Reading Diary A: Narayan's Mahabharata

For the Mahabharata I decided to go with the Narayan version instead of the Public Domain version. I liked the online accessibility of the PDE version of the Ramayana, but the radical changes in styles and forms between sections was a little bit too much for me. In Narayan's writing, the prose is all under the same structure, so it's much more consistent, and I can get a better feel for the text

Vyasa recites the story to Ganesh; Source: Wikimedia

The story here is a lot more sprawling and epic than the story of the Ramayana. It opens with a description of Vyasa and Ganesh agreeing on how to copy down the story and the launches into the actual tale. I like this story within a story framework, but it seems like it will only be mentioned at the beginning of the story. I also like how Vyasa himself is a pretty major character in the story.

The sheer number of characters makes it a bit difficult to follow. We're introduced to all of the members of both sides of the family pretty quickly, and a lot of them have very similar names. Moreover, there are three generations worth of lineages to keep track of. This familial drama reminded me a lot of Game of Thrones or the Lord of the Rings; I'm really considering sketching some family trees to keep everyone in order. My favorite episode from this section was watching Bhisma taunt the rakshasa. The dialogue was pretty funny, and it really made the scene entertaining to watch unfold.