Description
Manohar Publishers and Distributors The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English Prose from the Original Sanskrit Text (Vol VIII) by Kisari Mohan Ganguli (Trans )
The Mahabharata of Veda Vyasa is one of the greatest war epics in the world after Iliad and Odyssey. Mahabharata is the story of the feud between two clans – Kaurava and Pandava. This English translation was originally published by Pratap Chandra Roy, a Calcutta-based bookseller, who owned a publishing house and printing press from 1883 to 1896. The fourteen parvas were published by Pratap Chandra Roy, and the last four parvas by his widow Sundari Bala Roy. The English version of the Sanskrit epic was composed at the behest of Dr Reynold Rost of the India Office Library, who was in dire need of an authentic and complete?English?version?of?the?original?text. The eighth volume is the first part of Santi Parva. Under the first part of Santi Parva, it covers two sub-parvas – Rajadharmanusasana and Apadharmanusasana Parva. Rajadharmanusasana essentially involves the duties and responsibilities of a king. It also discusses good governance, rights, justice, and dharma to achieve prosperity. Apadharmanusasana Parva contains the story of Kaushika narrated by Lord Krishna to Yudhishthira to convince the latter that dharma is to speak the truth. Lord Krishna describes the core meaning of dharma and ad-dharma to Yudhishthira. This part contains the story of sage Vishwamitra and a chandala, where the sage defies the norms and regulations of Aryan and Vedic morality, culture, and religion. It also discusses how one could attain religious merits, prosperity, and happiness. Surprisingly, it mentions that blind following of the scriptures should not be done, and norms of the scriptures could be defied under exceptional?circumstances.