Maha-bharata: The Epic of Ancient India Condensed into English Verse

I have read very little of this book, but I am writing a review to explain some things that might help someone. The Mahabharata is one of the 2 major national epics of India. It is most famous in the west for containing the Hindu classic scripture Bhagavad Gita. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) this Kindle version is severely abridged. According to Wikipedia the full-length Mahabharata is 10 times the length of the Odyssey and the Illiad combined. That is one long poem! This Kindle version is fairly short at only 2,322 locations. As far as I can tell the Bhagavad Gita is missing. If it is in here it is hiding under a different title.The Kindle formatting is better than that of most classic freebies. The table of contents links to chapters. Headings are clear. And unlike many Kindle freebies, the poetry is actually formatted as poetry. I can't say much about the translation except that for a layman such as myself it appears to be written in an easy-to-read poetic style - at least as easy as you can expect from a 100 year old translation of an ancient epic composed in Sanskrit.This epic is largely about the war that is taking place in the Bhagavad Gita, and it involves many of the same characters from the Gita including Arjuna. I think this book would be most useful if you have already read the Gita and are looking for a companion piece to tell you more about the war, characters, and philosophical/religious ideas.

This is Amazon's fault for not describing what this book is. The former reviewer was correct in that this book is not the whole Maha-bharata, it is barely 200 pages in physical print. This was the point. A little about the author: Romesh Dutt intended this condensation to be an accessible view of the Maha-bharata at 30,000 feet. For he understood that several massive undertakings to translate the tome would take him way too long, and, not be very useful to the general reader (who could afford to buy such an encyclopedia-sized work?). So he sought to create this rendering with a bird's-eye view in mind. He intentionally left the Gita out for he knew that multiple translations exist already, this is mentioned in the introduction. Given this, it is a wonderful introduction to this very important text written by one who spent a lifetime of intense study of this work.

Everything was perfect, great service. This book is incredible, started reading it and so far its amazing. This book is type set in a poetic type, and this translation has good notes from translator to assist in a good reading cadence. I personaly haven't had a lot of expeirence with books like this, and I have to say that I'm glad to be checking this out. One thing I do have to add, it seems to me that a long time ago something happened in the sky. Whatever it was who knows, I don't, but a lot of people were writting stories back then from Greece to India, about some amazing events that inspired them. By the way my book was printed the day of my order, so its MY book. There's no illustrations in this edition, its more like a transcript. The cover and paper is sturdy and high quality, great price!

For me, this book was a tough read because there were tales of the exploits of zillions of princes and wars and kings and intrigues of the ruling class of ancient India. Scholars rave at the history presented in the book. For me, it held little interest. The book details the events and rulers and functionaries of that time. It was difficult for me to sort fiction from fact.

Ramayana and Mahabarata are classic Indian epics that have been studied, translated and transcribed for generations. This kindle version is yet another addition to the wide selection out there and should be useful for English speaking readers interested in Mahabharata.

I have read this book before. I've browsed through it again.I think these books should be written in plain english, in order to make it easy for those who have not read it all.It makes it easier to get the gist of the story.

This is a good book with a simple language without complicating things.

It provided a goodly amount of useful information for anyone studying the writings of ancient societies

I was surprised to find myself hooked on a book written in verse! There is a musicality to the story telling which enhances the depiction of events.The author's own narrative of how they approached this telling of a true epic is interesting and you appreciate the book even more.Having been already familiar with the Mahabharata, I found reading this created a new passion for the heroes and events I grew up hearing about. It takes you back to an epic moment in time.I thoroughly enjoyed this and I believe others will too.

Free product and seems fine.

An excellent tale of old

Who could dislike this human epic?

This book helped me with a novel I am writing called 'God Grant Grace'.