Four shades of an epic: The Mahabharata experiment (Part 1)
During the holidays, I revisited my bookshelf and realized that I owned multiple copies of the great Indian epic, "Mahabharata". I was looking for some reads for my vacation and it struck me that I could reread the epic in a way I have never done before- multiple versions at the same time. One such expirement would give me not just one but multiple interpretations of the epic which I am so fond of.As a voracious reader, my childhood and teenage was filled with stories of warriors and demons. Of kshatriyas and battles. Of right and wrong. And if there was a single book that encapsulated everything, it was Mahabharata. The other Indian epic, "Ramayana" was something that never captured my interest quite the way Mahabharata did and the reasoning is obvious. Ramayana was about the most perfect of men, Rama who could do almost no wrong (Sita's trial by fire being the exception). It was about love, domestication, devotion and the triumph of good over evil. It was all black and white. The only few interesting elements of Ramayana are all in the conflicted and complex characters of Ravana and Mandodhari. In contrast, Mahabharata has tons of action, and a tad less emotion. I was mesmerized by the plethora of astras weilded by the warriors, something that carries my fancy even today. And then there was the TV show.B.R.Chopra's magnum opus that ran and ran on Indian television back in the late 80s. Everyone watched it. Sunday mornings was dead silent as houses were glued into the show for the time it ran. While it is tacky and amateurish by today's standards, it was a massive production then and for a 10 year old like me, well worth the 45 minutes.Over the years, I have often times picked up C.Rajagopalachari's version of Mahabharata [print
I have also read the popular comic book writer Anant Pai's version for Amar Chitra Katha which I own as a three volume omnibus
I recently picked up Ramesh Menon's version of the Mahabharata which is available as a set of two
And then there is historian and noted Indian mythology writer, Devdutt Pattanaik's version titled "Jaya
Which brings me to my current experiment. I am doing a parallel reading experiment with the above mentioned versions of the Mahabharata. What this means is that on my Kindle, I am consuming Ramesh Menon's version while I am reading the same section in Rajaji's, Dev Pattanaik's and Anant Pai's versions. Its a tricky affair to say the least but it makes for a remarkable experience as I am reading interpretations from writers of varying statures and written during different era's. Rajaji's version hit the press in 1950 while Dev Patnaik and Ramesh Menon completed theirs in the last 5 years. Anand Pai's version has been in print atleast for the last 20 years if not more. And the books reflect that. Rajaji's words and take is simple and dharmic. Ramesh Menon, as I mentioned earlier has updated Mahabharata for today's soap opera viewer. And the overall take on the epic varies dramatically in some sections.Over the next few weeks, I hope to wrap up this project and offer a couple of blog posts that capture my experiences in this process. Hope you are in for the ride. While at it, it would be awesome if some of you want to do something similar and share your experiences.