Thread by @AbhinavAgarwal

1/
A thread on books on the #Mahabharata.
In no particular order.
Doesn't cover many genres and non-English languages.

@GitaPress has an unabridged, five-volume, Hindi translation, with Sanskrit shlokas.
You can't go wrong with that.

2/
@bibekdebroy authored a ten-volume, unabridged translation based on the @BhandarkarI Critical Edition.
It was published by @PenguinIndia from 2010-2014.
Spanning 73k shlokas, it is one of the few unabridged translations.
Highly recommended.
#Mahabharata

3/
John Smith came out with a very unique translation, combining verse-by-verse translations with summarizations.

Also published by Penguin.
Give it a read.

#Mahabharata

4/
P. Lal, from The Writers Workshop, came out with a transcreation. It's not a shloka-by-shloka translation, however.

Try it.
#Mahabharata

5/
Namita Gokhale had come out with an Illustrated Mahabharata for Children.
Beautiful full-page illustrations by Suddhasattwa Basu and thick glossy paper will appeal to children.

#Mahabharata

6/
Amar Chitra Katha had come out with a 42-comic, three-volume set.

Makes for a wonderful set to read along with kids.
Also take a look at ACK's single-comic - like Arjuna, Bhima, Pandava Brothers, Krishna, Gandhari, Bhishma, Karna, Draupadi, etc...

#Mahabharata

7/
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan came out with Kamala Subramaniam's abridged Mahabharata.

Though not my favourite, but do give it a read.

#Mahabharata

8/

KM Ganguly had done an unabridged translation 100+ years ago. It's available freely on the net now.
The English is a bit archaic, but a handy reference.

#Mahabharata

9/

There are some fictional works derived/adapted from the Mahabharata.

Just a few that I recommend:
Unsung Valour, curated by @Sai_swaroopa.
Abhimanyu, by @deepakmrd27
Rukmini and Draupadi by @Sai_swaroopa
Gandhari by @Abaner01

#Mahabharata

10/

What to avoid - almost anything written by Arshia Sattar, Wendy Doniger, Devdutt Pattanaik.
#Mahabharata

11/
The classic abridged version, of course, is the one by Raja ji - C. Rajagopalachari

#Mahabharata

12/

For fictional adaptations, look no farther than the (unfinished) 7-volume series by KM Munshi - Krishnavatara

#Mahabharata

13/

‘Sri Mahabharata’ - four-volume series, originally written in English by Prof. L.S. Sheshagiri Rao, was translated into Kannada by journalist G.N. Ranganatha Rao.

h/t @Ajithrao_
amazon.in/MAHABHARATHA-L…

14/

Translation of the Mahabharata, by Pandit Shripad Damodar Satwalekar
This is a Hindi translation of the BORI #Mahabharata that was commissioned by the Govt.
Looks difficult to locate, though.

h/t @satoverma

15/

Mahasmar - Vols 1-9, by Narendra Kohli
A Hindi translation of the Mahabharata.
Not a verse-by-verse translation, though.

h/t @livefornow3

16/

महाभारत, by गुरुदत्त
A three-part series by Vaidya Gurudatt
h/t @gopimaliwal

17/

"On the Meaning of the Mahabharata", by V. S. Sukthankar

Four essays, published after Sukthankar's untimely demise.

The first chapter itself will tell you that he saved the #Mahabharata from mutilation by so-called Western Indologists.

amazon.in/Meaning-Mahabh…

18/

You can get महाभारत, by गुरुदत्त at Pustak .org
and also read a page from it on the site.

h/t @gopimaliwal
#Mahabharata
pustak.org/index.php/book…

19/

Parva, by Shri SL Bhyrappa
A classic, and a different take on the epic. People tend to have polarized opinions on it.
But do read it.

#Mahabharata

20/

Indrajal Comics had also come out with a two-part series on the #Mahabharat in 1977, each volume ~90 pages.

You can find these on Archive. Don't know if you can purchase them any longer though.

21/
Links to buying several of the books mentioned in this thread.
#Mahabharata

22/
Bangla translation by Haridas Siddhantavagish Bhattacharya

#Mahabharata

archive.org/details/in.ern…
h/t @ArgumnttvIndian

23/

Vachana Bharata by AR Krishna Shastry, in Kannada

There is also an English translation - 'The Essential Mahabharata' - by Arjun Bharadwaj and Hari Ravikumar
#Mahabharata
h/t @ashishiyer

24/
महाभारत दर्शन समग्र दृष्टि/Mahabharat Darshan Samagra Drshti, by पण्डित अनन्त/शर्मा Pandit Anant Sharma
#mahabharata
h/t @SaamaanyaJ
rajasthansanskritacademy.com/product/mahabh…

25/
"The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic", by R.K. Narayan
With illustrations by R.K. Laxman

Published in 1978, at ~180 pages, it is really, really, short!
#Mahabharata

26/
The Complete Mahabharata, Ramesh Menon (editor)

Not based on the Critical Edition (it contains Kanika Niti, for e.g.), but the Ganguly text that's been rewritten to remove some of the archaic expressions.

(h/t @calamur)
amzn.to/3cMLyu8
amzn.to/3vkhLPY

27/
The Difficult of Being Good, by Gurcharan Das

Interesting perspectives, but a bit long and meandering IMHO.

amzn.to/3nLDrUM

#Mahabharat

28/
Vyasa-Katha: Fables from the Mahabharata
by Nityananda Misra

51 tales that @MisraNityanand has translated. Uses the Gita Press as the base version, but references several other recensions & translations, too.

amzn.to/42jbPFF
amzn.to/3nJQ7eK
#Mahabharata

29/
"Mahabharata Unravelled: Lesser-Known Facets of a Well-Known History", by Ami Ganatra @6amiji

This has been widely praised for its insights.
#Mahabharata
amzn.to/3ppkAzk