The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 Books 1, 2 and 3   By: Kisari Mohan [Translator] Ganguli

The Mahabharata is an epic tale of war, love, politics, and spirituality that has captured the hearts and minds of readers for centuries. In this first volume, Kisari Mohan Ganguli's translation brings to life the rich and complex world of ancient India as portrayed in the epic. The language is beautiful and poetic, capturing the grandeur and drama of the story.

The characters are vividly drawn, from the noble and righteous Pandavas to the conniving and deceitful Kauravas. The moral dilemmas faced by the characters are timeless and thought-provoking, making this epic tale resonate with readers of all backgrounds.

The translation itself is accessible and easy to read, making this ancient text approachable for modern readers. Ganguli has done an excellent job of capturing the nuances of the original Sanskrit text while still making it relevant and engaging for a contemporary audience.

Overall, this first volume of The Mahabharata is a must-read for anyone interested in Indian mythology, epic poetry, or world literature in general. The story is epic in scope, with battles, romance, and moral dilemmas that will keep readers enthralled until the very last page. Highly recommended.

First Page:

The object of a translator should ever be to hold the mirror upto his author. That being so, his chief duty is to represent so far as practicable the manner in which his author's ideas have been expressed, retaining if possible at the sacrifice of idiom and taste all the peculiarities of his author's imagery and of language as well. In regard to translations from the Sanskrit, nothing is easier than to dish up Hindu ideas, so as to make them agreeable to English taste. But the endeavour of the present translator has been to give in the following pages as literal a rendering as possible of the great work of Vyasa. To the purely English reader there is much in the following pages that will strike as ridiculous. Those unacquainted with any language but their own are generally very exclusive in matters of taste. Having no knowledge of models other than what they meet with in their own tongue, the standard they have formed of purity and taste in composition must necessarily be a narrow one... Continue reading book >>