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After the War: The Last Books of the Mahabharata
After the War is a new translation of the final part of the Mahabharata, the great Sanskrit Epic poem about a devastating fraternal war. In this aftermath of the great war, the surviving heroes find various deaths, ranging from a drunken debacle in which they kill many of their own comrades to suicide through meditation and, finally, magical transportation to both heaven and hell. Bereaved mothers and widows on earth are comforted when their dead sons and husbands are magically conjured up from heaven and emerge from a river to spend one glorious night on earth with their loved ones. Ultimately, the bitterly opposed heroes of both sides are reconciled in heaven, but only when they finally let go of the vindictive masculine pride that has made each episode of violence give rise to another. Throughout the text, issues of truth and reconciliation, of the competing beliefs in various afterlives, and of the ultimate purpose of human life are debated.
This last part of the Mahabharata has much to tell us both about the deep wisdom of Indian poets during the centuries from 300 BCE to 300 CE (the dates of the recension of this enormous text) and about the problems that we ourselves confront in the aftermath of our own genocidal and internecine wars. The author, a distinguished translator of Sanskrit texts (including the Rig Veda, the Laws of Manu, and the Kamasutra), puts the text into clear, flowing, contemporary prose, with a comprehensive but unintrusive critical apparatus. This book will delight general readers and enlighten students of Indian civilization and of great world literature.
This last part of the Mahabharata has much to tell us both about the deep wisdom of Indian poets during the centuries from 300 BCE to 300 CE (the dates of the recension of this enormous text) and about the problems that we ourselves confront in the aftermath of our own genocidal and internecine wars. The author, a distinguished translator of Sanskrit texts (including the Rig Veda, the Laws of Manu, and the Kamasutra), puts the text into clear, flowing, contemporary prose, with a comprehensive but unintrusive critical apparatus. This book will delight general readers and enlighten students of Indian civilization and of great world literature.
192 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 29, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 9, 2022
The book deals with the 15th to the 18th books of Mahabharata of sage Vyasa as recounted and documented in Sanskrit. The author is a well-known Indic scholar, whose interpretation of Hinduism and Mahabharata - in my opinion - is very objective but raises the heckles of fundamentalists who would wish for an interpretation which would further their political ends. Not only has she done an excellent work of translating these books from Sanskrit, she has transparently provided the basis for her translation. On a separate context, by reading this book, I got to know of the post-war happenings in Mahabharata epic in greater and nuanced detail. The book was easy reading and not voluminous.
January 3, 2023
A good effort into translating the final chapters of an epic that noone talks about with brilliant footnotes. But a 'very literal' translation of the work into English kind of takes away the joy of reading it at times.
August 19, 2025
I remember my first reading of the Mahabharata when I was eight or nine years old. I read it in Tamil through the retelling by Rajaji under the title, “The Feast of Vyasa”. The details of heroism within the eighteen-day war involving the Pandavas and the Kauravas, despite their close familial ties, enthralled me. The war ends on a cheerful note with the good prevailing over evil. However, Rajaji devotes the final fourteen chapters to the aftermath of the war. Reading those chapters, even as a child, I could understand and comprehend the futility of war. It showed me how all the killings and destruction leave a deep trauma in the hearts of the victors. Victory in this conflict, achieved via so much destruction, yields only a Pyrrhic win, not happiness or serenity. This volume by Wendy Doniger focuses on what happens after the war by translating the final four ‘books’ of the Mahabharata. I hoped that Doniger’s translation would tell me more about the aftermath of the war than what I had read in Rajaji’s retelling in Tamil. However, after finishing it, I realized Rajaji had made an excellent summary of ‘life after the war’ in his work. I found nothing new in this translation. Still, reading it was an absorbing experience.
First, let us recapture what happens after the war. The majority reading the epic ignore this Mahabharata section. The Pandavas ruled their kingdom for a long time after the war, trying hard to find happiness in their victory. They perform the Ashwamedha Yagna, involving a horse sacrifice. Ancient kings performed it to establish their imperial sovereignty. King Yudhishthira, advised by Bhishma, ruled justly, ensuring the kingdom prospered. But, depression hangs over them as they wrestle with the moral issues of killing relatives, gurus and other kith and kin to win the kingdom. Thirty-six years pass, and the Pandavas learn of Balarama and Krishna’s deaths. They also hear that their Vrishni cousins destroyed each other in drunken brawls in Dwarka. This news broke the Pandavas’ spirit, and they decide ‘Now, it is time’. They make Abhimanyu’s son, Parikshit, the king and make their way towards heaven up along the Himalayas. Draupadi falls to her death first. Yudhishtra says she died because she loved Arjuna more than the other brothers. Sahadeva is next, and Yudhishtra opines he fell because he thought of himself as more intelligent than others. Nakula was next to perish, and Yudhishtra concludes he died because of his pride in being the most handsome. When Arjuna falls, Yudhishtra believes he died because he boasted too much about his heroism but didn’t live up to it. For Bhima, Yudhishtra says he ate too much and boasted about his vital energy. So saying, Yudhishtra goes to heaven, accompanied by the dog, which was the Lord of Dharma itself. Yudhishtra gets tested again in the heavens, and he passes the tests and finds himself with his brothers and Draupadi in heaven.
Doniger’s book focuses our attention on the epic’s deep meditations on the trauma of the women who survive the war when their sons, husbands and brothers get killed. Greed, a desire for retribution, ego, plus a quest for perceived justice drive warfare. Women must deal with its intense emotional consequences. Losing all her sons except Yuyutsu, filled Kaurava Queen Gandhari with immense grief. The Pandavas’ mother, Kunti, feels terrible remorse for abandoning her first-born son Karna, and for his death at the hands of her other son Arjuna. Draupadi, the common wife of all the Pandavas, grieves the loss of all her sons killed by Ashwatthama in a frenzy. Subhadra, Arjuna’s wife, weeps over the loss of her son, Abhimanyu. Doniger emphasizes this aspect of the post-war life of the Kuru clan much more than other male scholars like Rajaji, and I found it refreshing.
The Mahabharata values valor and displays of manhood until the war’s conclusion. ‘Manyu’, the Sanskrit word, captures this masculinity. Doniger translates it as vengeful pride, where a warrior must avenge an insult. ‘Manyu’ plagues all warriors, even Lord Krishna and also a virtuous man like Yudhishtra. The early books of the Mahabharata regard ‘manyu’ as a positive trait. When Draupadi berates her husbands for their lack of gumption and courage, she asks, “Where is your manyu hiding?”. Manyu is what makes a hero respond to violence with even more violence. It causes an endless chain of killing. The problem of war and destruction persists even today, echoing Kurukshetra’s experience. How do we end the chain of retributive violence? How do we renounce revenge? The Mahabharata says in these last chapters that those who have killed one another’s sons, fathers, and brothers, must give up their ‘manyu’ to achieve peace and reconciliation. Doniger says that the epic makes an extraordinary critique of its own social values and ours too through this argument.
The concept of ‘Time’ is central within Hindu belief, and thus central to the Mahabharata and the Bhagvad Gita. When bad things happen, the Mahabharata says, ‘it is Time’. Many warriors die in the epic because their destined hour has come. When the Yadava clan self-destructs in drunken combat, obliterating the entire clan, Krishna acknowledges that the time has come. It was also time for him to prepare for his own demise. The Sanskrit term ‘kala-paryaya’ means the turning and twisting of Time. The epic offers it as the explanation for an otherwise inexplicable catastrophe. Time appears personified as a most sinister character along with other bad omens and curses in the epic.
Doniger looks at the post-war books of the epic as a reflective meditation on the psychological, social and individual costs of violence and war. This has a special resonance today for us as we see violence and war raging in Gaza, Ukraine and in the Middle East. The Mahabharata also shows us the difficulties of rebuilding life after a devastating conflict. On the psychological front, we see the Pandavas struggling with collective trauma because of killing their own cousins, gurus, uncles and brother. We see each Pandava grappling with it in his own individual way and failing. They fought the war not only to exact revenge for Draupadi’s humiliation but also to get justice. However, post-war, they comprehend competing claims regarding justice and diverse viewpoints concerning the same truth.
I found Doniger’s translation of the last four books of the epic lucid and clear with her commentary. Some scholars have criticised Doniger’s approach of the translation bringing in comparisons with the mythology of other cultures. Another criticism is that she cites the commentaries of Western scholars more than Indian scholars. Though her treatment is scholarly, it lacks the intimate touch that Rajaji brings to the same period in the Mahabharata. Rajaji, a Krishna devotee, had a deep reverence for the Mahabharata and its characters. When he wrote about the trauma and conflict that the Pandavas experienced, I could feel it as a personal experience. That touch is missing from Doniger’s commentary and translation.
To fully grasp the epic’s message, those fascinated with the Mahabharata must read what follows combat. Doniger’s book is a good place to start. The epic examines how societies rebuild after a devastating conflict. It has insights relevant to contemporary post-conflict reconstruction efforts. We have seen the trauma in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and even in the US after the soldiers returned from Vietnam. Communities need to grapple with grief, justice, and forgiveness, and the Mahabharata shows one way.
First, let us recapture what happens after the war. The majority reading the epic ignore this Mahabharata section. The Pandavas ruled their kingdom for a long time after the war, trying hard to find happiness in their victory. They perform the Ashwamedha Yagna, involving a horse sacrifice. Ancient kings performed it to establish their imperial sovereignty. King Yudhishthira, advised by Bhishma, ruled justly, ensuring the kingdom prospered. But, depression hangs over them as they wrestle with the moral issues of killing relatives, gurus and other kith and kin to win the kingdom. Thirty-six years pass, and the Pandavas learn of Balarama and Krishna’s deaths. They also hear that their Vrishni cousins destroyed each other in drunken brawls in Dwarka. This news broke the Pandavas’ spirit, and they decide ‘Now, it is time’. They make Abhimanyu’s son, Parikshit, the king and make their way towards heaven up along the Himalayas. Draupadi falls to her death first. Yudhishtra says she died because she loved Arjuna more than the other brothers. Sahadeva is next, and Yudhishtra opines he fell because he thought of himself as more intelligent than others. Nakula was next to perish, and Yudhishtra concludes he died because of his pride in being the most handsome. When Arjuna falls, Yudhishtra believes he died because he boasted too much about his heroism but didn’t live up to it. For Bhima, Yudhishtra says he ate too much and boasted about his vital energy. So saying, Yudhishtra goes to heaven, accompanied by the dog, which was the Lord of Dharma itself. Yudhishtra gets tested again in the heavens, and he passes the tests and finds himself with his brothers and Draupadi in heaven.
Doniger’s book focuses our attention on the epic’s deep meditations on the trauma of the women who survive the war when their sons, husbands and brothers get killed. Greed, a desire for retribution, ego, plus a quest for perceived justice drive warfare. Women must deal with its intense emotional consequences. Losing all her sons except Yuyutsu, filled Kaurava Queen Gandhari with immense grief. The Pandavas’ mother, Kunti, feels terrible remorse for abandoning her first-born son Karna, and for his death at the hands of her other son Arjuna. Draupadi, the common wife of all the Pandavas, grieves the loss of all her sons killed by Ashwatthama in a frenzy. Subhadra, Arjuna’s wife, weeps over the loss of her son, Abhimanyu. Doniger emphasizes this aspect of the post-war life of the Kuru clan much more than other male scholars like Rajaji, and I found it refreshing.
The Mahabharata values valor and displays of manhood until the war’s conclusion. ‘Manyu’, the Sanskrit word, captures this masculinity. Doniger translates it as vengeful pride, where a warrior must avenge an insult. ‘Manyu’ plagues all warriors, even Lord Krishna and also a virtuous man like Yudhishtra. The early books of the Mahabharata regard ‘manyu’ as a positive trait. When Draupadi berates her husbands for their lack of gumption and courage, she asks, “Where is your manyu hiding?”. Manyu is what makes a hero respond to violence with even more violence. It causes an endless chain of killing. The problem of war and destruction persists even today, echoing Kurukshetra’s experience. How do we end the chain of retributive violence? How do we renounce revenge? The Mahabharata says in these last chapters that those who have killed one another’s sons, fathers, and brothers, must give up their ‘manyu’ to achieve peace and reconciliation. Doniger says that the epic makes an extraordinary critique of its own social values and ours too through this argument.
The concept of ‘Time’ is central within Hindu belief, and thus central to the Mahabharata and the Bhagvad Gita. When bad things happen, the Mahabharata says, ‘it is Time’. Many warriors die in the epic because their destined hour has come. When the Yadava clan self-destructs in drunken combat, obliterating the entire clan, Krishna acknowledges that the time has come. It was also time for him to prepare for his own demise. The Sanskrit term ‘kala-paryaya’ means the turning and twisting of Time. The epic offers it as the explanation for an otherwise inexplicable catastrophe. Time appears personified as a most sinister character along with other bad omens and curses in the epic.
Doniger looks at the post-war books of the epic as a reflective meditation on the psychological, social and individual costs of violence and war. This has a special resonance today for us as we see violence and war raging in Gaza, Ukraine and in the Middle East. The Mahabharata also shows us the difficulties of rebuilding life after a devastating conflict. On the psychological front, we see the Pandavas struggling with collective trauma because of killing their own cousins, gurus, uncles and brother. We see each Pandava grappling with it in his own individual way and failing. They fought the war not only to exact revenge for Draupadi’s humiliation but also to get justice. However, post-war, they comprehend competing claims regarding justice and diverse viewpoints concerning the same truth.
I found Doniger’s translation of the last four books of the epic lucid and clear with her commentary. Some scholars have criticised Doniger’s approach of the translation bringing in comparisons with the mythology of other cultures. Another criticism is that she cites the commentaries of Western scholars more than Indian scholars. Though her treatment is scholarly, it lacks the intimate touch that Rajaji brings to the same period in the Mahabharata. Rajaji, a Krishna devotee, had a deep reverence for the Mahabharata and its characters. When he wrote about the trauma and conflict that the Pandavas experienced, I could feel it as a personal experience. That touch is missing from Doniger’s commentary and translation.
To fully grasp the epic’s message, those fascinated with the Mahabharata must read what follows combat. Doniger’s book is a good place to start. The epic examines how societies rebuild after a devastating conflict. It has insights relevant to contemporary post-conflict reconstruction efforts. We have seen the trauma in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and even in the US after the soldiers returned from Vietnam. Communities need to grapple with grief, justice, and forgiveness, and the Mahabharata shows one way.
July 19, 2023
A must read for anyone who is interested in the epic-Mahabharata.
Wendy Doniger has been my favorite author (loved her other books HINDUS, Kamasutra), the way she literally translates the Sanskrit word is exemplary.
For instance, I didn't know that Govind (name of Krishna, stood for Finder of Cows) or Madhusudan (Slayer of Demon named Madhu) or Hrishikesh (another name for Krishna, stood for spikey-haired)
Wendy Doniger's books are a national treatise for the Sanskrit-literature-world.
I know many right-wing Hindu people scoff at her sometimes, but well I say this 'There is already a huge paucity of Sanskrit to English translators' so why scoff? Shouldn't it be more the merrier. If you don't like her translation, go ahead & come up with your version.
This book is focused on the chapters after the War is over.
One can hear the same echos that Ashoka mulled after the Kalinga War's end, or that the Allies felt after the WW-II.
The futility & the destruction left after such a great war leaves one with great many lessons. We have Yudhistara left bereft repentant, miserable, sad & desolate. His journey to the heaven & the end of other characters (Krishna, Balraam, Yadu dynasty, Panch Pandava, Dhritarashtra, Gandhari....) has been well captured & then when Yudhistara finally reaches heaven/or/hell and reunites with everyone is another chapter.
Wendy Doniger has been my favorite author (loved her other books HINDUS, Kamasutra), the way she literally translates the Sanskrit word is exemplary.
For instance, I didn't know that Govind (name of Krishna, stood for Finder of Cows) or Madhusudan (Slayer of Demon named Madhu) or Hrishikesh (another name for Krishna, stood for spikey-haired)
Wendy Doniger's books are a national treatise for the Sanskrit-literature-world.
I know many right-wing Hindu people scoff at her sometimes, but well I say this 'There is already a huge paucity of Sanskrit to English translators' so why scoff? Shouldn't it be more the merrier. If you don't like her translation, go ahead & come up with your version.
This book is focused on the chapters after the War is over.
One can hear the same echos that Ashoka mulled after the Kalinga War's end, or that the Allies felt after the WW-II.
The futility & the destruction left after such a great war leaves one with great many lessons. We have Yudhistara left bereft repentant, miserable, sad & desolate. His journey to the heaven & the end of other characters (Krishna, Balraam, Yadu dynasty, Panch Pandava, Dhritarashtra, Gandhari....) has been well captured & then when Yudhistara finally reaches heaven/or/hell and reunites with everyone is another chapter.
October 30, 2022
My rating is not a reflection on Wendy Doniger's writing, for she just translated the works. And it's an erudite good translation and compilation.
My rating is for the content. The whole books after war seem to be added later on, over time by numerous people obviously to ascribe (further) divinity to the story of Mahabharata.
The most significant aspect of this book is the knowledge how painful, disastrous and disturbed life and living...and dying had been to the characters who survived the war. If one peels away the divine mumbo jumbo assigned, it's so human that one can identify with. What a disturbing, upheaval it was ..the whole Mahabharata! It appears the times were good only till the war!!
My rating is for the content. The whole books after war seem to be added later on, over time by numerous people obviously to ascribe (further) divinity to the story of Mahabharata.
The most significant aspect of this book is the knowledge how painful, disastrous and disturbed life and living...and dying had been to the characters who survived the war. If one peels away the divine mumbo jumbo assigned, it's so human that one can identify with. What a disturbing, upheaval it was ..the whole Mahabharata! It appears the times were good only till the war!!
February 12, 2023
The introduction of this book is very good.
January 31, 2023
An insightful commentary on the oft ignored final Parvas of the Mahabharat
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews