of the epic, linking them with short notes. Readers seeking a practical knowledge of these magnificent works within a reasonable compass can do no better than this convenient and poetic translation.

Genres: Religion, India, Classics

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1910

About the author

1848-1909

Reviews

[Jono McDermott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the Indian equivalents of the Iliad and the Odyssey — only far more important and as presented by Romesh C. Dutt, far more impressive. Dutt captures a beauty to Indian culture, and with the flowing couplets the reader is drawn from start through to finish without wanting to set it down.

The Ramayana is a more enjoyable read, having only been condensed from 24,000 couplets to 2,000, and as the translator says in the epilogue, the Ramayana demonstrates the domestic culture of Ancient India. Meanwhile, the Mahabharata, which is condensed from over 90,000 to 2,000, loses some of its momentum, but nevertheless makes for a most enjoyable read, representing the pride and wartime wisdom of Ancient India.

A classic presented in an infallible translation.

[David Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's tough with modern reading tastes to get into a suitable frame of mind for ancient literature from a far distant culture. The problem is compounded because the oldest texts of such literature are far younger than their origins, filled with edits, interpolations, addenda, and other violations of the original text that often represent the values and interests of those later dates. Romesh Dutt, an Indian scholar and official of the British occupation, born in India and probably one of the best placed people to bridge the gap between Britain and India, took upon himself the difficult task of translating the two great epics of ancient India into a form that would be acceptable to "modern" British readers (modern being at the time 1900) and true as possible to the original. What he has done, therefore, is to provide a verse translation of selections from each epic that convey either the main plot of the epic or a view of the culture of the period. This required cutting out long redundant passages and side stories to get a version about 1/3 the length of the original text that still provides a complete story. Dutt has also selected a verse form consisting of rhyming couplets in 16-syllable lines. This effort is certainly worthy of praise since it probably gives a reader in English the closest approximation in style and syntax to the original poems. What holds me back from a higher-rated review are two things. First, Dutt is a merely adequate versifier. There may be some fault of this in the original, but wherever the fault lies, it still makes some of the reading a little tedious. In his translation of the Mahabharata, for example, hardly a page goes by without a couplet rhyming "car" and "war." Second, as is typical with much ancient literature, large portions of the story are given to grand, long speeches, and descriptions of every major character as peerless, perfect, matchless, superb, and nothing less than the best. Such passages, especially in the Ramayana, got a bit tedious for me. These are matters of my enjoyment of the reading. It is not to take anything away from great service that Dutt has done for the English reader and scholar in providing translations that are probably the closest to the experience of reading the originals in the original Sanskrit.

[Roza Howton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prof Dutt did this Epic justice. One of the better translated verses of the Bharata. As enjoyable to read as Fagle's translation of the Illiad, if not more.

[Karen Luoto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read Homer's Odyssey and Illiad for Greek history, I wanted to read some other non-Western historic Epics. I really liked reading this poetic version. It was slimmed down with brief explanations between "books" where I could get an understanding of the stories that one would have learned growing up in India.

These Epics were based on some actual historic facts from the 13th Century BC, although the stories may have changed some as they were told orally for the most part. It was fascinating to me that the translator was able to put into English a very musical poetry style that still made sense.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving this 4 stars for the Ramayana portion. I couldn't finish the Mahabharata.