The Mahabharata Paperback – Abridged, 28 May 2009

Complete (with all stories in short form), leaves the poetic excess to save space, sticks to the original and is based on the Critical Edition of Mahabharat by the BORI.I did a lot of research before starting to read the Great Indian Epic and came across many abridged and unabridged texts. In the complete/ full version, I found only Late Bibek Debroy's version to be the most authentic, and in the abridged versions, this one by John D Smith (In comparison to Ramesh Menon and Kamala Subramanian.. these two have added events/dialogues to make it more dramatic based on other sources) is the best. Raja ji's Mahabharata can be a good start if you want a further abridged version.This is a complete, no-nonsense book, and the language is lucid. The important events are covered in detail (exact translation from Sanskrit), while side stories are also in abridged form. So, this one completely stands out as research material for me. Some Sanskrit words are not properly translated, but those can be easily understood in the context in which they come.

I like this book . Good information about Mahabharatam

The translation by John D. Smith is really elegant and lucid and I kept wishing that he had attempted to translate the whole text and publish it unabridged instead of doing an abridgement. Sadge. :(There are large chunks of the text in italics which contain the abridged sections of the Mahabharata, while the normal text contain unabridged translations. There is a seamless shift from the abridged to the unabridged, and rarely does it catch you off-guard or make you think that you're missing something crucial to your understanding of the text.However, what left a bad taste in my mouth was definitely the delivery and the physical copy. However, the pain of receiving a physical copy with such pale white pages was lessened when I realised that the whole corpus of Penguin Classics suffer the same fate of thing pages and paperback covers. However, a benefit is that such a thick book of 912 pages fits cosily into a corner of my shelf without occupying much space.Nonetheless, the delivery was shoddy. Sure, it was delivered the very next day, but the cover was bent longitudinally and the corner of the back was frayed.So, overall, highly recommended if you're familiar with the basic story and want to read the Mahabharata EXACTLY how it was written/narrated in its original form. It may take you time to adjust to the format of the text, which is basically an extended dialogue, employing multiple narrators within a narration, and ending up in our own Sanskrit Inception.But, I mean, that's the Mahabharata for y'all!

Nice book, I had a great read author have presented the book as it is…

I feel like its an unbiased rendering of abridged version of mahabharatha. Really impressive translation and reproduction of the original.

Incisively written with new age perspectives. Author has great depth in the subject and this is brought to bear in the rendition.

It's not just a book, it's an experience you'll take everywhere with your self. Mahabharata contributes in defining my culture so much. It's a good edition.P.S.-Well the the sunken city of dwarka has been rediscovered.so, yeah!

It's abridged so it doesn't contain a lot of verses such as Mahabharata 13.44.13 but it's ok...