[Mahabharata 06] • Mahabharata Vol. 6

The Mahabharata is one of the greatest stories ever told. Though the basic plot is widely known, there is much more to the epic than the dispute between the Kouravas and the Pandavas that led to the battle of 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. This magnificent 10-volume unabridged translation of the epic is based on the Critical edition compiled at the Bhandarkar oriental Research Institute. The sixth volume completes Drona Parva and features the deaths of Abhimanyu, Jayadratha, Ghakotkacha and Drona. The Narayana weapon is released at Arjuna, following which Bhagadatta is killed. Some of the most ferocious fighting in the Kurukshetra war takes place in Drona Parva, specifically, in this volume. At the close of this volume, the war is virtually over and Karna assumes the mantle of commander-in-chief after Drona's death. 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.
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