When I picked the book I was totally intrigued by the description given in the cover saying towards the last "God is cursed"
Now how is it possible that God gets cursed!? aren't we the ones who receive the boons and curses from God? Then who dares curse the Almighty. I knew only bits and pieces of the tale. But such a large epic I wasn't sure if I wanted to boggle my head with so many names of Kings and queens and plots. But once I started "Jaya" I just couldn't put it down. Jaya is not the same as the Mahabharatha that many of us has seen as the never ending episodes in Doordarshan TV.And there is a reason to it. Jaya later becomes Mahabharatha as more plots and sub plots enter the storytelling through the years.
Jaya means victory, don't be mistaken that its about the victory of the Battle. It ponders over various social,political and economical issues that we men faced in society and strangely enough face today. Though it was written close to 5000 years back, the amazing fact is that we still face the same issues, ask the same questions even now. How is it possible that an ancient story can contain the answers to our present? The answer lies in the fact that we are beings of flesh and blood, driven by intellect and consumed by ego. Through adventures and small incidents Jaya asks us questions that make us wonder what is right, what is wrong? How do you decide.
The conflict between two families is actually the sideline to the book. The whole story is like a riddle, that makes you go on, still asking questions, still left unanswered until it dawns upon you.Its not about characters or plots. They are just props to make one understand the essence, the fable called life. What makes Man different from Beast. Why does chaos reign in a society built with laws. What is the price one has to pay for their actions. Why are women considered as Goddesses and at the same time pulled down as objects of pleasure. Each question is answered with another riddle. Its human nature to take sides in a conflict, but is it out of a sense of justice or for personal gain that we judge? On what scale do we decide? In most conflicts prejudice gets the better of men, and Man forgets the whole scheme of things and chaos prevails.
We are only aware of "The Mahabharatha" as an ancient epic that tells a story of the war between 2 families,but when does a tale become an epic? Is it its elaborate narration or is it the story? what shocked me most was that the Great Battle on the Kuru Shetra is just a chapter in the whole narration!
Devdutt did an amazing job in staying true to the essence of the book without over whelming the readers with elaborate descriptions of family trees. The little notes that Devdutt has added gives us a perspective to how the story influenced as well as got influenced by people of various times. Its no easy task to compress such an extended epic to the level of normal readers. More than the discourse its the illustrations that show the true creativity of Devdutt.
Now how is it possible that God gets cursed!? aren't we the ones who receive the boons and curses from God? Then who dares curse the Almighty. I knew only bits and pieces of the tale. But such a large epic I wasn't sure if I wanted to boggle my head with so many names of Kings and queens and plots. But once I started "Jaya" I just couldn't put it down. Jaya is not the same as the Mahabharatha that many of us has seen as the never ending episodes in Doordarshan TV.And there is a reason to it. Jaya later becomes Mahabharatha as more plots and sub plots enter the storytelling through the years.
Jaya means victory, don't be mistaken that its about the victory of the Battle. It ponders over various social,political and economical issues that we men faced in society and strangely enough face today. Though it was written close to 5000 years back, the amazing fact is that we still face the same issues, ask the same questions even now. How is it possible that an ancient story can contain the answers to our present? The answer lies in the fact that we are beings of flesh and blood, driven by intellect and consumed by ego. Through adventures and small incidents Jaya asks us questions that make us wonder what is right, what is wrong? How do you decide.
The conflict between two families is actually the sideline to the book. The whole story is like a riddle, that makes you go on, still asking questions, still left unanswered until it dawns upon you.Its not about characters or plots. They are just props to make one understand the essence, the fable called life. What makes Man different from Beast. Why does chaos reign in a society built with laws. What is the price one has to pay for their actions. Why are women considered as Goddesses and at the same time pulled down as objects of pleasure. Each question is answered with another riddle. Its human nature to take sides in a conflict, but is it out of a sense of justice or for personal gain that we judge? On what scale do we decide? In most conflicts prejudice gets the better of men, and Man forgets the whole scheme of things and chaos prevails.
We are only aware of "The Mahabharatha" as an ancient epic that tells a story of the war between 2 families,but when does a tale become an epic? Is it its elaborate narration or is it the story? what shocked me most was that the Great Battle on the Kuru Shetra is just a chapter in the whole narration!
Devdutt did an amazing job in staying true to the essence of the book without over whelming the readers with elaborate descriptions of family trees. The little notes that Devdutt has added gives us a perspective to how the story influenced as well as got influenced by people of various times. Its no easy task to compress such an extended epic to the level of normal readers. More than the discourse its the illustrations that show the true creativity of Devdutt.
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