Mahabharata

A heartfelt letter to Bibek Debroy thanking him for his masterful translation of the Mahabharata - reflecting on my 20-day reading journey by the Tungabhadra at Hampi.

📝 Note The following is the content of handwritten letter I sent to Mr. Debroy dated Feb 12th, 2017. I’ve reproduced it in its entirety here. Dear Mr. Debroy, I’d planned on writing this letter a few weeks ago. I drafted it a month ago but I wanted to rewrite it entirely because I wasn’t entirely happy with the first draft. I do not know when this will reach you, but I believe in our postal service. Thank you for giving me your address by the way. ...

Final day of the Mahabharata reading journey at Hampi - reflecting on overcoming fear, finding courage like Arjuna before the Bhagavad Gita, and the completion of a transformative 20-day reading pilgrimage.

This journey has been relieving. I have done all that I set out to do. I came for a larger purpose, to start writing once again. It has been too long, and I have been scared of something. Fear is a gripping thing, and it has defined a lot in my life. My closest friends know how much I fear some things. When I think about the thing I fear most, my palms sweat, and I begin speaking at five times my normal pace. ...

Day 19 of reading the Mahabharata - the end approaches. Bhishma’s final teachings, the fall of the Yadavas, Krishna’s death, and the Pandavas’ final journey north.

The End. The 1008 names of Shiva, the 1000 names of Vishnu, the Anu Gita and the Purusha Suktam. Bhishma leaves Dharmaraja with this and other words of Dharma. And then, he leaves his body and Ganga mourns her son. As the sun sets on my sojourn here at Hampi, so does the sun set on the story of the Kurus. Dhritarashtra leaves for the forest, losing his life to a fire. Thirty six years after the war, the Yadavas fall, and Krishna too dies. Maddened at the loss of the Best of the Vrishnis, the Pandavas head north. One by one, Panchali and Yudhishthira’s brothers fall. ...

Day 18 of reading the Mahabharata - nearing the culmination of the epic reading journey, reflecting on the profound lessons learned.

Today I went to read the Mahabharata by the Tungabhadra, and I did. Other Posts in the Series Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 (Current Post) Day 19 Day 20

Day 17 of reading the Mahabharata - meditating on loss in empty temples, reading of Duryodhana’s final battle with Bhima, Ashwatthama’s vengeance, and Gandhari’s curse.

The empty temples scare me. They stand here, stripped of their purpose by the invaders from Golkonda, Bijapur and Delhi. The idols are destroyed, nothing remains except the stories. Some temples don’t even have the stories. Guides make stuff up, they tell unsuspecting travellers that there’s some story here. There is, but it isn’t the story the guides are feeding them. Hampi enthralls me on a level that I couldn’t begin to understand as a child. I feel at peace, sitting under a tree, not realizing that a spider was climbing on my arm. My skin has turned coppery in colour, my aunts tell me that it’ll take months for this tan to go. I will take that as an indicator then. The colour of my skin should tell me if it has been too long since I’ve visited Hampi. ...

Day 16 of reading the Mahabharata - approaching the final phase of the epic reading journey at Hampi.

Today I went to read the Mahabharata by the Tungabhadra, and I did. Other Posts in the Series Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Day 15 Day 16 (Current Post) Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20

Day 15 of reading the Mahabharata - continuing the epic journey through its profound teachings at the sacred site of Hampi.

Today I went to read the Mahabharata by the Tungabhadra, and I did. Other Posts in the Series Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Day 15 (Current Post) Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20

Day 14 of reading the Mahabharata - reflecting on the tragic tales of Bhishma and Abhimanyu, questioning the choices that led to their fates and the cruel nature of duty and honor.

My very first introduction to the Mahabharata was one of two comics, from Amar Chitra Katha, bought at the railway station in Mumbai, over twenty years ago. It was either the story of Karna or the story of Abhimanyu, I cannot recall which one it was. I remember reading both when I was younger and being enthralled with the battles they fought. Both, naturally are tragedies, extremely famous. ...

Day 13 of reading the Mahabharata - continuing the reading journey at Hampi, immersed in the epic’s profound narratives.

Today I went to read the Mahabharata by the Tungabhadra, and I did. Other Posts in the Series Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 (Current Post) Day 14 Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20

Day 12 of reading the Mahabharata - continuing the reading journey at Hampi, delving deeper into the epic’s teachings and stories.

Today I went to read the Mahabharata by the Tungabhadra, and I did. Other Posts in the Series Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 (Current Post) Day 13 Day 14 Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20