The Mahābhārata of Vyāsa ~ Book XIII The Anuśāsana Parva

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Translator: Pradip BhattacharyaA sample cover of the book: midnight-blue handloom sari with gold embossed nameplate and lettering for the title and author's name.
Pages: 1256
Year of Publication: 2023
Price: Rs 3000
ISBN: 978-81-961291-3-2 (9788196129132)

About the Book

In 1968, Prof. P. Lal began his sloka-by-sloka English transcreation of the full Mahābhārata. After his passing in 2010, his student Pradip Bhattacharya took up the Parvas left unfinished. The last volume, the Anuśāsana Parva, has come out in October. It completes the 18-volume set, which has two distinguishing features: it is the only English translation that incorporates all the variations in Sanskrit editions, including what K. M. Ganguli, M. N. Dutt, Bibek Debroy and others omitted, and the only English translation in verse as in the original, whereas all others translated in prose.

In the Anuśāsana, Bhishma, impaled on his bed of arrows in the battlefield, answers all of Yudhishthira’s questions about the conduct of life.

About the Translator

Pradip Bhattacharya retired from the Indian Administrative Service as Additional Chief Secretary (Development and Planning) to the Government of West Bengal. He trained the All India, Central and State Civil Services for several years, and served in the Government of India and the West Bengal Government. His Ph.D. is on narrative art in the Mahabharata. He established the Directorate of Homeopathy and launched two World Bank projects in West Bengal, advised on computerising official work, drafted the Right to Information Rules for West Bengal, several state Acts, and the Expert Committee Report on Administrative Reforms, and modernised manuals of procedure. He has chaired sessions and read papers in national and international conferences on the Mahabharata. He was on the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, for over 15 years, and on the editorial board of its Journal of Human Values and of MANUSHI. He has authored and edited over 40 books, monographs, comics and papers on public administration, transactional analysis, ancient Indian history, comparative mythology and homeopathy. He has translated into English the rare Jaimini Bharata from the Grantha script for the National Mission for Manuscripts and the first Bengali Mahabharata composed by Kabi Sanjay as a West Bengal Government project, and Camille Bulcke’s magnum opus, The Rama Story: Origins and Growth, for Sahitya Akademi. He can be contacted at kanakpradip@gmail.com.

Extracts

XIII:23:155

Yudhisthira said,

“Many ends and numerous doors has Dharma

say the wise,

What are the sure conclusions about this,

tell me, grandfather!”

XIII:23:156

Bhīsma said,

“Ahimsa, Truth, Non-anger, Non-cruelty

and Self-control,

also Sincerity, Indra of rajas,

are the sure signs of dharma.”

 

An image of the completed set of the Mahabharata Parvas.