Looks like this year is meant for long-term projects. I just completed reading the epic ‘Parva’ by S.L.Bhyrappa. The book spans across 583 pages and I had planned to complete reading it in a month. The deadline was essential because the book is in Kannada and looks very intimidating. I had to read the passages aloud for the first few days just to make sure that I was reading right! However, the book is an absolute delight and I was soon devouring it.
Parva is a realistic interpretation of the epic Kurukshetra war. It explores the possibility of a real historical event sans magic and divine interpretation. Every Indian would have heard of at least some story from the Mahabharata, also known as upakathe. Bedtime tales of enmity between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, the infamous game of dice, Draupadi’s disrobing and subsequent exile of the Pandavas culminating in the great Kurukshetra war has thrilled many kids. However, as we grow up we start to question the credibility of these stories.
This is where Parva shines. Amish Tripathi cannot hold a candle to S.L.Bhyrappa in this department. Parva provides logical explanations for glorified exaggerations. Although I would like to do a separate segment about the theories suggested in Parva, the most important one is seeing Krishna as a demi-god, a mortal raised to divine rank. He is described to be a master strategist and an evolved thinker. Each myth is replaced with a believable speculation of what may have possibly happened.
The book employs one of my favorite approaches to the narrative – diving right in. It starts at a time when preparations are being made for the Kurukshetra war. But the point of view keeps changing with each chapter being shown from a different character’s perspective such as Bhima, Draupadi, Arjuna, Kunti, Bhishma, Karna, Drona, Satyaki, Yuyutsu and so on. Even though each person provides a first person account of his/her past and present, the author brilliantly merges them to provide a whole picture to the user. The book forces us to empathize with each character, even the negative ones. I felt the most for the helpless Draupadi and ended up hating Bhishma.
I am nobody to judge a masterpiece. As a personal opinion, I feel the author could have provided a bit more individuality to the characters by providing them a personal style of speech. Also, I found certain phrases repetitive at times, especially since they appear in back to back sentences. These are just quirks of mine which takes away nothing from the book. To be honest, after reading Parva, I can no longer recall the version I have been hearing until now. However, at the end of the day, Parva too is a retelling of a well-known mythological event but one which caters to the intellectual mind.
Parva is a realistic interpretation of the epic Kurukshetra war. It explores the possibility of a real historical event sans magic and divine interpretation. Every Indian would have heard of at least some story from the Mahabharata, also known as upakathe. Bedtime tales of enmity between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, the infamous game of dice, Draupadi’s disrobing and subsequent exile of the Pandavas culminating in the great Kurukshetra war has thrilled many kids. However, as we grow up we start to question the credibility of these stories.
This is where Parva shines. Amish Tripathi cannot hold a candle to S.L.Bhyrappa in this department. Parva provides logical explanations for glorified exaggerations. Although I would like to do a separate segment about the theories suggested in Parva, the most important one is seeing Krishna as a demi-god, a mortal raised to divine rank. He is described to be a master strategist and an evolved thinker. Each myth is replaced with a believable speculation of what may have possibly happened.
The book employs one of my favorite approaches to the narrative – diving right in. It starts at a time when preparations are being made for the Kurukshetra war. But the point of view keeps changing with each chapter being shown from a different character’s perspective such as Bhima, Draupadi, Arjuna, Kunti, Bhishma, Karna, Drona, Satyaki, Yuyutsu and so on. Even though each person provides a first person account of his/her past and present, the author brilliantly merges them to provide a whole picture to the user. The book forces us to empathize with each character, even the negative ones. I felt the most for the helpless Draupadi and ended up hating Bhishma.
I am nobody to judge a masterpiece. As a personal opinion, I feel the author could have provided a bit more individuality to the characters by providing them a personal style of speech. Also, I found certain phrases repetitive at times, especially since they appear in back to back sentences. These are just quirks of mine which takes away nothing from the book. To be honest, after reading Parva, I can no longer recall the version I have been hearing until now. However, at the end of the day, Parva too is a retelling of a well-known mythological event but one which caters to the intellectual mind.
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