To narrate the long and involved story of the Mahābhārata in about 180 pages without giving the reader the impression that a bare skeleton is being presented is no mean achievement. Mr. Narayan has certainly succeeded in [The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic]…. His narration proceeds at a comfortable pace and is enlivened by the short, simple dialogues he introduces at appropriate places. The adjectives "shortened," "modern" and "prose," appearing in the sub-title of his book, are fully justified. However, there are some difficulties which arise from the desire to present a modern version. One who seeks to do so is frequently uncomfortable with the mysterious and the miraculous elements in the original story. There is often an urge to make events follow each other logically, to gloss over the problematic turns in the original, to assign rational motives to characters, and...