Mahabharata Book Four: Viráta (Clay Sanskrit Library, 49) - Hardcover

Vyasa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 081473183X ISBN 13: 9780814731833

Publisher: Clay Sanskrit, 2007

Synopsis

The Book of Viráta details the Pándavas’ 13th year in exile, when they live disguised in King Viráta's court. They suffer the humiliation of becoming servants; a topic explored both through comedy and pathos. Having maintained their disguise until the very end of the year, then their troubles really begin. Bhima is forced to come to Dráupadi's rescue when King Viráta's general, Kíchaka, sets his sights on her. Duryódhana and the Tri·gartas decide to invade the defeated Viráta's kingdom, unaware the Pándavas are hidden there. In the ensuing battles the Pándavas play a crucial role, save Viráta and reveal their true identities. The book ends in celebration, with the Pándavas ready to return from exile and reclaim their kingdom. However, the battles in “Viráta” foreshadow the war to come, proving it will not be easy.
Co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation
For more on this title and other titles in the Clay Sanskrit series, please visit http://www.claysanskritlibrary.org

About this title

About the Author:

Kathleen Garbutt translates and edits Sanskrit literature full time for the JJC Foundation, co-publishers (with NYU Press) of the Clay Sanskrit Library.

Review:

"The books line up on my shelf like bright Bodhisattvas ready to take tough questions or keep quiet company. They stake out a vast territory, with works from two millennia in multiple genres: aphorism, lyric, epic, theater, and romance." (Willis G. Regier The Chronicle Review)

"Published in the geek-chic format." (BookForum)

"The Clay Sanskrit Library represents one of the most admirable publishing projects now afoot. . . . Anyone who loves the look and feel and heft of books will delight in these elegant little volumes." (New Criterion)

"Very few collections of Sanskrit deep enough for research are housed anywhere in North America. Now, twenty-five hundred years after the death of Shakyamuni Buddha, the ambitious Clay Sanskrit Library may remedy this state of affairs." (Tricycle)

"No effort has been spared to make these little volumes as attractive as possible to readers: the paper is of high quality, the typesetting immaculate. The founders of the series are John and Jennifer Clay, and Sanskritists can only thank them for an initiative intended to make the classics of an ancient Indian language accessible to a modern international audience." (The Times Higher Education Supplement)

About this edition

• Publisher: Clay Sanskrit
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 081473183X
• ISBN 13: 9780814731833
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 516