Mahabharata is an epic, known world-over for the profound knowledge it contains and for a wisdom that is so relevant to this day and age. It has been dissected endlessly, translated into multiple languages, and retold countless times from different perspectives. Here are 9 such Mahabharata re-tellings that are must-reads.
Update: Based on inputs from our readers, we are expanding this list to include more re-tellings of Mahabharata. A big thank you to all those readers who contributed these names!
1. Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling by Devdutt Pattanaik
Definitely one of the more popular re-tellings of Mahabharata in the market today, Jaya is a visually rich narration of the original, inter-woven with folklore and regional variants.
2. Yuganta: The End of an Epoch by Irawati Karwe
While not essentially a retelling, Yuganta was one of the first popular books in mainstream publishing to question the familiar version of Mahabharata and analyze the story and characters from a different perspective to create new interpretations. Presented in the form of a collection of essays and stories, it is thought-provoking and grounded to say the least.
3. The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee
In spite of the significant role that women play in Mahabharata, the voice of women is rarely heard in the original version. The Palace of Illusions is a part fiction, part original re-telling of Mahabharat written from Draupadi’s perspective, illustrating her internal struggles as the woman who ends up with five husbands, is daughter-in-law to an ambitious mother-in-law, and her attraction to the man who is her husbands’ sworn enemy.
4. Ajaya: Roll of the Dice by Anand Neelakantan
Anand Neelakantan questions the absoluteness of evil, and the perception of right and wrong, hero and villain with two superbly crafted narrations – Roll of the Dice and Rise of Kali, exploring Mahabharata from Duryodhana’s perspective.
5. Karna’s Wife: The Outcast Queen by Kavita Kane
Kavita Kane is known for her works that center around the female protagonists in mythology, be it Sita’s Sister, Menaka’s Choice or Karna’s Wife. Karna’s Wife: The Outcast Queen is by far her most popular work, written from the perspective of Uruvi, the third wife of warrior Karna.
6. The Rise of Hastinapur by Sharath Komarraju
Sharath Komarraju had explored the Mahabharata from the perspective of the women who played a pivotal role in laying the foundation of one of the greatest epics of our times in Winds of Hastinapur. The Rise of Hastinapur takes the story further, again from the perspective of those women who shaped the epic as we know it. Komarraju’s adaptations are a refreshing change from the one by Ved Vyasa, where the role of women is highly marginalized.
7. Parva by S. L. Bhyrappa
Parva is a non-mythological retelling of Mahabharata originally written in Kannada language. Told in the form of personal reflections of the principal characters as everyone prepares for the Great War at Kurukshetra, the novel attempts to analyze the fall of a great kingdom and its people from a rational point of view.
8. Andha Yug by Dharamvir Bharati
Set towards the end of the Great War in Mahabharata, Andha Yug is a five-act play that begins on the last day of the war that devastated the kingdom of Hastinapur and marked the collapse of ethics, morals and humanity. The play was written as an allegory to the degradation of society seen in the years following the partition of India in 1947.
9. Yajnaseni by Pratibha Ray
Yajnaseni, literally meaning a woman born out of fire, is a narration of Mahabharata from Draupadi’s perspective. However, unlike The Palace of Illusions, the tone of Yajnaseni is more submissive, at times to the extent of glorifying the hardships Draupadi endures as proof of her undying and unquestioning devotion to her husbands.
Are there any re-tellings of Mahabharata which you feel should have made it to this list? Let us know in the comments below.
I personally u should add bhima a lone warrior by M T Vasudevan, told from the perspective of bhima, which includes many untold stories.
Second one which I thought u should have to reconsider is Mrityunjaya by Shivaji Sawant…. Told from the perspective of karna.
Ini Njan Urangatte, the Malayalam novel is the trendsetter in retelling epics in the language. The English translation is titled ‘Battle Beyond Kurukshetra: A Mahabharata Novel’. It has also been translated to Kannada, Hindi and Tamil.
The Krishnavatara by K. M. Munshi is a set of seven books beginning with events before Krishna’s birth until his involvement in the affairs of the Pandavas and Kauravas. Gives in prose on many of the events about Krishna and other characters in Hindu puranas as a broad sweep of clans in Northern India. Unfortunately, Munshi was not able to complete his task of covering the War between Pandavas and Kauravas. But still gives an understanding of what possibly happened to the various clans in Northern India before and during Krishna’s time. Printed by Bharata Vidya Bhavan.