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The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12
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715 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 26, 2005
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April 16, 2023
Volume III contains the seventeenth and eighteenth days of the war, the deaths of most of the Kaurava warriors (only three are left alive at the end, who perpetrate a vicious and unimaginable act as revenge) and the aftermath of the war, including the grief of the women, the reconciliation, the laws of caste, of kingship and administration, and the Coronation of Yudhishthira.
The death of Karna, important though it be to the structure of the epic, along with the mace battle between Bhima and Duryodhana together take up less than a tenth of volume. The bulk of it is really the Reconciliation after the war, between the seven victors and survivors and the families of the slain - the royal couple who have lost a hundred sons, seen their daughter widowed, have lost their kingdom and freedom, and are now dependent on the charity of the Pandavas. The Pandavas also have to face the widows and small children or grandchildren of the heroes slain in battle. Most of all, they have to reconcile themselves to the fact that the man they most hated was their own brother, and now have to face his wives and only surviving son. It is at this point that the elders in the family, including the dying Bhishma on his bed of arrows, teach the newly crowned Yudhishthira the principles of not so much statecraft as the responsibilities of a ruler.
This last is the longest section of the entire epic, and is more reflective and philosophical than the two earlier volumes, while the clearly Buddhist values of universal compassion and equality of person ("that religion which consists in not injuring any creature is worthy of the approbation of the righteous") lead some historians to suspect that many chapters here were later interpolations from the Middle Ages. The section on the Attainment of Liberation (Moksha Dharma Parva) may also be tedious, not to say abstruse, to a reader who is not already acquainted with Hindu or Buddhist philosophy, as it is the very longest, with Yudhishthira, the master of Dharma, seeking enlightenment from Bhishma, the personification of sacrifice and renunciation on earth.
Yudhishthira is given advice by great sages and upholders of truth and virtue. And yet, Bhishma on his deathbed of arrows, gives him advice that Kanika and Chanakya (the Indian counterparts of Machiavelli), in another place and another context, might have been thrilled to hear: the use of spies, the threat of punishment and the use of fear to subdue and control his enemies, the danger of trusting even those closest to one, as well as of course, of leading an honourable life and enjoying pleasures in moderation, the holding of sacrifices and of religious worship, due respect paid to wise men, Brahmans and elders, the lavishing of gifts on the deserving, and the basic principle of foreign policy: self interest.
When Yudhishthira, horrified at what he is being told by someone like Bhishma, known for his uprightness, Bhishma warns him to distinguish between truth and experience: "scriptures are no scriptures if they cannot stand the test of reason."
The first two volumes contained the origin of the earth and the birth of the gods and the demons, the struggle for immortality, and later to the ancestry of the two families involved, all of which are breathtaking in the detail. The fateful game of dice and its consequences, as well as the diplomatic overtures before war is declared are dramatic and almost visual in effect. The death of Karna in this third volume, by contrast, surely the climax of the whole epic, lasts less than five chapters. And leaves us with the same doubt: Was Karna the real hero? Was he really superior to Arjuna? Was he ashamed of his birth or angry that he was not acknowledged earlier? Was he really semi-divine, like the other Pandavas?
The major flaw in this particular volume is the serious deficiency in the editing and proof-reading. Seeing that this book is in the public domain and that it was a free download, this is only to warn the reader that this lack covers the chapter headings as well, so that the deaths of Karna and Shalya go almost unnoticed. The third volume grinds out in painful and unnecessary repetition who fought with whom for nearly a hundred chapters, as the battle rages one-on-one between individual warriors of great renown, and in possession of celestial weaponry in different parts of the field, as well as between the rank and file soldiery and the cavalry of elephants, armoured horses and the huge war chariots akin to modern tanks. It may, however, not be entirely fair to the translator to criticise him for repetitiveness, if the original Sanskrit had the same flaw. And in Sanskrit, there would indeed have been no flaw, as Sanskrit is famous for never repeating ideas, sentiments or words, given the extraordinary flexibility of its vocabulary.
There are more modern versions of the Mahabharata in contemporary English, and the ten-volume translation by Bibek Debroy has received the maximum positive critical reviews, and is the most widely quoted after the Ganguli translation. It is simple and yet poetic.
Translations by Ramesh Menon and Devdutt Patnaik have also proved to be immensely popular, attesting to their contemporaneity. The abridged children's version by C Rajagoplachari, though slightly dated, is a classic. It is said that he used to recount the stories to the convicts in prison, while he served time as a political prisoner, and later put them together in the version we have today. The Clay Sanskrit Library has a modern poetic translation side by side with with the original Sanskrit, but this is not a particularly easy version. All the modern editions are still copyright. For modern novels based on individual events or legends, including regional legends that are recounted in part of the country but not another, there are literally thousands of books of a new sub-genre we may call pseudo myths from the Mahabharata.
The death of Karna, important though it be to the structure of the epic, along with the mace battle between Bhima and Duryodhana together take up less than a tenth of volume. The bulk of it is really the Reconciliation after the war, between the seven victors and survivors and the families of the slain - the royal couple who have lost a hundred sons, seen their daughter widowed, have lost their kingdom and freedom, and are now dependent on the charity of the Pandavas. The Pandavas also have to face the widows and small children or grandchildren of the heroes slain in battle. Most of all, they have to reconcile themselves to the fact that the man they most hated was their own brother, and now have to face his wives and only surviving son. It is at this point that the elders in the family, including the dying Bhishma on his bed of arrows, teach the newly crowned Yudhishthira the principles of not so much statecraft as the responsibilities of a ruler.
This last is the longest section of the entire epic, and is more reflective and philosophical than the two earlier volumes, while the clearly Buddhist values of universal compassion and equality of person ("that religion which consists in not injuring any creature is worthy of the approbation of the righteous") lead some historians to suspect that many chapters here were later interpolations from the Middle Ages. The section on the Attainment of Liberation (Moksha Dharma Parva) may also be tedious, not to say abstruse, to a reader who is not already acquainted with Hindu or Buddhist philosophy, as it is the very longest, with Yudhishthira, the master of Dharma, seeking enlightenment from Bhishma, the personification of sacrifice and renunciation on earth.
Yudhishthira is given advice by great sages and upholders of truth and virtue. And yet, Bhishma on his deathbed of arrows, gives him advice that Kanika and Chanakya (the Indian counterparts of Machiavelli), in another place and another context, might have been thrilled to hear: the use of spies, the threat of punishment and the use of fear to subdue and control his enemies, the danger of trusting even those closest to one, as well as of course, of leading an honourable life and enjoying pleasures in moderation, the holding of sacrifices and of religious worship, due respect paid to wise men, Brahmans and elders, the lavishing of gifts on the deserving, and the basic principle of foreign policy: self interest.
When Yudhishthira, horrified at what he is being told by someone like Bhishma, known for his uprightness, Bhishma warns him to distinguish between truth and experience: "scriptures are no scriptures if they cannot stand the test of reason."
The first two volumes contained the origin of the earth and the birth of the gods and the demons, the struggle for immortality, and later to the ancestry of the two families involved, all of which are breathtaking in the detail. The fateful game of dice and its consequences, as well as the diplomatic overtures before war is declared are dramatic and almost visual in effect. The death of Karna in this third volume, by contrast, surely the climax of the whole epic, lasts less than five chapters. And leaves us with the same doubt: Was Karna the real hero? Was he really superior to Arjuna? Was he ashamed of his birth or angry that he was not acknowledged earlier? Was he really semi-divine, like the other Pandavas?
The major flaw in this particular volume is the serious deficiency in the editing and proof-reading. Seeing that this book is in the public domain and that it was a free download, this is only to warn the reader that this lack covers the chapter headings as well, so that the deaths of Karna and Shalya go almost unnoticed. The third volume grinds out in painful and unnecessary repetition who fought with whom for nearly a hundred chapters, as the battle rages one-on-one between individual warriors of great renown, and in possession of celestial weaponry in different parts of the field, as well as between the rank and file soldiery and the cavalry of elephants, armoured horses and the huge war chariots akin to modern tanks. It may, however, not be entirely fair to the translator to criticise him for repetitiveness, if the original Sanskrit had the same flaw. And in Sanskrit, there would indeed have been no flaw, as Sanskrit is famous for never repeating ideas, sentiments or words, given the extraordinary flexibility of its vocabulary.
There are more modern versions of the Mahabharata in contemporary English, and the ten-volume translation by Bibek Debroy has received the maximum positive critical reviews, and is the most widely quoted after the Ganguli translation. It is simple and yet poetic.
Translations by Ramesh Menon and Devdutt Patnaik have also proved to be immensely popular, attesting to their contemporaneity. The abridged children's version by C Rajagoplachari, though slightly dated, is a classic. It is said that he used to recount the stories to the convicts in prison, while he served time as a political prisoner, and later put them together in the version we have today. The Clay Sanskrit Library has a modern poetic translation side by side with with the original Sanskrit, but this is not a particularly easy version. All the modern editions are still copyright. For modern novels based on individual events or legends, including regional legends that are recounted in part of the country but not another, there are literally thousands of books of a new sub-genre we may call pseudo myths from the Mahabharata.
February 22, 2018
Long. Overly detailed. Book 12 could be as stand alone work. Not because of its length, but because of its importance.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews