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The Illustrated Mahabharata: The Definitive Guide to India’s Greatest Epic
Take a fresh look at India's great epic with The Illustrated Mahabharata and rediscover the lost kingdoms, dynasties, and characters of the Mahabharata.
Follow the tale as it unfolds through 18 parvas with stunning photographs, paintings, sculptures, and historical artefacts. Discover the principal characters of the Mahabharata and their family trees, and understand key moments from the birth of Pandavas and Kauravas to the death of the elders.
Know the Mahabharata with this beautiful retelling of India's greatest epic.
Follow the tale as it unfolds through 18 parvas with stunning photographs, paintings, sculptures, and historical artefacts. Discover the principal characters of the Mahabharata and their family trees, and understand key moments from the birth of Pandavas and Kauravas to the death of the elders.
Know the Mahabharata with this beautiful retelling of India's greatest epic.
512 pages, Hardcover
First published April 25, 2017
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592 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
July 12, 2022
If you are new to the world of Indian epics and love to know more about them but find it challenging to read thousands of pages of text in the original book, this book will be an ideal choice for you. It contains most of the events in the Mahabharata in a concise form without losing its essence. The way it shares small information as boxes as "before, history and culture, mythology and folklore and after" enhances the curiosity and reading experience of the readers. The pictures given on every page are simply spectacular.
If you are familiar with Mahabharata's story, you can read this book in a different manner in which you can randomly take a topic and read it. The chapters are arranged in such a manner to make it possible for random reading for the readers. This has been one of the coffee table books in my drawing room for the last two years, and I relished frequently reading it.
There are indeed omissions of some topics from the original book as the publishers had to shrink this book to below 500 pages from the original book. The publishers had done a great job in including regional dance enactments of Mahabharata, like the Kathakali and Theyyam from Kerala.
This book will still be a good choice, especially for people from other countries and cultures who want to know more about Indian epics.
December 2, 2025
Learning About The Mahabharata
I have been studying Buddhism for many years but have little knowledge of the Hindu texts that formed a key part of background for an understanding of Buddhism. Thus, I was glad to read this new book "The Illustrated Mahabharata" which may well be, as the subtitle calls it, "The Definitive Guide to Indian's Greatest Epic". The Mahabharata is the world's longest epic poem. It is written in Sanskrit and would be daunting in content and length to any new reader. This new Guide is an oversize, bulky book of about 500 pages roughly evenly divided between text and images. The book is in prose and summarizes the action, characters, and storylines of the original poem. The work is not for casual reading but instead gives a sense of the profundity of the text. The book is by DK press. which publishes large illustrated guides to a variety of subjects, but no individual editor is credited for preparing the volume. Some of the sources and people who contributed are listed in an Appendix. This Illustrated Mahabharata was moving, absorbing, and taught me a great deal.
The book develops slowly to lead the reader through the Mahabharata. The opening introduction gives an overview of Hinduism and distinguishes between Scriptures including the Vedas and the Upanishads, which are philosophical and religious treatises, and the epic poems and other literature which are their derivatives and which present the Scriptural teachings in a variety of ways for lay readers. The Mahabharata is a work in this latter category. The introduction also briefly describes the Hindu pantheon of gods, Hindu concepts of cosmology and time, and the traditional view of the authorship of the long epic. This material is useful in approaching the long summary of the poem which constitutes the body of this Guide.
The Mahabharata consists of 18 chapters each of which receives a chapter in this Guide. This Guide also includes a chapter called the Harivamsha, the "Book of Krishna" which usually is given as an appendix to the poem itself. The Harivamsha tells of the human birth, childhood, and young manhood of Krishna who appears in human form and plays a large role in the Mahabharata.
The epic poem centers upon a large-scale war of 18 days duration between two related families the Pandavas and the Kauravas who compete for rulerrship of a kingdom called Kuru. The early chapters of the book set the stage for the war by giving a great deal of information about the families and individuals involved and their long, entangled relationships. The war is the focus of attention in the middle chapters 6 -- 10, while the war's long aftermath is the subject of the concluding chapters of the epic. The characters, both human and divine, are larger than life. They show throughout thoughtful, noble behavior and ideals combined with great flaws of character and conduct and marked human frailty. A good deal of the story turns on a crooked gambling session in which the Pandavas lose the kingdom for 13 years and are forced to wander in the forests. This experience, with Krishna's help, works to teach the Pandavas a degree of restraint and wisdom.
The most famous section of the Mahabharata in the Bhagavad Gita from chapter 8, the only part of the poem I had earlier read. The Bhagavad is a dialogue which takes place on the battlefield in which Krishna shores up Arjuna, the leader of the Pandavas, who has become reluctant to fight his own kin. The Guide presents the Bhagavad Gita differently from its presentation of the rest of the poem. Lines from each chapter of the Bhagavad Gita are given on the page accompanied only by brief commentary and by the Sanskrit text. This format allows the reader to focus on the meaning of this difficult work. To take an example, the Guide presents a quotation from "The Plan of Action" section in which Krishna says, "One's own dharma, even if followed imperfectly, is superior to someone else's dharma, even if followed perfectly. It is better to be slain while following one's own dharma. Someone else's dharma is tinged with fear."
In addition to the textual summaries of the events of the epic, this Guide includes over 500 illustrations that help the reader understand the poem, its time, and its role in subsequent literature and art. The illustrations show how scenes and characters in the epic have been interpreted by artists from ancient times to the present day. The pictures are beautiful, multi-colored and clearly reproduced with useful annotations. They help in their own right to understand the action. To help the reader's sense of continuity, most chapters open with a short "before" section which summarizes the story to date, and conclude with an "after" section which shows what is to follow. The degree of repetition helped me a great deal in understanding the flow of the story. The Guide also includes short biographical timelines of the principle characters together with chapters devoted to concepts and to people rather than to linear events in the poem.
After the presentation of the poem, the Guide concludes with a glossaries of the people and concepts presented in the Mahabharata together with an illustrated summary of the artistic styles shown in the book's pictures. I was interested in seeing how the epic has figured in various styles of Indian dance.
The book works well in guiding the reader through an unfamiliar poem and its themes. From this Guide, the poem is shown as a profound work of religion and of literature. I thought it focused on the multi-fold ambiguities of human behavior and ideas, the mixture of good and evil that are part of the fabric of each individual human being. The work held my attention as a story and and won my heart through its reflection on spirituality and on the human condition. In one moving section, before his death the dying patriarch Bishma, who led the forces unsuccessfully opposing the Pandavas that "a man's life is like a river. You may struggle to change the course of the river, but the river is steadfast and will follow its own will in the end. Instead enjoy the waters of this river, don't fight it. Be refreshed by it and share it with all. In the end, do not get attached by it." (370)
Reading this Guide enlarged my perspective and enhanced my understanding of the Buddhist texts that I have studied. It made me want to think further and to expand my reading in Indian texts. This Guide, however, will introduce readers without any particular background to the Mahabharata and to its wisdom and passion. There are universal themes in this epic of ancient India.
Robin Friedman
I have been studying Buddhism for many years but have little knowledge of the Hindu texts that formed a key part of background for an understanding of Buddhism. Thus, I was glad to read this new book "The Illustrated Mahabharata" which may well be, as the subtitle calls it, "The Definitive Guide to Indian's Greatest Epic". The Mahabharata is the world's longest epic poem. It is written in Sanskrit and would be daunting in content and length to any new reader. This new Guide is an oversize, bulky book of about 500 pages roughly evenly divided between text and images. The book is in prose and summarizes the action, characters, and storylines of the original poem. The work is not for casual reading but instead gives a sense of the profundity of the text. The book is by DK press. which publishes large illustrated guides to a variety of subjects, but no individual editor is credited for preparing the volume. Some of the sources and people who contributed are listed in an Appendix. This Illustrated Mahabharata was moving, absorbing, and taught me a great deal.
The book develops slowly to lead the reader through the Mahabharata. The opening introduction gives an overview of Hinduism and distinguishes between Scriptures including the Vedas and the Upanishads, which are philosophical and religious treatises, and the epic poems and other literature which are their derivatives and which present the Scriptural teachings in a variety of ways for lay readers. The Mahabharata is a work in this latter category. The introduction also briefly describes the Hindu pantheon of gods, Hindu concepts of cosmology and time, and the traditional view of the authorship of the long epic. This material is useful in approaching the long summary of the poem which constitutes the body of this Guide.
The Mahabharata consists of 18 chapters each of which receives a chapter in this Guide. This Guide also includes a chapter called the Harivamsha, the "Book of Krishna" which usually is given as an appendix to the poem itself. The Harivamsha tells of the human birth, childhood, and young manhood of Krishna who appears in human form and plays a large role in the Mahabharata.
The epic poem centers upon a large-scale war of 18 days duration between two related families the Pandavas and the Kauravas who compete for rulerrship of a kingdom called Kuru. The early chapters of the book set the stage for the war by giving a great deal of information about the families and individuals involved and their long, entangled relationships. The war is the focus of attention in the middle chapters 6 -- 10, while the war's long aftermath is the subject of the concluding chapters of the epic. The characters, both human and divine, are larger than life. They show throughout thoughtful, noble behavior and ideals combined with great flaws of character and conduct and marked human frailty. A good deal of the story turns on a crooked gambling session in which the Pandavas lose the kingdom for 13 years and are forced to wander in the forests. This experience, with Krishna's help, works to teach the Pandavas a degree of restraint and wisdom.
The most famous section of the Mahabharata in the Bhagavad Gita from chapter 8, the only part of the poem I had earlier read. The Bhagavad is a dialogue which takes place on the battlefield in which Krishna shores up Arjuna, the leader of the Pandavas, who has become reluctant to fight his own kin. The Guide presents the Bhagavad Gita differently from its presentation of the rest of the poem. Lines from each chapter of the Bhagavad Gita are given on the page accompanied only by brief commentary and by the Sanskrit text. This format allows the reader to focus on the meaning of this difficult work. To take an example, the Guide presents a quotation from "The Plan of Action" section in which Krishna says, "One's own dharma, even if followed imperfectly, is superior to someone else's dharma, even if followed perfectly. It is better to be slain while following one's own dharma. Someone else's dharma is tinged with fear."
In addition to the textual summaries of the events of the epic, this Guide includes over 500 illustrations that help the reader understand the poem, its time, and its role in subsequent literature and art. The illustrations show how scenes and characters in the epic have been interpreted by artists from ancient times to the present day. The pictures are beautiful, multi-colored and clearly reproduced with useful annotations. They help in their own right to understand the action. To help the reader's sense of continuity, most chapters open with a short "before" section which summarizes the story to date, and conclude with an "after" section which shows what is to follow. The degree of repetition helped me a great deal in understanding the flow of the story. The Guide also includes short biographical timelines of the principle characters together with chapters devoted to concepts and to people rather than to linear events in the poem.
After the presentation of the poem, the Guide concludes with a glossaries of the people and concepts presented in the Mahabharata together with an illustrated summary of the artistic styles shown in the book's pictures. I was interested in seeing how the epic has figured in various styles of Indian dance.
The book works well in guiding the reader through an unfamiliar poem and its themes. From this Guide, the poem is shown as a profound work of religion and of literature. I thought it focused on the multi-fold ambiguities of human behavior and ideas, the mixture of good and evil that are part of the fabric of each individual human being. The work held my attention as a story and and won my heart through its reflection on spirituality and on the human condition. In one moving section, before his death the dying patriarch Bishma, who led the forces unsuccessfully opposing the Pandavas that "a man's life is like a river. You may struggle to change the course of the river, but the river is steadfast and will follow its own will in the end. Instead enjoy the waters of this river, don't fight it. Be refreshed by it and share it with all. In the end, do not get attached by it." (370)
Reading this Guide enlarged my perspective and enhanced my understanding of the Buddhist texts that I have studied. It made me want to think further and to expand my reading in Indian texts. This Guide, however, will introduce readers without any particular background to the Mahabharata and to its wisdom and passion. There are universal themes in this epic of ancient India.
Robin Friedman
February 4, 2020
The Mahabharata - SHRUG EMOJI
Not that I'm indifferent to it, or undecided about whether I like it, but that I cannot resolve the moral riddle at its core. That’s the shrug.
For anyone not already aware, I'm reading the Doring Kindersley illustrated edition, which is no doubt a slimmed-down version but is more than capacious enough for me.
MORAL COMPLEXITY
I gave up doing chapter by chapter reviews as each chapter was so thick with incident and the moral and religious consequences and meanings were so complex and interlaced that I didn't really feel I could say anything meaningful about it *quickly*
LABYRINTHINE
At the start of the book, the opening story is about a King who wants to take revenge on some Naga (Snakes and/or Snake-people) for his fathers death, and who is sat down by a sage and told this story, the Mahabharata. The sage tells him to look for wisdom in the complex Labyrinth of its narrative.
So the fact that it is morally and personally, and historically complex, and thick with incident is part of the point.
I haven't read the Ramayana but my friend says its much more classically a legendary moral guide text, where a super good dude fights super-evil.
All the main characters in the Mahabharata are complex. Most of them could be perceived as villains or heroes at different points in the tale, and seen from different perspectives.
The story that's being told, over all, I felt, was not the story of the Pandavas or the Kauruvas or any of the people, or even groups in the narrative, but about the complex, winding, endlessly shifting moral nature of the world.
I might say the close relationship between good and evil, but that's not quite right. Its the relationship between Dharma and Adharma, which are similar but not the same at all.
Exactly what counts as Dharma and Adharma is perhaps the key theme of the story, and if it has an answer that I can perceive, it’s that they flow endlessly into each other, opposing and renewing each other. Antiethical but one being the parent of the other, and that the only way to escape from this Labyrinth of Dharma and Adharma is to renounce attachment to the world, when, hopefully they let you in to the slightly better heaven for philosophers which lies above Swarga which is basically heaven for peasants and normal people.
ITS A RELIGIOUS TEXT
The fact that this is a religious text makes it impossible to 'review' - since that would mean that I understood the riddle of Dharma at its centre, which I definitely don't, and was in a position to make some kind of judgement about whether it was true and useful, which I am not.
It's also the mythology which binds together a subcontinent.
And its also history - something like this probably did happen between two kingdoms or clans at some point in history.
LIKE ROME NEVER FELL
A feeling I kept getting through reading this was that it was a little like if Rome had never fallen
Apparently a huge amount of the texts inside the Library of Alexandria were commentaries on the Illiad, something that would already have been ancient history to Rome, but which apparently people were still writing about and talking about in some depth a long time later.
The Illiad is probably the Western story most like the Mahabharata with its opposing clans, charismatic warriors, complex personalities, curses, fates, gods turning up to do stuff etc.
Every character and incident (almost it seems) in the Mahabharata has some temple somewhere in India or some tribe or subculture or grouping that is really into it and has a particular view of it, so if you walk around India (I would guess), its a little like walking around a vast encoding of cultural information in stone and ritual, all bound together by these stories, of which the Mahabharata is a primary one.
if Rome had never fallen I imagine Europe would be the same way. We would have shrines to Hercules and Achilles and whoever, and every local town would have a story about when Hercules visited and those stories would have expanded through the psychogeography of the culture and be a shared point of contact.
THE FATES OF THE FURIOUS
Arjuna - This is the Pandava I had most sympathy for in the end. He starts as a shallow hyper-talented super-archer who all girls want to bone, after his time hanging out in Swarga learning dance from the Apsaras he seems to become less of a tool. Then he takes on the role of a dancing trans/eunuch while the Pandavas are hiding out for a year and learns to view the princess he's teaching as a friend.
During the Kurukshetra war, at the start, Arjuna seems to be the only Pandava who wants to turn back, correctly realising that even if they win they will have slaughtered siblings and loved ones. Then Krishna comes in with the Bhagavad Ghita and changes his mind.
Then towards the end of the story he tries to save the remaining people of Krishnas city after they nearly get annihilated, and finds his powers have fled.
Judged by his actions, he seems to change the most during the story.
Bhima - A big strong dude who loves food and his wife and who is loyal to his brothers and who pretty much remains that way till the end and that's about it.
Kind of the coolest Pandava in the stories opening parts where his strength saves his family a bunch of times, but the fact that he never really changes or grows makes him feel more and more childlike, simple and boorish as time goes on and moral complexity mounts up.
Yudhishratha - A guy who is meant to be born super-wise from his God heritage, he has one of the best scenes in the story where his undiagnosed gambling addiction completely crashes the Pandavas lives. Which is both psychologically interesting in the modern sense but also theologically and philosophically interesting since for Vedic rulers gambling is meant to illustrate that they are living within Dharma.
During the Padnavas exile he takes time out to apparently become even more wise, and seems to have done rehab at least as he doesn't repeat the gambling thing.
The most interesting part of his story is the end. Leading his family up into Swarga, one by one, all of them fall down into hell for their various failings. He doesn't turn around. In Swarga he finds his enemies already there in (lesser) heaven and his family in Hell. He travels to hell and wants to stay with his family. He ultimately end up in (better) timeless philosophers heaven, free at last from Dharma and Adharma I suppose.
Yudhishrathas story is one of many point where the exact nature of renouncing attachment is thrown into really sharp relief as, considered from the point of being alive, a lot of its consequences are extremely creepy, and hard to reconcile with a human concept of 'good'.
Duryodhana - The 'bad guy', and a really good portrait of a man with some capacities, but ruled by a perhaps understandable fear of being supplanted. Duryodhana could never feel safe and could never escape his feelings of inferiority, and those lead him to his most shameful actions. Just in that danger zone of being powerful enough to cause trouble and vulnerable enough to act out.
He ends up in Swarga with the rest of his clan, I guess according to Karmic rules he 'did his job' and so gets entry. But we also learn that Swarga is no escape from the wheel and the everyone in heaven will eventually end up in hell over several reincarnations and visa versa...
Karna - Probably my favourite character and the one who comes closest to be an Actual Hero.
Secretly the oldest Pandava brother, and the son of a God, abandoned by his mother out of shame he is raised by a charioteer, which according to the caste system makes him a charioteers son for life and nothing else ever.
His own brothers (and almost everyone else) mock and degrade him. The only person who every really values him fully and treats him well is Duryodhana.
And why does Duryodhana treat him well? Out of the goodness of his heart or because Karna is one of few people who can actually threaten the super-powerful Pandava brothers with his own abilities?
Nevertheless, Karna remains loyal to Duryodhana, loyal to the one person who was ever loyal to him, throughout. He has one of the other great scenes when his mother comes to him during the war and he's like "have you come to acknowledge me? To love me, finally? Or do you want something from me?", and she asks him to spare the lives of his secret brothers.
Societies usually know what their flaws, are, tacitly and intuitively if not stated outright. Karna is an example of the flaws in the caste system and what Vedic society considers the necessity of social cohesion. But his story isn't a reform story ("we need to change this") but a grieving and acknowledgement story I think ("yes this is terrible, but do you want _chaos_?")
Krishna - Holy fuck this guy is weird. An avatar of Vishnu, and the speaker of the Bhagavad Ghita, the religious text at the centre of the story (hiding scripture in a war story, good work Vedic sages), so a kind of combined prophet/demigod/hero/wizard/kinda supervillain?
Krishna embodies the arguable, or at least, perceived from the human point of view, moral darkness at the heart of the story.
He's divine, which a lot of characters partially are, but he seems to be much more in touch with the divine aspect of himself, which makes him somewhat frightening and inhuman. His reasons for doing things always stretch across different layers of reality and his purpose seems to be as much fulfilling fate and bringing about the Kali Yuga as much as anything else.
But as a person, as a human being, holy fuck is this guy creepy.
Both sides in the Kurukshetra war are headed up by super-powered badasses, and as we know from the Marvel universe, when two equally powered heroes fight the only way to win is with a cunning trick.
Krishna provides the cunning and trickery for the Pandavas that allows them to win and which also causes them to break every rule of Dharma and battlefield conduct they agreed to at the start (which both sides do, but the Pandavas break _more_)
So to take out the Karuvas Main Guys they, let me see if I can remember;
- Bring a fated transgender/male presenting female warrior into the field (not meant to do that) so the enemy general pauses in confusion and is shot by super-arrows.
- The 'pure' Yudhishrata lies (for the first time) to another Hero, telling him his son is dead, causing him to lose hope and thus become vulnerable.
- Karna gets shot in the back by Arjuna while trying to fix the wheel on his chariot. (Not meant to do that).
- Duryodhana gets hit below the belt (illegal) by Bhima, having his thighs broken and genitals crushed and dying slowly afterwards.
All of this is planned, organised and engouraged by Khrishna. Which serves his complex purposes of ending the war and making sure the Pandavas win it.
Krishna being, in human terms, incredibly creepy and manipulative, and also being the most 'holy' figure and delivering the core religious text of the story is clearly meaningful in some way but I'm damned if I can understand it. My intuition would be that just as Karnas character is built on an irresolvable societal faultline of caste, Krishas story is "this is what it takes to truly serve divine ends, to be really holy, you up for it?"
IT IS A BIT LIKE THE HERESY
As a whole the moral ecology is really different but it did turn out to be a little bit like the Horus Heresy, or at least, the parts centred around the Kurukshetra war did.
It’s about touchy, martial high-status men taking extreme offense at each other. And insecurity.
The war itself is very wargamy, The exact disposition of forces, the weapons, elephants, horses, squad makeup, the power levels of the heroes, all are exactly and precisely described. You could literally make a wargame out of it and I'm surprised no-one has, but maybe they have and I just don't know about it? Or maybe it would be a blasphemous wargame?
SUPER-WEAPONS - Plenty of these dudes. Super-armour. Nuclear arrows. Super-spears. Captain-America murder-discs. Fucking womb-poisoning mega-arrow missile demon things. If you like insane super-weapons you are in for a treat.
There are also special-super tactics like labyrinths of moving chariots and stuff. The DK version didn't go super-deep on the military stuff, I need to read one of the nerd-boy versions which focuses on important matters like exactly who's super-spear was more or less powerful that who's chakram so I can argue with other nerd about it online.
Tragic - Not only is it about family vs family and brother vs brother, but the war itself leads to the Pandavas rule, which is meant to be good, but eventually falls apart and the Kali Yuga happens. This is apparently one of the huge super-cycles of the cosmos and its one of the bad ones where everyone is fated to be an absolute dick to each other. That is the one we are living through now so in Hinduism it seems we live in a 'fallen world' also.
Not that I'm indifferent to it, or undecided about whether I like it, but that I cannot resolve the moral riddle at its core. That’s the shrug.
For anyone not already aware, I'm reading the Doring Kindersley illustrated edition, which is no doubt a slimmed-down version but is more than capacious enough for me.
MORAL COMPLEXITY
I gave up doing chapter by chapter reviews as each chapter was so thick with incident and the moral and religious consequences and meanings were so complex and interlaced that I didn't really feel I could say anything meaningful about it *quickly*
LABYRINTHINE
At the start of the book, the opening story is about a King who wants to take revenge on some Naga (Snakes and/or Snake-people) for his fathers death, and who is sat down by a sage and told this story, the Mahabharata. The sage tells him to look for wisdom in the complex Labyrinth of its narrative.
So the fact that it is morally and personally, and historically complex, and thick with incident is part of the point.
I haven't read the Ramayana but my friend says its much more classically a legendary moral guide text, where a super good dude fights super-evil.
All the main characters in the Mahabharata are complex. Most of them could be perceived as villains or heroes at different points in the tale, and seen from different perspectives.
The story that's being told, over all, I felt, was not the story of the Pandavas or the Kauruvas or any of the people, or even groups in the narrative, but about the complex, winding, endlessly shifting moral nature of the world.
I might say the close relationship between good and evil, but that's not quite right. Its the relationship between Dharma and Adharma, which are similar but not the same at all.
Exactly what counts as Dharma and Adharma is perhaps the key theme of the story, and if it has an answer that I can perceive, it’s that they flow endlessly into each other, opposing and renewing each other. Antiethical but one being the parent of the other, and that the only way to escape from this Labyrinth of Dharma and Adharma is to renounce attachment to the world, when, hopefully they let you in to the slightly better heaven for philosophers which lies above Swarga which is basically heaven for peasants and normal people.
ITS A RELIGIOUS TEXT
The fact that this is a religious text makes it impossible to 'review' - since that would mean that I understood the riddle of Dharma at its centre, which I definitely don't, and was in a position to make some kind of judgement about whether it was true and useful, which I am not.
It's also the mythology which binds together a subcontinent.
And its also history - something like this probably did happen between two kingdoms or clans at some point in history.
LIKE ROME NEVER FELL
A feeling I kept getting through reading this was that it was a little like if Rome had never fallen
Apparently a huge amount of the texts inside the Library of Alexandria were commentaries on the Illiad, something that would already have been ancient history to Rome, but which apparently people were still writing about and talking about in some depth a long time later.
The Illiad is probably the Western story most like the Mahabharata with its opposing clans, charismatic warriors, complex personalities, curses, fates, gods turning up to do stuff etc.
Every character and incident (almost it seems) in the Mahabharata has some temple somewhere in India or some tribe or subculture or grouping that is really into it and has a particular view of it, so if you walk around India (I would guess), its a little like walking around a vast encoding of cultural information in stone and ritual, all bound together by these stories, of which the Mahabharata is a primary one.
if Rome had never fallen I imagine Europe would be the same way. We would have shrines to Hercules and Achilles and whoever, and every local town would have a story about when Hercules visited and those stories would have expanded through the psychogeography of the culture and be a shared point of contact.
THE FATES OF THE FURIOUS
Arjuna - This is the Pandava I had most sympathy for in the end. He starts as a shallow hyper-talented super-archer who all girls want to bone, after his time hanging out in Swarga learning dance from the Apsaras he seems to become less of a tool. Then he takes on the role of a dancing trans/eunuch while the Pandavas are hiding out for a year and learns to view the princess he's teaching as a friend.
During the Kurukshetra war, at the start, Arjuna seems to be the only Pandava who wants to turn back, correctly realising that even if they win they will have slaughtered siblings and loved ones. Then Krishna comes in with the Bhagavad Ghita and changes his mind.
Then towards the end of the story he tries to save the remaining people of Krishnas city after they nearly get annihilated, and finds his powers have fled.
Judged by his actions, he seems to change the most during the story.
Bhima - A big strong dude who loves food and his wife and who is loyal to his brothers and who pretty much remains that way till the end and that's about it.
Kind of the coolest Pandava in the stories opening parts where his strength saves his family a bunch of times, but the fact that he never really changes or grows makes him feel more and more childlike, simple and boorish as time goes on and moral complexity mounts up.
Yudhishratha - A guy who is meant to be born super-wise from his God heritage, he has one of the best scenes in the story where his undiagnosed gambling addiction completely crashes the Pandavas lives. Which is both psychologically interesting in the modern sense but also theologically and philosophically interesting since for Vedic rulers gambling is meant to illustrate that they are living within Dharma.
During the Padnavas exile he takes time out to apparently become even more wise, and seems to have done rehab at least as he doesn't repeat the gambling thing.
The most interesting part of his story is the end. Leading his family up into Swarga, one by one, all of them fall down into hell for their various failings. He doesn't turn around. In Swarga he finds his enemies already there in (lesser) heaven and his family in Hell. He travels to hell and wants to stay with his family. He ultimately end up in (better) timeless philosophers heaven, free at last from Dharma and Adharma I suppose.
Yudhishrathas story is one of many point where the exact nature of renouncing attachment is thrown into really sharp relief as, considered from the point of being alive, a lot of its consequences are extremely creepy, and hard to reconcile with a human concept of 'good'.
Duryodhana - The 'bad guy', and a really good portrait of a man with some capacities, but ruled by a perhaps understandable fear of being supplanted. Duryodhana could never feel safe and could never escape his feelings of inferiority, and those lead him to his most shameful actions. Just in that danger zone of being powerful enough to cause trouble and vulnerable enough to act out.
He ends up in Swarga with the rest of his clan, I guess according to Karmic rules he 'did his job' and so gets entry. But we also learn that Swarga is no escape from the wheel and the everyone in heaven will eventually end up in hell over several reincarnations and visa versa...
Karna - Probably my favourite character and the one who comes closest to be an Actual Hero.
Secretly the oldest Pandava brother, and the son of a God, abandoned by his mother out of shame he is raised by a charioteer, which according to the caste system makes him a charioteers son for life and nothing else ever.
His own brothers (and almost everyone else) mock and degrade him. The only person who every really values him fully and treats him well is Duryodhana.
And why does Duryodhana treat him well? Out of the goodness of his heart or because Karna is one of few people who can actually threaten the super-powerful Pandava brothers with his own abilities?
Nevertheless, Karna remains loyal to Duryodhana, loyal to the one person who was ever loyal to him, throughout. He has one of the other great scenes when his mother comes to him during the war and he's like "have you come to acknowledge me? To love me, finally? Or do you want something from me?", and she asks him to spare the lives of his secret brothers.
Societies usually know what their flaws, are, tacitly and intuitively if not stated outright. Karna is an example of the flaws in the caste system and what Vedic society considers the necessity of social cohesion. But his story isn't a reform story ("we need to change this") but a grieving and acknowledgement story I think ("yes this is terrible, but do you want _chaos_?")
Krishna - Holy fuck this guy is weird. An avatar of Vishnu, and the speaker of the Bhagavad Ghita, the religious text at the centre of the story (hiding scripture in a war story, good work Vedic sages), so a kind of combined prophet/demigod/hero/wizard/kinda supervillain?
Krishna embodies the arguable, or at least, perceived from the human point of view, moral darkness at the heart of the story.
He's divine, which a lot of characters partially are, but he seems to be much more in touch with the divine aspect of himself, which makes him somewhat frightening and inhuman. His reasons for doing things always stretch across different layers of reality and his purpose seems to be as much fulfilling fate and bringing about the Kali Yuga as much as anything else.
But as a person, as a human being, holy fuck is this guy creepy.
Both sides in the Kurukshetra war are headed up by super-powered badasses, and as we know from the Marvel universe, when two equally powered heroes fight the only way to win is with a cunning trick.
Krishna provides the cunning and trickery for the Pandavas that allows them to win and which also causes them to break every rule of Dharma and battlefield conduct they agreed to at the start (which both sides do, but the Pandavas break _more_)
So to take out the Karuvas Main Guys they, let me see if I can remember;
- Bring a fated transgender/male presenting female warrior into the field (not meant to do that) so the enemy general pauses in confusion and is shot by super-arrows.
- The 'pure' Yudhishrata lies (for the first time) to another Hero, telling him his son is dead, causing him to lose hope and thus become vulnerable.
- Karna gets shot in the back by Arjuna while trying to fix the wheel on his chariot. (Not meant to do that).
- Duryodhana gets hit below the belt (illegal) by Bhima, having his thighs broken and genitals crushed and dying slowly afterwards.
All of this is planned, organised and engouraged by Khrishna. Which serves his complex purposes of ending the war and making sure the Pandavas win it.
Krishna being, in human terms, incredibly creepy and manipulative, and also being the most 'holy' figure and delivering the core religious text of the story is clearly meaningful in some way but I'm damned if I can understand it. My intuition would be that just as Karnas character is built on an irresolvable societal faultline of caste, Krishas story is "this is what it takes to truly serve divine ends, to be really holy, you up for it?"
IT IS A BIT LIKE THE HERESY
As a whole the moral ecology is really different but it did turn out to be a little bit like the Horus Heresy, or at least, the parts centred around the Kurukshetra war did.
It’s about touchy, martial high-status men taking extreme offense at each other. And insecurity.
The war itself is very wargamy, The exact disposition of forces, the weapons, elephants, horses, squad makeup, the power levels of the heroes, all are exactly and precisely described. You could literally make a wargame out of it and I'm surprised no-one has, but maybe they have and I just don't know about it? Or maybe it would be a blasphemous wargame?
SUPER-WEAPONS - Plenty of these dudes. Super-armour. Nuclear arrows. Super-spears. Captain-America murder-discs. Fucking womb-poisoning mega-arrow missile demon things. If you like insane super-weapons you are in for a treat.
There are also special-super tactics like labyrinths of moving chariots and stuff. The DK version didn't go super-deep on the military stuff, I need to read one of the nerd-boy versions which focuses on important matters like exactly who's super-spear was more or less powerful that who's chakram so I can argue with other nerd about it online.
Tragic - Not only is it about family vs family and brother vs brother, but the war itself leads to the Pandavas rule, which is meant to be good, but eventually falls apart and the Kali Yuga happens. This is apparently one of the huge super-cycles of the cosmos and its one of the bad ones where everyone is fated to be an absolute dick to each other. That is the one we are living through now so in Hinduism it seems we live in a 'fallen world' also.
November 4, 2017
Beautiful book. Edited and designed with utmost interest. Definitely a collectors item! The associated art work and historical place pictures help with the perspective. Still, with regard to content, nothing new or informative. Those familiar with the Mahabharata may feel that it could have been better.
June 22, 2023
This is the best narration of the epic Mahabharata. Rich with beautiful illustrations, hidden treasures from history, parallels between Greek and other ancient mythologies, this is a very interesting read. Almost like encyclopaedia of Mahabharata. This talks about past and history of every character and how different cultures within India as well as outside like in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia has embraced them.
November 24, 2017
The Illustrative Mahabharata, though an excellent idea, is a copy of Devdutt Pattanaik's book Jaya.
The stories within this book are repetitive - right in the next page.
The pictures, especially the different styles of idols, paintings, carvings, forms of dance, plays from from regions in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, was excellent.
The stories within this book are repetitive - right in the next page.
The pictures, especially the different styles of idols, paintings, carvings, forms of dance, plays from from regions in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, was excellent.
September 8, 2025
My god, this 500-page book felt like a long haul, and it was only the illustrated guide to "The Mahabharata," which is *checks notes* essentially the longest book ever written, clocking in a 10 times longer than the "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" combined- and that's just the published version, not counting all the regional variants. *weeps in Sanskrit at the immensity of it all*
November 26, 2017
For those readers like me who don't really feel like tackling the reading of the longest epic poem ever written (time's short and getting shorter for me), this book is a gorgeous guide or reader's companion. It's chock full of beautiful illustrations, with over 500 images of paintings, photographs and sculptures, which makes it one of the most striking coffee table books ever to grace my coffee table.
The 509-page book contains (1) Introduction (pp. 12-29); (2) Stories from Mahabharata's 18 chapters or parvas (pp. 32-427), all in impressive retellings or summaries with illustrations and notes and explanations, from Adi Parva: The Book of the Beginning to Swargarohana Parva: The Book of the Ascent; (3) Harivamsha: The Book of Krishna (pp. 430-469); (4) Reference (pp. 472-502) with People in the Mahabharata, Art, Glossary and Index. Visually stunning, on excellent glossy paper, 10" x 12" in size, with breathtaking illustrations, this would make the perfect Christmas gift for someone intrigued by eastern mythology.
The Mahabharata (the real, actual epic that this book is a guide to) is one of two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. (The other is the Ramayana.) It tells the tale of the dynastic struggles of the Kauravas and the Pandavas, but it also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or purusartha. The epic poem was mainly written between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE.
One interesting thing to note is that the epic ends with the death of Krishna and marks the beginning of the Hindu age of Kali Yuga, which is "the fourth and final age of humankind, in which great values and noble ideas have crumbled and people are heading towards the complete dissolution of right action, morality and virtue." (Informative summary from Wikipedia.) Kinda sounds as if we're in our own little "Kali Yuga" time here lately.
The 509-page book contains (1) Introduction (pp. 12-29); (2) Stories from Mahabharata's 18 chapters or parvas (pp. 32-427), all in impressive retellings or summaries with illustrations and notes and explanations, from Adi Parva: The Book of the Beginning to Swargarohana Parva: The Book of the Ascent; (3) Harivamsha: The Book of Krishna (pp. 430-469); (4) Reference (pp. 472-502) with People in the Mahabharata, Art, Glossary and Index. Visually stunning, on excellent glossy paper, 10" x 12" in size, with breathtaking illustrations, this would make the perfect Christmas gift for someone intrigued by eastern mythology.
The Mahabharata (the real, actual epic that this book is a guide to) is one of two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. (The other is the Ramayana.) It tells the tale of the dynastic struggles of the Kauravas and the Pandavas, but it also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or purusartha. The epic poem was mainly written between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE.
One interesting thing to note is that the epic ends with the death of Krishna and marks the beginning of the Hindu age of Kali Yuga, which is "the fourth and final age of humankind, in which great values and noble ideas have crumbled and people are heading towards the complete dissolution of right action, morality and virtue." (Informative summary from Wikipedia.) Kinda sounds as if we're in our own little "Kali Yuga" time here lately.
December 21, 2017
Have a great fondness of illustrated books which makes the reading so much more interesting...enjoyable.So,as soon as I say this version of my favourite epic in Kitab Khana coupled with a high recommendation by Jagat,a desire arose to have it in my library.
Just finished reading.Decent narration-just right for one to get a good overall view of the scripture.Not painstakingly detailed.Though I won't say it's the most captivating.
Still one can finish the book in a couple of days.The pictures are excellent-a visual treat,with most of them being taken from the Razmnama.
Just finished reading.Decent narration-just right for one to get a good overall view of the scripture.Not painstakingly detailed.Though I won't say it's the most captivating.
Still one can finish the book in a couple of days.The pictures are excellent-a visual treat,with most of them being taken from the Razmnama.
January 27, 2019
More than 500 exciting, synthetic and fun pages on Mahabharata! First of all, the book is beautiful: the pagination is impeccable, perfectly aligned and relevant to the information delivered. The magnificent illustration contributes to fully enter the text. It is a real pleasure to read this book. Congratulations to these authors who make us discover Indian mythology in such an entertaining way. It's the book I was looking for and you did it. Thank you!
January 3, 2018
An exquisite book, beautifully designed, wonderful graphics, and lots of side stories. It helps if you want to introduce Mahabharata to a young adult or someone completely new to this epic. Those who think they know all about it would also find quite something new for themselves.
It's a collector's item. I'm using it as a coffee table book.
It's a collector's item. I'm using it as a coffee table book.
October 12, 2017
One of the greatest epic ever, in one amazing book.
November 24, 2017
I posted my review of this amazing book on Amazon.com.
December 30, 2022
I chose this book as a companion book for my reading Ramesh Menon's "The Mahabharata". I wanted to be sure I was not getting led astray and as best I can tell the story matched up nicely with both authors.
This illustrated Mahabharata is coffee table version. Very nicely crafted and filled with a lots of extra's dealing with the Hindu Myths surrounding not just the Mahabharata, but also touching lightly on the "The Ramayana" and some other lesser stories too include more tales on Krishna. The book has an excellent intro the Hindu Mythology as a whole, as well a good glossary and index, not to mention a good map and various diagrams.
It took me a long time to read the book, but my intent was on reading Menon's account. I read some from one book then some from this book. After I was satisfied the stories were mostly in alignment I set this aside and finished Menon's work, then on to read The Ramayana and since several other books on ancient history of India, along with beginning the Purana's which are ever so much more. Seems it does not end. If finally came back to finish this knowing I had left it half way through. It was a good refresh.
Of course this book is not a complete telling but it does a rather fine job of bringing the story back to life if your familiar with the story.
Would certainly recommend it as good accompaniment to reading the whole story. The art is quite good and the added explanations are worth it.
This illustrated Mahabharata is coffee table version. Very nicely crafted and filled with a lots of extra's dealing with the Hindu Myths surrounding not just the Mahabharata, but also touching lightly on the "The Ramayana" and some other lesser stories too include more tales on Krishna. The book has an excellent intro the Hindu Mythology as a whole, as well a good glossary and index, not to mention a good map and various diagrams.
It took me a long time to read the book, but my intent was on reading Menon's account. I read some from one book then some from this book. After I was satisfied the stories were mostly in alignment I set this aside and finished Menon's work, then on to read The Ramayana and since several other books on ancient history of India, along with beginning the Purana's which are ever so much more. Seems it does not end. If finally came back to finish this knowing I had left it half way through. It was a good refresh.
Of course this book is not a complete telling but it does a rather fine job of bringing the story back to life if your familiar with the story.
Would certainly recommend it as good accompaniment to reading the whole story. The art is quite good and the added explanations are worth it.
January 15, 2022
If you already know the story of Mahabharata this book is a decent primer and can be used as a quick reference book. But if you are reading the text for the first time there are more authoritative and accurate sources and you should rather read them first.
The book does a good job of summarizing various events associated with the epic but the text get very repetitive as the events and stories are mentioned over and again. Moreover a few events are misquoted when you compare it to authoritative sources like the critical version of the epic.
It's an illustrated version and does use a lot of illustration, but illustrations from a persian translation of Mahabharata are heavily used which depicts the characters with central Asian features making them look more like Mongols and not Indian. This was definitely very off putting for me as there are many high quality illustrations in Indian art which could have been used by the authors for a more accurate depiction.
Also note that this is a very thick and heavy book, so falls more in the category of coffee table books.
PS - the 3 stars are for how this book is compiled, the epic of Mahabharata gets 5/5 stars any day as it's one of the best written epic in the history of global literature.
The book does a good job of summarizing various events associated with the epic but the text get very repetitive as the events and stories are mentioned over and again. Moreover a few events are misquoted when you compare it to authoritative sources like the critical version of the epic.
It's an illustrated version and does use a lot of illustration, but illustrations from a persian translation of Mahabharata are heavily used which depicts the characters with central Asian features making them look more like Mongols and not Indian. This was definitely very off putting for me as there are many high quality illustrations in Indian art which could have been used by the authors for a more accurate depiction.
Also note that this is a very thick and heavy book, so falls more in the category of coffee table books.
PS - the 3 stars are for how this book is compiled, the epic of Mahabharata gets 5/5 stars any day as it's one of the best written epic in the history of global literature.
July 6, 2019
I read this together with Ramesh Menon's two-volume version of the Mahabharata. This version adds some of the parts that Menon left out, while thoroughly summarizing all of the most important parts of what I read from Menon's work. And it does so while adding in several illustrations of artwork and architecture from India and Southeast Asia portraying parts or themes from the Mahabharata. The guide even occasionally includes information on different versions of stories in the Mahabharata.
If you're interested in the Mahabharata but don't want to read a longer version, I highly recommend this as an alternative covering everything you need to know plus more.
If you're interested in the Mahabharata but don't want to read a longer version, I highly recommend this as an alternative covering everything you need to know plus more.
January 8, 2020
My six-word memoir: Beautiful, artistic masterpiece. Greatest epic revisited.
I cannot express in words how much I enjoyed reading this beautiful piece of art. Mahabharata being my all-time favorite I could not miss this book. The narration is very good. The snippets and artwork take the book to another level. I recommend this book to anyone who is new to Mahabharata or Indian Mythology. The fact that this great epic has been crystallized into 500 pages is a feat in itself. Added to it, the layout and design is beautiful making any beginner/non-beginner like this book.
I cannot express in words how much I enjoyed reading this beautiful piece of art. Mahabharata being my all-time favorite I could not miss this book. The narration is very good. The snippets and artwork take the book to another level. I recommend this book to anyone who is new to Mahabharata or Indian Mythology. The fact that this great epic has been crystallized into 500 pages is a feat in itself. Added to it, the layout and design is beautiful making any beginner/non-beginner like this book.
October 15, 2018
The best, most comprehensive book I have ever read on the Mahabharat. It is very difficult to condense and explain the complexity of the Mahabharat, especially for a non-Indian audience, but this book is probably the best introduction. Moreover, the illustrations show the immense influence the Mahabharat has had on art, craft and culture not just in the Indian sub-continent but also Southeast Asia.
Must-buy for the home library for anyone interested in Hinduism.
Must-buy for the home library for anyone interested in Hinduism.
October 26, 2024
What I really appreciated about the book is how it starts right from the origins of the Chandravansha dynasty and continues all the way through to the death of the Pandavas and the story of Krishna. Each chapter includes a “before and after” section, which helps a lot with recalling earlier events and understanding what’s coming next. The illustrations are fantastic, and overall, it’s a great book to add to your collection.
June 6, 2025
What an epic read. I had forgotten that the Mahabharata was such a trippy tale and this illustrated version really made it easy to read. The illustrations are gorgeous and so are the photos of various folk traditions and storytelling based on the Mahabharata. My favourite character still remains Karna. Stood by a friend through thick and thin.
November 29, 2018
Gorgeous book. Terrific for the person who wants an introduction to the Mahabharata or to the person who has studied it before. Lots of beautiful artwork and explains the epic in detail. Plus it looks great on the shelf or better yet, on the coffee table.
December 12, 2024
Enriches the Mahabharata's tale with native retellings, cultural interpretations and so much beautiful art.
A few details seem wrong or certain things are missing, but the book does a good job of being a very short, but at the same time almost complete and detailed view through Mahabharata.
A few details seem wrong or certain things are missing, but the book does a good job of being a very short, but at the same time almost complete and detailed view through Mahabharata.
March 6, 2018
A beautiful illustrated guide to India's greatest epic with background information, side notes with both historical and contemporary information, and just generally a gorgeous work of art.
December 23, 2019
regardless of the actual text (which tends more towards popular retelling than anything else) the illustrations are exquisitely done!
June 13, 2020
A great book not only to become familiar with the greatest epic ever written by mankind; but also to gain a deeper understanding of the Vedic/Indian culture and religion.
July 18, 2022
Amazing pictures, interesting information, and it'll look great on your coffee table.
October 16, 2022
Perfection
November 21, 2022
A very interesting book to add to your collection! Explains and revises SO many things. Still, as unavoidable as it might be, it leaves some gaps - that's why the 4 stars instead of 5.
January 13, 2024
A beautiful and informative intro to the great epic
April 19, 2024
A first-class delving into India’s greatest poem. This was extremely helpful to me as I am not as familiar with Indian mythology as I would like to be. I recently read an abridged version of the poem and was fascinated by the characters and the history and wanted to know more. As always, DK has put together a collection of beautiful art to go along with well-written explanations and extrapolations of the text. The addition of regional-specific alternative versions and interpretations was very interesting and a helpful addition to understanding the text. This is a must-have book for anyone who is not able to read the text in the original language but is interested in knowing more about the history and culture behind this amazing poem.
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