Ashok Banker
The second in Banker’s MBA (Mahabharata) series. The book quickly moves through the progeny of Bharata, pausing only for characters who have a direct bearing on the final epic war. Kacha – Devayani, Yayati and Puru are such, with the latter also offering lessons on dharma.
The plot then moves on to the story of Shantanu and Ganga, and thus Devavrata, later to be known as Bhishma, after his terrible vow. The last few portions are focused on Shantanu’s second wife Satyavati and their offspring, and the continuation of the dynasty by Vyasa.
Unlike the first book, the deviations from the central narrative are very few here, and the book is almost linear in approach. Also, except for a couple of occasions, Banker keeps his affection for prose on a tight rein. His efforts in providing a logic to what might be considered ‘celestial weapons’ by other authors, are commendable. The story moves really quickly and sometimes I wondered whether some back story had been skipped, though the author has maintained that he has changed nothing from the original.
One major irritation I had with this book was the number of spelling errors. It was almost as though the proofreader became really lazy, and that is really sad, because this is probably a work that will last a few generations, since it is relatively more mainstream and the other versions are more abridged ones. In that sense, this would serve as a reference – one with a few mistakes!
