РІР‚СљDone! The very day I was born I made my first mistake, and by that path I have sought wisdom ever since.РІР‚СњР”В«uck began translating the Mahabharata in 1955, the year Allen Ginsberg wrote Howl, and his production seems to reflect a nascent Beat sensibility. Vyasa said, РІР‚СљOn this condition: if you donРІР‚в„ўt understand what I mean, you must write no more until you do.РІР‚Сњ

РІР‚СљРІР‚В¦ and I shall write for you but if once you stop the story, I will leave and never return.РІР‚Сњ РІР‚СљWell just let me get rid of all these things РІР‚В¦РІР‚Сњ He set down the conch shell and the lotus, the discus and axe that he held in his four hands.

Ganesha laughed, and his huge belly shook. Vyasa replied, РІР‚СљDo you not remove all obstacles and barriers? You are the god of thieves and writers. ShivaРІР‚в„ўs son came and asked, РІР‚СљWhy call me?РІР‚Сњ William BuckРІР‚в„ўs Mahabharata is the one I read all the way through and remember most vividly, because itРІР‚в„ўs a colorful, wise and beautiful long tale that begins with the household altercation that resulted in an elephant head being placed on the body of a boy named Ganesha, the son of Shiva, who is noted (in the story that surrounds the story) as the scribe who is writing the text:Р”Р‡or three years Vuasa composed the Mahabharata in his mind, and when it was finished, he summoned Ganesha to be his scribe. Of course the great epic poems had to be condensed and simplified to fit into these forms, but the popular paperbacks provide a rich reading experience that must capture at least some of the significance of their gigantic counterparts. These two books, the life work of a young American translator named William Buck, were designed to be accessible and enjoyable versions of their extremely long and complex originals. This was just a cheap pocket paperback, a novelization of the great poem, published alongside a similar edition of the other great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. This sounds pretty cool, and it reminded me of a different edition of the Ramayana that I once owned myself.

I recently heard about a British Library project to reassemble and digitize a 17th century illustrated edition of the Ramayana, a classical Hindu epic.

Ramayana william buck