[Mahabharata 08] • Mahabharata · Volume 8

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 Kouravas and Pandavas 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. This magnificent 10-

volume unabridged translation of the epic is based on the Critical Edition

compiled at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.

It is the aftermath of the war in Volume 8. Ashvatthama kills all the remaining

Pandavas—with the exception of the five Pandava brothers—and

Panchalas. The funeral ceremonies for the dead warriors are performed.

Bhishma’s teachings in the Shanti Parva, after Yudhishthira is crowned, is

about duties to be followed under different circumstances.

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.