After a very long time I decided to post . it is not that I have not been reading. That is quite impossible. But then this book is quite interesting , I would not say unputdownable but something I really wanted to write about.
Jaya - that is the original name for "mahabharata" the epic. For starters I did not know that and I am sure a lot of other people also dont.
What I absolutely liked about the book is the way it picks up stories the interesting , unknown ones from various compilations of mahabharata - the myths in mahabharata kinds (incidentally the other book by this author is Myth = mithya) yet all these stories are told in the chronological order of Mahabharata , and interlinging the various events with the possible causes.
Like Krishna being killed because of a curse by gandhari. So he talks about the curse earlier but then goes back to it when describing krishna's death as to how the curse fructified.
The kauravas all went to heaven while the pandavas have to go to hell, an amazing reason and you have to read this to really understand the true meaning of dharma.
The way the story introduces the Kaliyuga is so amazing that it starkly brings out the difference in the mental make up of the people of different Yugas.
The flow is narrative so it at times gets boring but each is like a two page story you can always stop and start wherever you want.
Do read this if all you have done ever is read abridged translations of mahabharata - it is an eye - opener
