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But if by “great” you mean a lot of fun to read, then I’m skeptical. I grew up with these stories since my mother and grandmother told them as bedtime stories.
by _jgdh 8y ago
But if by “great” you mean a lot of fun to read, then I’m skeptical. I grew up with these stories since my mother and grandmother told them as bedtime stories. As I learned to read I picked up the comic book versions (known as Amar Chitra Katha) and later the novels.
As far as the stories themselves go, they’re pretty drab. The plot is predictable, dialogue is meh, characters (apart from 2) are more like caricatures than real people, the morals are as subtle as bludgeons, they drag on for no reason. I would not recommend them to anyone.
That’s not to say they’re not important books. They were and are influential. Today’s books might be better but they owe a debt of gratitude to the classics. So in some ways reading the Mahabharata today and complaining it isn’t great is similar to complaining that Seinfeld Isn’t Funny. Plus I will say, at least half a billion people love these stories and worship the characters as Gods. If that makes you curious, pick them up.
- akashakya 8y agoYou should definitely check out different versions. The story they usually use in tv-series and 'parents' tell is the same version which is as you said boring, and plain good guy vs bad guy plot. But many ancient versions excellent[1][2] and they not dragged like the original!, even better if you are into prosody(kavya)[3]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urubhanga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urubhanga [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikramarjuna_Vijaya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikramarjuna_Vijaya [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit_prosody https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit_prosody
- nojvek 8y agoMahabharata has some fiction and plot twists. However I have to say George R R Martin ruined it for me with Game of Thrones. Nothing beats his plot twists and story telling. The Weiss brothers and HBO did a decent job with the series as well. It kind of connects and entire generation of viewers and book readers.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]