The Mahabharata - 5 translations (19 books)

The MAHABHARATA is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana. Comprising some 1.8 million words, it is the longest known epic poem, roughly ten times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined. W. J. Johnson has compared the importance of the Mahabharata to world civilization to that of the Bible, the works of Shakespeare or Homer, Greek drama, or the Qur'an.

The epic relates the dynastic struggle between the Pándava and the Káurava princes for the throne of Hastinapura, culminating in the great battle of Kurukshetra, in which the Pandavas are ultimately victorious. It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" or purusharthas, and features innumerable sub-plots that accommodate fascinating meanderings and digressions. Among the principal works and stories in the Mahabharata are the Bhagavad Gita, the story of Damayanti, an abbreviated version of the Ramayana, and the Rishyasringa, often considered as works in their own right.

The unabridged Penguin India edition consists of 8 of a projected 10-volume translation and is based on the Critical Edition compiled at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. This lucid, nuanced and confident translation by Indian economist Bibek Debroy makes the Mahabharata marvellously accessible to contemporary readers.

The unabridged Clay Sanskrit Library edition, translated by various hands and issued by NYU Press (2005 - present), is projected to include 32 volumes when it is finally complete. The translation is based not on the Critical Edition but on the version known to the commentator Nilakantha.

Many condensed versions, abridgements and novelistic prose retellings of the complete epic have been published in English. Three of these renderings -- by R. K. Narayan, Ramesh Menon and Devdutt Pattanaik -- are also included here.


PENGUIN edition (Penguin India, 2010 - present). -- ePUB format
Translated by Bibek Debroy.

* Vol. 1 (Sections 1-15)
* Vol. 2 (Sections 16-32)
* Vol. 3 (Sections 33-44)
* Vol. 4 (Sections 45-59)
* Vol. 5 (Sections 60-66)
* Vol. 6 (Sections 67-72)
* Vol. 7 (Sections 73-77)
* Vol. 8 (Sections 78-86)


CLAY SANSKRIT LIBRARY edition (NYU Press, 2005 - present). -- PDF format
Various translators.

* Book II: The Great Hall. Translated by Paul Wilmot.
* Book III: The Forest, Vol. 4. Translated by William Johnson.
* Book IV: Viráta. Translated by Kathleen Garbutt.
* Book VII: Drona, Vol. 1. Translated by Vaughan Pilikian.
* Book VIII: Karna, Vol. 1. Translated by Adam Bowles.
* Book IX: Shalya, Vols. 1-2. Translated by Justin Meiland.


Also included:

* Ramesh Menon - THE MAHABHARATA: A Modern Rendering (2006). 2 vols. -- ePUB

* R. K. Narayan - THE MAHABHARATA: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic (Penguin Modern Classics, 1978) -- ePUB

* Devdutt Pattanaik - JAYA: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata (Penguin, 2011). -- ePUB