Mahabharata · A Modern Retelling

Originally composed approximately two thousand years ago, the *Mahabharata* tells the story of a royal dynasty, descended from gods, whose feud over their kingdom results in a devastating war. But it contains much more than conflict. An epic masterpiece of huge sweep and magisterial power, “a hundred times more interesting” than the *Iliad* and the *Odyssey* , writes Wendy Doniger in the introduction, the *Mahabharata* is a timeless work that evokes a world of myth, passion, and warfare while exploring eternal questions of duty, love, and spiritual freedom. A seminal Hindu text, which includes the *Bhagavad Gita* , it is also one of the most important and influential works in the history of world civilization.

Innovatively composed in blank verse rather than prose, Carole Satyamurti’s English retelling covers all eighteen books of the *Mahabharata*. This new version masterfully captures the beauty, excitement, and profundity of the original Sanskrit poem as well as its magnificent architecture and extraordinary scope.