Yugantha : The end of an epoch.

Well,I been reading

By Author

Irawati Karve,a well know researcher from Burma has written “Yugantha” which is a set of quality essays based on the well known tale of Mahabharatha. She has also written much about  other academic and general subjects.She is such a delight to read.

And this is all about ?

A set of essays retelling the epic,”Mahabharata”,in such a way that it does create a set of doubts on its authenticity!A thought provoking read,retold in such a way to create strong doubts about the tale.The book consists of essays which are critiques of different characters such as Gandhari, Kunti, Draupadi, Karna and Krishna etc which is based on the oldest available editions of Mahabharata,which itself helps us to wane of many side stories which might have been added later on as part of culture or traditions.

So, how was it ?

A must read for those who are interested in history and also for those with inquisitive minds,who would have had hundreds of questions while hearing the stories from their grand parents or parents.Once read through these essays,the author was able to cast a shadow of doubt in my mind about the authenticity of the characters presented.At some point of time,it did occur to me that the tale is not entirely fictious. A different set of thoughts bubbled up in me about the various characters in the tale,while reading through the essays which was certainly not what I had presumed or heard or told to me.

All the characters were stripped of their godliness only to be interpreted as humans with all the character flaws .The author did manage to dig deep into them and present the facts.

My personal favourite read from the lot was related with Bhisma and Draupadi.

Extra Notes : A more poetic and sensual read would be Randamoozham by MT,which is also retelling of the same tale  from “Bhima’s “point of view.