Review of the book "Mahabharata Unravelled"

 The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it below for reference:

I received the book “Mahabharata Unravelled” by Ami Ganatra from the good people at Indic Academy. The Mahabharata is a fascinating topic for me and would prefer reading anything related to it! The book caught my attention immediately because it was going to discuss some “lesser-known facets of a well-known history”. The small chapter on “Name games” truly epitomizes what the book promised us it would be. It was a very interesting angle to look at, especially since we are all mostly familiar with only the Aswathama, the elephant!

The chapter on “The Ideals on Fetters and Freedom” also made good reading, because this is also perhaps one of those rare instances when Vidura’s words, thoughts and actions are discussed in detail. This chapter also provides a good perspective on the compromises certain greats have had to make because of promises made. It is a conundrum many of us face in our lives too and it was good to read how Bheeshma and Vidura faced these in their lives too.

The chapter “A friendship of doom” provided an interesting perspective on the most famous friendship we ever know about! I’ve always viewed the relationship between Krishna and Arjuna as something between a Senior and Junior, but the chapter “A friendship that groomed” provided a fresh perspective of friendship between them and cited some interesting incidents in their lives that cemented this friendship as time went along.

We don’t get to read about all the children of the Pandavas. The chapter “Prodigal Sons” talks in good detail about the lives and heroic deaths all the children of Draupadi; the children of Arjuna and Bhima from other marriages and also about one of King Virat’s son – Shwet. The ending line of this chapter is very profound – “The victory of Kurukshetra was not trivial. Its price was the life of a generation of warriors.”. Very profound indeed.

Almost all chapters in the book have interesting snippets written in short form. Through these, we learn about the legend of Barbarik; about Nishadas and Sutas; Dwaraka’s defense preparations and many more. We also get to read about how both Gandhari, Kunti and Draupadi were as Queens and their thoughts and actions during the many crises in their lives.

We are also treated to good information on various vyuhas during the war; the coverage of the war and the Bharata varsha’s family tree. I’ve often wondered how the post-war scenario was and this book provides good details on the 36 years after the war. Recently, I also got to read Sai Swaroopa’s Unsung Valours and liked it a lot too. It was good to see some of the warriors mentioned in Unsung Valours find a place in “Mahabharata Unravelled” too.

Given the nature of characters chosen here to highlight, it was but natural that many incidents get repeated in the book. If I had a grouse about the book, it is this repetition that slows down the narration a bit (though I understand they are being discussed from the perspective of the character).

Ami Ganatra mentions in her preface that though some stories are quite well known she’s talked about interesting incidents around them. The book is indeed filled with many such interesting tidbits that we haven’t often heard about. I definitely learnt many new things reading this nice book by Ami Ganatra. This book is definitely a great addition to the repository!