Reddit reviews Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata

Honestly, the 2 main mythological stories : Mahabharat and Ramayan are both metal as fuck.

They aren't really religious. You can read both as straight up high fiction.

Mahabharat is basically Indian GOT, and Ramayan is Taken on steroids. That being said, both are really about human learning about duty, responsibility and moral dilemmas.

Great modern versions of it :

https://smile.amazon.com/Jaya-Illustrated-Mahabharata-Devdutt-Pattanaik/dp/014310425X?sa-no-redirect=1

https://smile.amazon.com/Sita-Illustrated-Retelling-Devdutt-Pattanaik/dp/0143064320?sa-no-redirect=1

Since you are just starting, I would suggest Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata. It's a good book to get started.

Jaya: An illustrated retelling of the Mahabharata by Devdutt Patnaik is phenomenal.

The Mahabharata is one of the great Indian epics, and Jaya is a great re-telling, and quite different from the many other versions out there for a couple of reasons. First, is the way the book is structured. The Mahabharata is a thousand smaller stories interlaced to create an epic. Each of these stories gets their own chapter, and each chapter has a footnote, explaining the historical or culture significance of events and characters (For example, in one story, the Pandavas - the heros of the epic, and warriors who did actually exist in history - fight asuras (forest demons) -- the footnote explains that historically speaking, the asuras were likely tribes who lived in the forest, and who had a pagan (non-Hindu) religion and lifestyle and were painted as demons for the purposes of story-telling). It is fascinating and you learn so, so much while being entertained. The footnotes also mention regional differences in the story - for example, in the Indian version, perhaps they were asuras, in the Indonesian version, perhaps it was wood nymphs that tried to seduce them, not fight them. The footnotes also explain things like the role of women, the significance of transgender characters, and so on.

The thing that I loved best though was that it was not a rose-tinted glasses version of the story, the book is quite critical of a lot of the central characters, pointing out hypocrisies and flaws, humanizing the gods and demi-gods.

The only caveat I would add is that it is a great read for people who are already somewhat familiar with the story and the characters, otherwise it can be more overwhelming than entertaining and informative, just because of the sheer number of characters and stories and whatnot.

If this does sound like something your partner would like to read though, there are TONS of abridged Mahabharatas out there, my favourite being the one by RK Narayan (http://www.amazon.ca/The-Mahabharata-Shortened-Modern-Version/dp/0226568229). Under 200 pages, bing bang boom.

I read the original english version

http://www.amazon.in/Jaya-Devdutt-Pattanaik/dp/014310425X

Its a good read , everything has been explained

If you ever have the time, i recommend trying the Bhagavad Gita or the Mahabharat. These are Hindu religious works, but they are also referred to as Indian mythology.

The Mahabharat is an Indian Epic consisting of 100,000 verses. It is a Hindu religious and philosophical text. Since at the time everything was conveyed through word of mouth, the current version that is shared is said to have been finalized in 200 BCE. It refers events that take place somewhere around 2400 BCE, this has been argued to actually be 6000BCE but that's up for debate.

The Bhagavad Gita is a 700-verse scripture that is included within the Mahabharat and is recited in response to a single question posed by Arjun (A character in the epic "The Mahabharat")

If you have the mind and the soul, The Mahabharat can change your perception of everything. It is said, nothing that exists today, isn't discoursed in the Mahabharat through the plethora of stories contained within.

Reciting the Bhagavad Gita in synthetic Sanksrit is obviously the best way, but there are many very good english translations, including abridged ones.
Jaya by Devdutt Patannaik

I can offer recommendations for the Mahabharata:

• A very common interpretation people start out with is C.Rajaji's version
  
• A recent version titled Jaya by Devdutt Pattanaik is very good with lots of notes about differences in the regional versions.
  
• My favorite version is one titled Parva. Originally written in Kannada by SL Bhyrappa it doesn't have any divinity or magic in it. I believe this is out of print and hard to find.
  
  
  The best part about the Mahabharat is checking out all the different interpretations - regional ones, and ones written from different points of view.