Mahabharatha is one of those compilations which you never get tired of reading. I loved watching the popular eponymous TV serial during my school days. Of late, I have taken to reading different interpretations of this epic. I enjoyed the narration from Draupadi's perspective and liked the way the author has weaved figments of her imagination with the original without compromising on the essence in the book "The palace of illusions" by Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee. She is now on my favorite author list. Anyway, I digress.
I took to reading the "Bhimsen" late into the third trimester of my pregnancy and loved every bit of it. I remember I was worried that I may go into labor before I got done with this book, it was that juicy.
While the prior versions I had read were interpretations of the story itself, the version which really brings out the philosophical aspect, in my opinion, is "Jaya" by Devdutt Patnaik. Thanks to my cousin Arati for this wonderful gift and thanks to her and my SIL Vinutha for recommending this to me. Easily one of my best reads of all times. Such unpretentious, candid, gripping narration. I loved the illustrations and footnotes, especially the ones about the regional interpretations and the folklores centered around the epic characters. They make the reading that much more interesting. Every chapter is linked with the relevant tenet(s) of Vedic philosphy. The Bhagavad Gita interpretation in this book is laudable. Very clear, lucid and very simple. The best part of the book is the manner in which it seamlessly mixes the exotic tales with the learnings. No part of the book feels like you are reading a moral-science textbook, yet it is thought provoking and invites you to reflect on the lines of moral shades of the characters, on what was right and what was wrong. Highly recommend this to folks even if they are not into mythological or spiritual books.
As an aside, one common take-away from these books is that the Vedic, Dharmic philosophy must be one of the mis-understood philosophies in the world wrongly ridiculed in the name of polytheism, caste-system and what not. Sadly, Indians are among the major contributors to this - in the name of Hinduism. Hinduism is not a religion, it is a culture, a philosophy. But few Hindus even realize this.
