Best and Worst Book on Mahabharata? - Page 3

Originally posted by: AnkitaPurka66

I don't know... I skimmed actually.. it didn't feel like Mahabharata at all. I felt like someone tried to write a modern political drama.

Krishna is sort of like a very calculative political person.

Pandavas are born of Brahmins who want to establish the Brahmanical order by removing the current reigning clan.

Ekalavya is an untouchable or has very lower strata in the society.

Suyodhana is a rebel and wants to remove casteism.

The elders of Hastinapur are very traditional in maintaining caste order and Suyodhana resents it.

He falls in love with Subhadra at a very young age and there is description of the couple first meet, Duryodhana having thoughts of her, dreams of her etc etc😆

Of course, then there is the bird test where poor Suyodhana does not want to kill a bird 🤣

I don't remember anything else

OMG. This is way too much. Duryodhan loved Subhadra?? But what age did he fall for her? Considering normal Mahabharata age system, she wasn't born till Krishna killed Kans and released his parents, so she has to be at least 11.5 years younger to Krishna or at least 12.5 years younger to Duryodhan.

I am sure that mahaan Suyodhan wasn't a pedophile that he would have have fallen for a 8 year old child. So I guess he has to be at least 21 when he fell for her.??

I don't remember anything vividly. I skimmed through the book.

All i remember is the meeting. She was not a child though. It was proper teenage romance🤣

I don't remember if she reciprocated.

Therefore, creative liberties were taken with again and timelines too.

Originally posted by: Eloquent

I have read Palace of illusions, Ashok Bankar's MBH, Draupadi by Saiswaroopa Iyer, Aryavarta chronicles.

PoI has good language & exquisite description of Sakha sakhi relation. But little else. The Karna bits were vomit worthy.

Yuganta by Irawati Karwe is a revelation. Very sharp and crisp. She has roasted major characters in an apt way.

Sai Swaroopa Iyer's Draupadi is ok. The author seems to be well researched and does not fall into the Karna glorification trap. Aryavarta chronicles is good. Ashok Bankar's MBH is his own fanfictional world and is weird.

Never touched Karna's wife due to obvious reasons. Also Kavita Kane always denigrates Draupadi. Have recently read Ahalya in which she has used Draupadi was reincarnation of Nalayani (wife of Rishi Mudgala). She has made the Nalayani character as quite stupid, selfish, one dimensional.

Mrityunjaya : had started reading it. Again language is exquisite but some of the fiction about Karna comes from this book.

Recently downloaded Krishna's sister & Draupadi (new author - Vamshi Krishna) - couldn't read beyond few pages as language is pathetic.

Evading the shadows by Rajesh M. Iyer is an enjoyable spy thriller set during the Pandavas agyaatvaas in Virat kingdom.

Have also enjoyed reading Bhimsen by Prem Panicker which is his take/English translation on MT Vasudevan's book on Bhima's POV. It's quite good to read.

Want to read Sairandhri by Naresh Kohli.

Great. I would like to read Evading the Shadows then.

How's Draupadi by Saiswaroopa Iyer? Heard alot about this

Originally posted by: CaptainSpark

Great. I would like to read Evading the Shadows then.

How's Draupadi by Saiswaroopa Iyer? Heard alot about this

Saiswaroopa's book is good. She could have added some more chapters...it feels as if it ends too soon without going through all the details.

But research wise, its good. And she doesn't fall into the prey of glorifying you know who.

Originally posted by: Eloquent

Saiswaroopa's book is good. She could have added some more chapters...it feels as if it ends too soon without going through all the details.

But research wise, its good. And she doesn't fall into the prey of glorifying you know who.

So you mean she was true to the epic? That is great I would definitely read. ❤️

Worst is Palace of Illusions. Oh god, I hated this book. Couldn't read beyong Pandav- panchali marriage and their welcome back. Till then only, they have glorified Karna to god status, perfect man etc etc. I straight went to last page where after death draupadi , Krishna and karna were shown going together to heaven or watever that was. I threw the book away and forever. After that I stopped reading Mahabharat books. It is a mental blockage POI gave me that I have not been able to remove till now.

Also I got to know that many new writers put Duryodhan on pedestal of lower caste saviour. This alone put me off from reading any recent Mahabharat book.

Originally posted by: AnkitaPurka66

I don't remember anything vividly. I skimmed through the book.

All i remember is the meeting. She was not a child though. It was proper teenage romance🤣

I don't remember if she reciprocated.

Therefore, creative liberties were taken with again and timelines too.

@bold

OMG 😲😆

I can't believe the story of D and Subhy loving each other.. 😆

Originally posted by: Padfoot_Prongs

Worst is Palace of Illusions. Oh god, I hated this book. Couldn't read beyong Pandav- panchali marriage and their welcome back. Till then only, they have glorified Karna to god status, perfect man etc etc. I straight went to last page where after death draupadi , Krishna and karna were shown going together to heaven or watever that was. I threw the book away and forever. After that I stopped reading Mahabharat books. It is a mental blockage POI gave me that I have not been able to remove till now.

Also I got to know that many new writers put Duryodhan on pedestal of lower caste saviour. This alone put me off from reading any recent Mahabharat book.

As @hearmeroar pointed out earlier in the thread, Palace of Illusions is a case of making the survivor fall in love with an assaulter. It is puke worthy. Also, Draupadi is a nagging woman there who can think of nothing but Karn Arjun Yudhishthir bla bla bla. Her strength was ignored completely

Also another book i think is worth reading is - Ms drapaudi Kuru after the pandavas by trisha das.

Originally posted by: Padfoot_Prongs

Worst is Palace of Illusions. Oh god, I hated this book. Couldn't read beyong Pandav- panchali marriage and their welcome back. Till then only, they have glorified Karna to god status, perfect man etc etc. I straight went to last page where after death draupadi , Krishna and karna were shown going together to heaven or watever that was. I threw the book away and forever. After that I stopped reading Mahabharat books. It is a mental blockage POI gave me that I have not been able to remove till now.

Also I got to know that many new writers put Duryodhan on pedestal of lower caste saviour. This alone put me off from reading any recent Mahabharat book.

The only thing good about palace of Illusions is the writing quality. It paints a very vivid picture but the content was well, we all have agreed on that.

Duryodhana as a protagonist has started based on the fact that there is a temple on him.

Actually, when I heard about this book, I thought the concept was interesting - to see his version. What I didn't sign up for was a fanfiction.😆

Your signature, btw, is interesting.