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A review by spacestationtrustfund
Mahabharata by C. Rajagopalachari
1.0
This review is of the translation by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari.
This is an abridged translation (under 500 pages) of the complete Mahabharata epic, translated by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. This translation is decently readable, but not great; Rajaji was a politician, not a poet, and it really shows. I wouldn't recommend this version.
There are a lot of versions of the Mahabharata, unabridged or abridged or even more abridged, translated into various languages, in prose or in countless types of verse. (There's a lot of versions in Sanskrit as well.) Here are some of the English translations I've read: a two-volume novelisation by Ramesh Menon, The Mahabharata: A Modern Rendering, as well as a ten-volume version in prose, The Complete Mahabharata; an abridged (~900 pages) Penguin Classics version in prose, translated by John D. Smith, The Mahabharata; a very abridged (~200 pages) version by R.K. Narayan, The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic; an abridged version of the tenth book, translated by William J. Johnson, The Sauptikaparvan of the Mahabharata: The Massacre at Night; an abridged (~900 pages) but comprehensive retelling by Carole Satyamurti, Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling.
Personally I'd recommend Menon's prose version, which I've found is quite accurate to the story, if not the poetic aspect. For a complete translation of the actual Mahabharata into English, there's really only one choice: a translation by Kisari Mohan Ganguli, published between 1883 and 1896 (available in various sources online). (There's also a very good version translated by Bibek Debroy, The Mahabharata, 1-10.)
This is an abridged translation (under 500 pages) of the complete Mahabharata epic, translated by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. This translation is decently readable, but not great; Rajaji was a politician, not a poet, and it really shows. I wouldn't recommend this version.
There are a lot of versions of the Mahabharata, unabridged or abridged or even more abridged, translated into various languages, in prose or in countless types of verse. (There's a lot of versions in Sanskrit as well.) Here are some of the English translations I've read: a two-volume novelisation by Ramesh Menon, The Mahabharata: A Modern Rendering, as well as a ten-volume version in prose, The Complete Mahabharata; an abridged (~900 pages) Penguin Classics version in prose, translated by John D. Smith, The Mahabharata; a very abridged (~200 pages) version by R.K. Narayan, The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic; an abridged version of the tenth book, translated by William J. Johnson, The Sauptikaparvan of the Mahabharata: The Massacre at Night; an abridged (~900 pages) but comprehensive retelling by Carole Satyamurti, Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling.
Personally I'd recommend Menon's prose version, which I've found is quite accurate to the story, if not the poetic aspect. For a complete translation of the actual Mahabharata into English, there's really only one choice: a translation by Kisari Mohan Ganguli, published between 1883 and 1896 (available in various sources online). (There's also a very good version translated by Bibek Debroy, The Mahabharata, 1-10.)