Sons of Gods: The Mahabharata

Definitely. As far as irrational religious fairy-tales are concerned, the Mahabharata out-fantasizes the Bible by legions. Lord Vishnu lying on an Ocean of Milk with God Brahma sitting on a lotus growing out of his navel? Check. Magical beings who can change shape at will? Check. Superheroes who ascend to heaven in silver chariots and gain command over super-weapons more deadly than the atom bomb? Check. It’s all in there. If this is the book Hindus hold most dear then obviously, any self-respecting atheist should shun it; or at the very least, read it only to mock. As someone who has lived, moved and breathed in this religion for almost 40 years, I’m often frustrated by the clichés and presumptions with which many Westerners—atheists and non-atheists alike—tend to summarise and dismiss Hinduism -- or rather, as I prefer to call it, the Sanatana Dharma. Ask the average Westerner for a word association, and you’ll get trite answers such as “caste system” and “holy cow” and “millions...

In Sons of Gods I’ve generally avoided Sanskrit terms. One of the exceptions, however, is the untranslatable word dharma ; a concept that simply does not exist in the West. Put simply, dharma is a composite of many concepts. It includes the idea of duty, righteousness, right action and inner attitude; and yet it is more than the sum of these parts. To act within dharma is to do the right thing, right now, taking into consideration all aspects of that action, past, present and future, as well as individual temperament and needs, and the needs of others affected by that action; and to do it free of anger, resentment or greed. The Indian mind, for a Westerner, is complicated. There is no "right" and "wrong"; everything is subjective, yet not in the modern, Western sense, which centres on the fulfilment one’s own needs and desires as long as they don’t infringe on the well-being of others. Dharma is not about doing whatever you want, or fulfilling your own desi...

Recently a friend asked me why I had done this; why rewrite a work that already has so many versions out there? What, if anything, makes this English Mahabharata different? Playing devil's advocate, she asked: surely it's idle vanity to put yet a new edition into the mix -- with a new author and even a new title? (image: Karna's chariot wheel sinks into the earth.) I'll answer the first question first, and give you a task: look up any current edition of the Mahabharata and seek a synopsis of the story. Inevitably you will find some version of the following: "The Mahabharata is the story of a family feud in ancient India, culminating in a terrible war. The five Pandava brothers, under the protection of Krishna, an Incarnation of God, have been cheated of the kingdom that is rightly theirs, and must fight not only to win it back but to reestablish righteousness in the world. " And that is, indeed, the core story in a nutshell. But it's no...

When the good guys play dirty. .. Photo: from the movie The Mahabharata , directed by Peter Brook Here, now, are the Rules of Engagement for the Kurukshetra War; they appear on page 257 of Sons of Gods: 1. Fighting must not begin before sunrise, and not continue after sunset. 2. Multiple warriors may not attack a single warrior. 3. Two warriors may duel only if they carry the same weapons and they are on equal standing, that is, unmounted, or on the same mount: a horse, an elephant, or a chariot. 4. The rules specific to each weapon must be followed; for instance, in mace warfare it is prohibited to strike below the waist. 5. No warrior may injure or kill a warrior who has surrendered; one who has surrendered becomes a prisoner of war, subject to protection through his enemy. 6. The lives of women and farmers are sacred; they must never be attacked or hurt. 7. No warrior may kill or injure an unarmed warrior, or an unconscious warrior, or a person or animal ...

I was in London last week and took the opportunity to visit Watkin's Spiritual Bookshop in Cecil Place, just off Charing Cross Road. I was looking for a copy of Kamala Subramaniam's Mahabharata . I felt I need to own this book; after all, it was my own inspiration, so many years ago, and to it I owe the planting of the Mahabharata seed in my mind, a seed that has sprouted and grown throughout the years. Back then, I had borrowed the book from an ashram library in India. I borrowed it again and again throughout that year, read it over and over till I knew it almost by heart. So, I ought to buy it. Own it. There's a second reason I needed to have that book. Though I know that I wrote Sons of Gods from my own memory, without a reference book open to help me, I was afraid that, just maybe, some of the words from my source might have buried themselves into my unconscious and emerged just as they were. To the onlooker, that might be interpreted as plagiarism. After all, I...

I'm just back from a four-day trip to the UK. While there I read through Sons of Gods once more on my Kindle and found hundreds of things to improve. I bookmarked them all diligently and planned to make the changes on my PC early this morning (Sunday). So there I was at 6 am all ready and rearing to go and..... WHAT?????!!!!!! My Kindle screen is only half visible. There's a small dent in it! I can't read a thing! I had brought it back from London in my backpack and it must have been damaged on the way. First thing I did was order a new Kindle, but then I cancelled the order because I heard that Amazon's Customer Service is .... rather generous. I called them at 7 am (on a Sunday!) and told them what had happened. Immediately they agreed to replace it, free of charge; all I have to do is return the damaged Kindle. So: Thank you, Amazon! I have, however, lost all those bookmarks. I'll have to read the whole thing again and hopefully re-discover all the d...