The Mahabharata (Penguin Classics) by Anonymous

by Anonymous

Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1895

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a difficult text. This is long, and the copy I’m reading is an abridged version story. Not only that, but if you’re unfamiliar with any of the cultural background for this story, following the names and the rites are pretty damn confusing. It took me a while to get through, and by the middle of it I was pretty ready for this read to be over.

What does this text do then that made me give it three stars? Well for one it outlines a massively epic story of war amongst a family. And it does so with the kind of grandiosity that you’d expect from such a tale. However, the battle scenes themselves are pretty repetitive, and it’s rather difficult to see how the main warriors continue fighting while millions of other men drop like flies around them. But then again we’re in the land of myth and history, so why fret so much about this? I don’t think that concern bears much fruit with this text since it so obviously is not concerned with “realism.”

Other reasons why I liked it: it not only focuses on a story (that then tries to impart a moral lesson on you), but it is chock full of morals itself. There are stories upon stories of people living by dharma and those not, and what happens to people when they choose the correct path and when they err. What I found interesting—and it seems like this is a common observation—is how many of these morals directly conflict with each other. So much so that the characters themselves are always asking the gods why there isn’t a clear answer. What the gods tend to emphasize in response is that time and fate are the real determiners of history. Human effort has to be made to achieve fate, but you cannot regret or mourn what has passed when fate dictated it and time made it come to pass. And I think that’s something I’m taking away from this read.

I also enjoy frankly reading classic texts to try and see why these things get repeated over and over again. Maybe it’s the caste system that is clearly enumerated in this, or it’s the morality instilled by conducting righteous actions, or it’s just the grandness of the epic, with gods and families at war with each other, and yet somehow everyone attains heaven by the end. Well for me I like to think about and wonder why these texts have such purchase, so it’s always interesting to work through them and see for my self what comes up again and again.

Will never read this again, but glad I finally did.

[Abhi Yerra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this whole book and to be honest I don't think I would have made it through if I didn't listen to it. Even as an abridged version the Mahabharata seems to contain literally everything. It took over a year, but it was worth it as the story is one of the most important for an Indian.

Seemingly, the Mahabharata is about a feuding family with Krishna as God intervening. But at its core it is about performing dharma in a fatalistic universe where each soul is bound by their karma. What is dharma and adharma, and how hard it is fulfill dharma is the core teaching of this book. In this case fate seems to be against the Pandavas who end up losing it all to a dice game, and were even fed up and were happy to give it all up, but the calling of dharma pulled them to get back their kingdom which lead to a major war.

In the end the good and the pleasant are not the same. Being good and performing dharma means at times doing things counter to that which brings immediate happiness.

[Simona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bhima is my pandava brother bias.