Mahabharata / Edition 3

by William Buck, B.A. van Nooten, Shirley Triest

Overview

Few works in world literature have inspired so vast an audience, in nations with radically different languages and cultures, as the Ramayana and Mahabharata, two Sanskrit verse epics written some 2,000 years ago.


In Ramayana (written by a poet known to us as Valmiki), William Buck has retold the story of Prince Rama—with all its nobility of spirit, courtly intrigue, heroic renunciation, fierce battles, and triumph of good over evil—in a length and manner that will make the great
Indian epics accessible to the contemporary reader.

The same is true for the Mahabharata—in its original Sanskrit, probably the longest
Indian epic ever composed. It is the story of a dynastic struggle, between the Kurus and Pandavas, for land.
In his introduction, Sanskritist B. A. van Nooten notes, "Apart from William Buck’s rendition [no other English version has] been able to capture the blend of religion and martial spirit that pervades the original epic."

Presented accessibly for the general reader without compromising the spirit and lyricism of the originals, William Buck’s Ramayana and Mahabharata capture the essence of the Indian cultural heritage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520273023
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	06/12/2012
Edition description:	Third Edition, 35th Anniversary Edition
Pages:	442
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

William Buck(1933-1970) was a Sanskritist, devoting his life's work to modern retellings of the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and the unfinished Harivamsa.

Table of Contents

Publisher’s Preface
Introduction

PART I. IN THE BEGINNING
1. A Mine of Jewels and Gems
2. The Ring and the Well
3. Fire and Flame
4. Indraprastha
5. The Falling Sand

PART II. IN THE MIDDLE
6. Nala and Damayanti
7. The Th ousand-Petaled Lotus
8. An Iron Net
9. Virata
10. The Invasion
11. Do Not Tell
12. Sanjaya Returns
13. Trees of Gold
14. The Enchanted Lake
15. The Night

PART III. IN THE END
16. The Blade of Grass
17. The Lonely Encounter
18. Parikshita
19. The Timeless Path
20. The City of Gates

Notes
Reference List of Characters