I'm Nisha. Welcome to Tales And Texts. Find my blog "Stories So Wild" for detailed written book reviews - storiessowild.blogspot.com/
On this channel, I discuss -
- Books & reading - Scriptures Through Our Lens - Tarot & oracle - Journaling & planning - World religions & cultures - Magick & the occult - Poetry & prose - Fun facts - The coming together of science & spirituality - Personal experiences - and anything else that I feel like sharing with you.
This is a personal vlog and all opinions are my own.
one mistranslation in Bibek Debroy's English translation of BORI CE. The five Pandavas will grasp your feet as brothers, together with the five sons of Droupadi and Subhadra’s unvanquished son. The kings and princes who have gathered together in the cause of the Pandavas and all the Andhakas and Vrishnis will grasp your feet. The kings, the wives of kings and the daughters of kings will bring gold, silver and earthen vessels, herbs, all kinds of seeds, all kinds of gems and creepers for your anointment. At the sixth point in time, ( Droupadi will have intercourse with you.) Ref: Karna-Upanivada Parva Chapter 801(138) The Mahabharata translated by Bibek Debroy Sixth point means sixth part of the day which is dusk, and dusk is considered the most auspicious time for activities like coronation. Krishna was mentioning that Draupadi along with Pandavas and her children would come to Karna's coronation if he chooses to side with Pandavas and war can be avoided. This is KMG's translation: The brothers, the five Pandavas, the son of Draupadi, and the invincible son of Subhadra, will all embrace thy feet. All the kings and princes, again, that have been assembled for the Pandava-cause, and all the Andhakas and Vrishnis, will also embrace thy feet. Let queens and princesses bring golden and silver and earthen jars (full of water) and delicious herbs and all kinds of seeds and gems, and creepers, for thy installation. During the sixth period, Draupadi also will come to thee (as a wife). [1] Here also everything is correct except the thing mentioned in brackets. Sanskrit verses does not have Krishna offering Draupadi to Karna as a wife.
Very nice explanation.liked it. I had the play ooru bhaaga by Bhasa as my sanskrit syllabus.45 years ago. It really touched my heart.especially the conversation between Duryodhana and his son
Hello! That's a great question! I would say these BORI books are for people with advanced English reading skills, since they do use some difficult to understand words. However, I have shared some links to Indian language Mahabharata books in the description box of this video. Please look - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_lJ6aAwO92c.htmlfeature=shared
The beauty of the BORI Critical Edition is that it does not try to establish any one single character as better than or worse than another. It shows us so much nuance, that a supposedly good man (like Yudhishthira) is actually shown how he can be very bad man too. Or, a supposedly bad man (like Duryodhana) is a very good man in many circumstances. Similarly, with Karna and Arjuna, the nuance is too much to say definitively which of them is better. I would rather say they have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Plus, they have their own individual life circumstances and emotional baggage to deal with, which impacts how they are , both as men and as warriors. 😃
@@harikaraorao7514 Because he knows the nuances of Dharma so well that he can twist and turn dharma to suit his needs. There are many instances in the Mahabharata where he does so. This is what non-critical editions of the Mahabharata miss out. They don't give us the details and nuances of the stories and the characters. They make it very simplistic and unidimensional. But that isn't so in reality.
Interesting question. I would equate “power” with multiple meanings. First off, we have the ability to fight & kill many warriors - in which case Bhima and Arjuna both are powerful. In terms of power derived from being great military strategists - Drona wrecks the worst havoc, out of anyone in the war. In terms of power derived from the knowledge of mantras and divine weapons (plus having no reservations about using divine weapons) - Ashwatthama is really powerful.
As a person who knows the story of Mahabharata by lot of videos but currently ended up in confusions, some books white washing pandavas and giving hype to arjuna lonely and some glorifying karna and giving less importants to characters like Bheem duryodhamn bheeshma satviki etc, so can you please suggest a good edition which is authentic nuetral version which is actually acceptable and not written to glorify or white wash anyone. Currently i have bibek translated version in english, KMG's and Ramesh menon all English and in pdf but if you you have another suggestion can you tell me.
That’s a great question and I agree with you completely. That’s why I love reading the books which allow me to make my own decisions about these stories and characters. I would suggest something in non-fiction, such as Yuganta by Irawati Karwe, Evil in the Mahabharata by Meena Arora Nayak; or Maryada (about Ramayana) by Arshia Sattar. These books look critically at the characters and don’t just pander to popular narratives. You can also try Until The Lions by Karthika Nair, which is a poetry collection about lesser known people in the Mahabharata, showing a different perspective of the main characters.
What an exciting endeavour! Best of luck to both of you and enjoy the many stories and perspectives you share in this beautiful mother-daughter journey! ❤
Interesting question. I would equate “power” with multiple meanings. First off, we have the ability to fight & kill many warriors - in which case Bhima and Arjuna both are powerful. In terms of power derived from being great military strategists - Drona wrecks the worst havoc, out of anyone in the war. In terms of power derived from the knowledge of mantras and divine weapons (plus having no reservations about using divine weapons) - Ashwatthama is really powerful.
That’s such an interesting question. So, I actually really like Duryodhana. I think he is a very complex character who the popular retellings of the epic, don’t do justice to. They typecast him as an evil man, but infact, there are many ways in which he is better than the Pandavas. Similarly, I find Yudhishthira also very interesting - not because he is a follower of dharma - rather because he knows how to twist and turn dharma to suit his needs (and sometimes he does things which we would consider wrong or immoral, by giving it a “moral” spin). Krishna as shown in the epic itself is also very interesting, because he is not at all like how the religious/divine image of him is portrayed. He is a man with complex motivations, who bends or breaks conventions according to the need of the hour. He is an astute strategist who knows how to navigate complex relationships and he openly admits that he does bend or break dharma to achieve his goals sometimes. I think all three characters are extremely interesting and compelling. Unfortunately, popular narratives of the epic have stripped all three of them of their nuance, depth and complexity. Which character is your favourite in the Mahabharata? ☺️
@@Talesandtexts thankyou for such detailed answer. I think you are the only one whose fav. character is yudhishthir haha because maximum people have watched TV serials and in TV serials the character of yudhishthir has not been portrayed as well as it has been portrayed in books. even tho i agree what you said about him. my favourite character is krishna Because I started Mahabharata for him and his character didnt disappoint me and yes the krishna of mahabharat is very different.he is not like what religious people say. Because the people who worship Krishna is the Krishna of bhagwat puran. There is a world of difference between Krishna of Mahabharata and Krishna of Bhagwat. in mahabharat he is a master of finesse,diplomat,strategist but in bhagwat he is a misheivious cowherd boy who likes to dance,singing,flute,butter etc. and please must read the krishna the man and his philosophy book by osho.I don't think anyone else has described the character of Krishna as beautifully as Osho has in this book.
@@saichandra7762 Hi, it is the BORI Critical Edition Of The Mahabharatha translated by Bibek Debroy. You can find all the links to different BORI translations in this video of mine - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_lJ6aAwO92c.htmlfeature=shared - please check the description box.
As usual good in-depth review of Mahabharata volume 7 , will be looking forward for the coming volumes, my guess is most of the people knows upto Mahabharata war briefly, what happen afterwards war, many of them are clueless including me, I am really curious about to learn/listen what happened after the war, so all the best for the upcoming volumes, thanks for the efforts and being consistent, happy ganesh chathurdi wishes.
@@SriRam-ic2vg thank you so much! ☺️ Yes, you’re right - i was looking through the contents of Vol.8 and there is so much in there that we never hear about. I actually feel nervous about the last three books, because it seems to be very heavy on philosophy. But I am also excited. I hope I can finish Vol.8 by the end of the year. ☺️
@@DarkKnight-qo4ij It’s hard to know exactly - but there is a section in the book where Dhritarashtra mentions that Duryodhana and his brothers are “middle age” . This is in Volume 7, at the time of Karna’s death. Now what middle age could mean, is debatable. Today’s middle age is anywhere from 40 to 60 depending on how long a person or their family members tend to live. In ancient times, depending on the era, country and their lifestyle, their lifespans could have been either very short or very long. Assuming that their middle age was similar to our middle age, then Duryodhana was in his 50’s. Now Karna has been mentioned in Yuganta (Irawati Karwe’s book) as being about 9 years older than Arjuna. And Arjuna was two years younger than Yudhishthira, who was in turn, the same age as Duryodhana. So, through this, we can speculate that Karna was around 7 years older than Duryodhana. So, if Duryodhana is assumed to be in his 50’s, Karna may have been in his 60’s. However, even this theory may have its flaws. Because in the Mahabharata we find out that Bhishma is around 100 years old and Drona is around 90 years old. How much age difference was there between Karna/the princes and Drona/Bhishma, that is another thing we need to speculate and consider. Then of course we need to work our way backwards about 14 years (13 years exile and 1 year in preparation for the war), to get to how old Karna might have been at the time of the Sabha Parva.
@@Talesandtexts mam bcoz u told that Drona is 85 yrs old during war in ur old video .. in Google it says that karna is 107 years old.. this 2 doesn't sync .. that's why I am asking u
@@DarkKnight-qo4ij see these sources are not something we can verify. They are all such ancient books, whatever anyone writes, is based on speculation.
Hi! That’s a really good idea. I can certainly do this for BORI translation by Bibek Debroy in comparison with other interpretations. But I have not read various BORI translations by different translators. I do intend to read them in the future though.
If BORI critical edition volume 3 shows Surya threatening 10 year old Pritha and then impregnating her, then whole thing is totally laughable, because it is BIOLOGICALLY IMPOSSIBLE to impregnate a 10 year old girl with a child. Surya as not so stupid that he did not know biology of human body. Poets often use symbols to say one thing and mean another. So, I believe poet writing that section may have meant that Pritha in her soul was as innocent asa 10 year old girl. Mahabharata cannot be fully understood without immense wisdom of a poet.
@@satishsinghal101 Actually impregnation depends on the age of reproductive maturity and some girls do start their menstruation by age 7. So it is perfectly biologically possible that Kunti was impregnated at age 10. We have seen many cases in India where men have assaulted women and girls, irrespective of their age.
@@nancythakur6478 Hi there! Thank you for you lovely comment. I have reviewed this book. It is on my old YT channel which I no longer use - here is the link - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GSoeDv3i8xw.htmlfeature=shared
I watched your entire video, I am not able to understand one thing. How do you read such big books, Your patience is amazing. Please tell me too. How can we read such a big book continuously for so long? How do you maintain your focus while reading such a big book,
So kind of you to say so! 😄 And thank you so much for watching the video! So I have been reading for decades, which makes it easier for me to begin with. But specifically for these types of books, I actually developed a process for reading over the course of the past 1.5 years. Initially in the first two books I had a bit of a challenge in keeping pace. So I decided to read just 2-3 pages each day. For me early morning works best to read books like these - big books, heavy on philosophy. I can understand what I read better too. I just make sure I am consistent with those 2-3 pages. And on the weekends, I try to read 10-20 pages in one day. That helps move things along. But I split up the reading on weekends into different times - so each sitting I read only 2-3 pages anyways. So my suggestion for anyone wanting to read these books would be to keep a small achievable page goal per day (like 2-3 pages) and to read everyday. It helps if you read at the same time daily so you can schedule in those 15 minutes into your daily to-do’s. 😃
Then why it is said that '...kshatriyas like karna and shalya who are famous....could not string the bow...."? Some say that karna was not called 'karna' and 'kshatriya' before he donated his javach kundal in original Sanskrit bori c.e. Was it dhritrashtras son karna or vikarna? Whrre is it written karna loses to arjuna by tiny margin which you commented earlier? And what about in drupad guru dakshina?
To me Karna looks like a great warrior in terms of what he is doing on Day 17 of the war. :) Again, Karna losing to Arjuna is in the BORI text I am reading. Please read the BORI Critical Edition to have all your questions answered.
Congratulations, you have finished 50% of Mahabharata. Kauravas had 11 Akshoini army and Pandavas had only 7 Akshoini army, but still they won this war because they also used to protect their lower ranking officers. Like you are saying that only Duryodhan used to do that. If he did not protect his soldiers then he would not have been able to fight for so many days and would have lost the battle long back, this book has told wrongly and it is not like what you are thinking, Arjun and Bhima also used to protect their soldiers otherwise everything would have been finished long back and although Kauravas had more army too. This book has distorted the Mahabharata. Duryodhan was a mean and selfish person who only wanted the kingdom. How many times did Bhishma Pita explain to Duryodhan. How many times did Lord Krishna also explain, but he wanted to kill Pandavas and the result was that he got many people killed and he himself also died. In this book, Mahabharat has been badly distorted which is wrong. Many people watch you. It is your duty to tell people the truth through your video that on whose side was Dharma because Lord Krishna was with them. You should tell. In your video, Duryodhan tried to kill the Pandavas by burning them and tried to strip Draupadi naked. That is why we cannot say that Duryodhana is right in any way. If Dharma(padvas) had lost and Duryodhan had won the war, you can imagine what our society would have been like. Women would have been stripped naked. That would have been a common thing in the assembly. Jay shree Krishna
Hi, you are entitled to your opinion. I am entitled to mine. Both of our opinions are valid. That’s the beauty of the Mahabharata- it shows morality is grey. I review books based on my perspective. Feel free to watch or not watch. Good day to you. ☺️
I read somewhere that there were around 1261 manuscript (earlier I commented 98). Are all these 1261 only of vaishampayana only???? Is ashvamedhika parva and Shasramukhacaritam of the incomplete jamini Mahabharata are also taken in bori c.e.? What is the source of your answer? Where can I find the answers of these questions?
Interesting question - as far as my research goes, BORI has taken multiple manuscripts into consideration and compiled them together - if - those storylines are found common in most manuscripts. So ashwamedhika parva is there in BORI manuscript. Not sure about the other one, as I am still in Vol.7 right now. If you go to the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute website, you may find more information about how they have sourced the manuscript.
7:23 i saw a video(I am not able to find now) where bibek debroy says that (i dont remember exactly) out of around 98 Mahabharata 2 or 6 Mahabharata says that karna won swayamvar and they have rounded off by eliminating the lesser ones. So where there around 98 mahabhrata found in research? Which is the most authentic and what are other edition like gita press, jaimini, amar chitra Katha, kmg etc. found from? From where should get all these information and from where should i start mahabharata and other scriptures?
That's an interesting question. In the BORI Mahabharata that I am reading - and which Debroy has translated - Karna loses to Arjuna by a very tiny margin. That's why Draupadi is given to Arjuna and not Karna. But what you mention may be there in a regional retelling. So, academically, the BORI Critical Edition is the most authentic and reliable version of the Mahabharata. It has been reviewed by a large panel of experts across linguistics, archeology, history etc. Jaimini Bharata is an incomplete manuscript. Of the versions passed down by Vyasa's disciples, only Vaishampayana's and Jaimini's have survived through time - of these too, only Vaishampayana's is intact till today. This is what the BORI translation is largely based on - although it includes content that is also common across various retellings of the Mahabharata across South Asia and South East Asia. KM Ganguli and MN Dutt - I haven't read yet, although I will in the future - these two translators have both translated the BORI manuscript (same as Debroy) - so you won't find a lot of difference in content, only difference in the way they have translated. So, you can check all three versions to see which you find most comfortable to read. Gita Press - I have heard from others - is more religious in nature. The BORI edition, to a large extent, is more practical and human, rather than religious. Even the religious instances mentioned feel out-of-place. ACK media is a retelling meant for kids - so it is abridged and not exactly according to BORI. It follows the more popular retelling that we all would have heard as kids. Even authors like Pattnaik or Divakaruni or any of the other new-age writers - their versions are interpretations of the BORI story. So, although it is inspired by BORI, it is adapted to be made more contemporary. So, if you are looking for an "authentic" version of the Mahabharata, go with any of the BORI translations by Debroy, Ganguli or Dutt. Same with Ramayana, Debroy has translated the Baroda Institute's Critical Edition. I also have chosen Debroy for Purana translations. The Vedas, Upanishads, Arthashastra and Kamasutra are all from various other translators. Hope this helps! 🙂
@@Krishna13847 KMG translated the BORi before Bibek Debroy. BORI was compiled earlier- KMG’s translation is of the BORI text. MND and KMG translated the BORI text before Bibek Debroy
@@Talesandtexts you mean to say the Sanskrit original bori c.e. was before Kmg? I have read vice-versa that kmg is even before Sanskrit original bori c.e.
And mam please read Mahabharat unravelled by amiganatra, and make a video about that book please, you explain very thing verry well and good night i m felling sleepy
yes madam the video was interesting, I am a big fan of mahabharata, I wanted to read these books but it would take a lot of time so I watched your video as a summary, You have a lot of patience and perseverance. that you read such a big book, otherwise not everyone can read such a big book.
I have finished the 1st book and in the 2nd now , bibek debroy has done a great job in the translation, it's a deep dive , not everyone might enjoy it.
7:23 i saw a video(I am not able to find now) where bibek debroy says that (i dont remember exactly) out of around 98 Mahabharata 2 or 6 Mahabharata says that karna won swayamvar and they have rounded off by eliminating the lesser ones. So WERE there around 98 mahabhrata found in research? Which is the most authentic and what are other edition like gita press, jaimini, amar chitra Katha, kmg etc. found from? From WERE should get all these information and from where should i start mahabharata and other scriptures?
Can't thank enough for this long and detailed video, narrated well. The decoding of the book cover is good, the questions you raised about jayadratha and Karna's misplaced compassion was thoughtful , and the dilemmas on both sides are mind - boggling. Thanks again madam for the detailed review, all the best for the next volume.
Thank you so much for watching! I am very grateful and honoured for the time you have spent watching my video. I really appreciate it. Have a wonderful day! 🙂
Fun note: Kiran Millwood Hargrave released The Mercies in 2020 and The Dance Tree in 2022. I read The Dance Tree in 2022 and The Mercies in 2024. What fun! It seems both of us seem to have a preference for taking 2 years gaps between books. 😂🧡🧡
Fun note: Kiran Millwood Hargrave released The Mercies in 2020 and The Dance Tree in 2022. I read The Dance Tree in 2022 and The Mercies in 2024. What fun! It seems both of us seem to have a preference for taking 2 years gaps between books. 😂🧡🧡
Language is neither too hard nor too easy. The vocabulary used is simple. But the way it is written may feel dry sometimes, because it is a direct translation from Sanskrit to English, without adjusting it to suit English grammatical or structural elements. Sometimes you will feel the sentence isn't written well - but that's because Sanskrit cannot be exactly translated to English perfectly. But, is it understandable - yes it is. Should everyone read this version - depends on what you are looking for in this book. If you want the version that is much more detailed than usual Ramayana tellings and which historians, linguists & academicians feel is the oldest and most authenticable version, then this is a good pick. But if you don't like really long books with too many descriptive details and philosophizing, then this may be a bit boring to read.
@@Talesandtexts great answer with great explanation ....thanks a ton dear ...and all the best fro your future videos...thanks again for writing a such detail answer ☺️
@@Eswar. Hello, yes Rajagopalachari is great if you are new to the Ramayana and Mahabharata and you want a small, short book that is simple to read and understand. If you want modern retellings which are more liberal in narrative, then books by Devdutt Pattanaik and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni are good. If you like reading from the POV of side characters, then books by Anand Neelakanthan and Kavita Kane (amongst others) can be chosen. Penguin black classics also has versions of the Mahabharata and Ramayana that are abridged. I believe the Mahabharata by Penguin is translated by JD Smith.
The way women are treated in this epic is a clear giveaway that most of it - if not all - was written by men. If women wrote this epic, they would have given women characters a voice, they would have cared about their experiences & feelings & hopes & dreams. If not anything, there would have been some sympathy for the female lived experience in such a patriarchal society. But the absence of ALL of this proves that this is a male-authored epic.
