Epic Mahabharata: A Twenty-first Century Retelling

In the same way that the Iliad represents the national epic of ancient Greece, the Mahabharata is the heroic tale of ancient India. Written by the sage Vyasa in Sanskrit and completed between 500 BCE and AD 200, the Mahabharata contains over 88,000 verses and tells of a great dynastic war fought on the plains of India more than three millennia ago. Gandharva raja introduces modern readers to this centuries-old epic in new verse form while preserving the classic text’s central theme and storyline. With an ambitious poetic reengineering, he artfully uses the triplet lyrical structure, varying the rhyme and rhythm in an attempt to link the past to the prevailing literary taste of today. Though not a translation and substantially reduced in length, Epic Mahabharata maintains the inner core of the original tale, delivering a timeless tribute to ancient India.