Evolution Of The Mahabharata

Perhaps the grandest epic in the world, the Mahabharata has captured the imagination of generations. It is a lofty saga of conflict, changing morals, clash of eras, and exploring human values. Evolution of the Mahabharata and Other Writings on the Epic by S R Ramaswamy—the renowned scholar-journalist- environmentalist from Karnataka—includes a translation of his 1972 classic ‘Mahabharatada Belavanige’ and seven of his essays on various topics related to the Mahabharata and the Gita.
‘Mahabharatada Belavanige’ tells the story of preparation of the Critical Edition of the Mahabharata by V S Sukthankar and his team at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. It succinctly discusses the nature of the Mahabharata text, the problem of myriad manuscripts, the views of the Western scholars on the Epic, the method of preparing the Critical Edition, and the remarkable contribution of V S Sukthankar, among other things. This is one of the early books in an Indian language meant for the common reader to understand and appreciate the greatest scholarly undertaking of the twentieth century.
The present volume also includes insightful essays on: Vyasa, the author of the Epic; the famous Bharata-Savitri episode; the character of Bhishma; the Jnaneshwari of Sant Jnaneshwar; the unique position of the Gita and the reverence accorded to it.
These translations from the original Kannada contain many additional notes for the English reader, a detailed appendix with biographical sketches of Indian and Western scholars associated with the Epic, and an index of all verses quoted in the book.