The Mahabharata: Volume 2

Though the basic plot is widely known, there is much more to the epic than the dispute between Kouravas and Pandava that led to the battle in Kurukshetra. It has innumerable sub-plots that accommodate fascinating meanderings and digressions, and it has rarely been translated in full, given its formidable length of 80,000 shlokas or couplets. The magnificent ten-volume unabridged translation of the epic is based on the Critical Edition compiled at the Bhandakar Research Institue. Volume 2 consists of the last part of the Adi Parva, the complete Sabha Parva and the early part of the Vana Parva. The story covers Arjuna's stay in the forest; his marriage to Subhadra; the burning of the Khandava forest; the Pandavas building the assembly hall and conquering the world; Yudhishthira's crowning as emperor; Duryodhana's envy at the Pandavas prosperity; the two games with the dice; Droupadi's disrobing; Arjuna's encounter with Shiva; and, ends with the Nala and Damayanti story. Every conceivable human emotion figures in the Mahabharata, the reason why the epic continues to hold sway over our imagination. In this lucid, nuanced and confident translation, Bibek Debroy makes the Mahabharata marvellously accessible to contemporary readers.