The Mahābhārata: an abridged translation

By: John D. Smith

ISBN-13: 9780140446814
ISBN-10: 0140446818
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Published date: 2009
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. It is of immense importance to the culture of the Indian subcontinent, and is a major text of Hinduism. Its discussion of human goals (artha or ‘purpose’, kama or ‘pleasure’, dharma or ‘duty’, and moksha or ‘liberation’) takes place in a long-standing tradition, attempting to explain the relationship of the individual to society and the world (the nature of the ‘Self’) and the workings of karma.