I just finished reading Volume 1 of the MahÄbhÄrata known as the “Adi Parva“. MahÄbhÄrata is one of the two greatest epics of India, the other being Ramayana. The epic has Eighteen Volumes, each of about 300 pages of Sanskrit Poetry. The english translation I am reading is about 850 pages in length.
As most of my friends I have spent a lot of my childhood listening, reading and watching stories from the MahÄbhÄrata. I remember waking up early on Sundays when I was a kid to watch an hour of the TV adaptation of the book (That TV show apparently holds the record for the most watched show ever!). The characters from the book, let it be the famous Arjuna or the divine Krishna or the giving Karna or the brave Abhimanyu or even the cunning Shakuni, were characters we knew even as kids. We grew up hearing their stories and understanding their greatness. In every sense, MahÄbhÄrata has been and will always be a huge part of me.