Mahabharata, which version to start with?

[realdemigod]

Namaste,
I want to start reading Mahabharata and I have with me the following versions:



Andhra Mahabharatam by TTD (Telugu)
The Mahabharata by Pratap Chandra Roy (English)
The Mahabharata by Kisari Mohan Ganguli (English)


Unfortunately, all of them are in digital format.

I would like to know the personal experience of reading Mahabharata. Which version you prefer and why?

Thanks

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté



Namaste,
I want to start reading Mahabharata and I have with me the following versions:



Andhra Mahabharatam by TTD (Telugu)
The Mahabharata by Pratap Chandra Roy (English)
The Mahabharata by Kisari Mohan Ganguli (English)


Unfortunately, all of them are in digital format. I would like to know the personal experience of reading Mahabharata. Which version you prefer and why?
Thanks
I have read the Mahabharata by Kisari Mohan Ganguli (English)... the good news it is complete. Yet one must be mindful of the deeper significance that is behind all this work. This is not pointed out in these books. How I broached this problem ( as I saw it) :

I read an appended version of the mahabharata by C.Rajagopalachari , all 18 chapters compressed into 444 pages.
I then read the Mahabharata by Kisari Mohan Ganguli (English) infull ( this in and of it self took some time and patience)
Then I read The Mystery of the Mahabharata by N.V. Thadani ( a 5 volume set) to get multiple insights.


So, the approach was to get the lay of the land of this great work, then read the mahabharata, then better understand the insights and themes behind the story.
This approach is not for every one. If you just read the book and look at it literally, it is like looking at an ice-berg and not recognizing that 80% of this object lies beneath the surface. The mahabharata ( mahābhārata) is no different.

https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAKIAAAAJGY2ZjVmMTE0LThkZmMtNGJlNC1iZjA5LWY1YzE4MzFmNDBlYw.jpg


इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

[realdemigod]

Namaste yajvan ji,
Thank you very much for your suggestion. But don't you think reading C.Rajagopalachari's Mahabharata first would give out spoilers. I understand that Mahabharata is a well known epic among Indians but there are so many characters and incidents which many people don't know that exist in the epic.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

I looked at this work a bit differently...the chāndogya upaniṣad (7.1.2) calls out, itihāsapurāṇaṃ pañcamaṃ vedānāṃ . It reads like this ; nārada-ji is speaking to sanatkumāra-ji, Revered sir I have learned the ṛgveda, yajurveda, samāveda, the atharvaveda the 4th, the itihāsa-s and purāṇa-s as the 5th veda, etc. etc.

The mahābhārata is classified as itihāsa (history) , and hence nārada's reference to it as the 5th. Hence my orientation supported by this upaniṣad and found in the mahābhārata, as the 5th veda.

More can be read here on HDF: http://hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?1882-The-5th-Veda-Mahabharata & http://hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?6446-Symbols-of-the-mah%C4%81bh%C4%81rata


इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

[realdemigod]

Namaste yajvanji,
Got your point, thanks. And thanks for the link.