Ramesh Menon

Vālmīki

The grand Indian epic is translated into lively, vivid English prose in an attempt to bring the great story to life for modern American readers. Reprint.

A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic

The Ramayana

The Mahabharata is the more recent of India's two great epics, and by far the longer. First composed by the Maharishi Vyasa in verse, it has come down the centuries in the timeless oral tradition of guru and sishya, profoundly influencing the history, culture, and art of not only the Indian subcontinent but most of south-east Asia. At 100,000 couplets, it is seven times as long as the Iliad and the Odyssey combined: far and away the greatest recorded epic known to man. The Mahabharata is the very Book of Life: in its variety, majesty and, also, in its violence and tragedy. It has been said that nothing exists that cannot be found within the pages of this awesome legend. The epic describes a great war of some 5000 years ago, and the events that led to it. The war on Kurukshetra sees ten million warriors slain, brings the dwapara yuga to an end, and ushers in a new and sinister age: this present kali yuga, modern times. At the heart of the Mahabharata nestles the Bhagavad Gita, the Song of God. Senayor ubhayor madhye, between two teeming armies, Krishna expounds the eternal dharma to his warrior of light, Arjuna. At one level, all the restless action of the Mahabharata is a quest for the Gita and its sacred stillness. After the carnage, it is the Gita that survives, immortal lotus floating upon the dark waters of desolation: the final secret! With its magnificent cast of characters, human, demonic, and divine, and its riveting narrative, the Mahabharata continues to enchant readers and scholars the world over. This new rendering brings the epic to the contemporary reader in sparkling modern prose. It brings alive all the excitement, magic, and grandeur of the original-for our times.

A Modern Rendering

The Mahabharata

Volume Two tells the story of the Great War, and of how Ravana was vanquished by the great Rama with imagination, power and beauty. Modern scholars claim that the Ramayana was first composed around 300 BC. The epic is called the Adi Kavya, the world's first poem. Ramesh Menon's The Ramayana is a novelist's lush, imaginative rendering, rather than a scholar's translation.

The Ramayana: A Modern Translation

The Mahabharata is the more recent of India's two great epics, and by far the longer. First composed by the Maharishi Vyasa in verse, it has come down the centuries in the timeless oral tradition of guru and sishya, profoundly influencing the history, culture, and art of not only the Indian subcontinent but most of south-east Asia. At 100,000 couplets, it is seven times as long as the Iliad and the Odyssey combined: far and away the greatest recorded epic known to man. The Mahabharata is the very Book of Life: in its variety, majesty and, also, in its violence and tragedy. It has been said that nothing exists that cannot be found within the pages of this awesome legend. The epic describes a great war of some 5000 years ago, and the events that led to it. The war on Kurukshetra sees ten million warriors slain, brings the dwapara yuga to an end, and ushers in a new and sinister age: this present kali yuga, modern times. At the heart of the Mahabharata nestles the Bhagavad Gita, the Song of God. Senayor ubhayor madhye, between two teeming armies, Krishna expounds the eternal dharma to his warrior of light, Arjuna. At one level, all the restless action of the Mahabharata is a quest for the Gita and its sacred stillness. After the carnage, it is the Gita that survives, immortal lotus floating upon the dark waters of desolation: the final secret! With its magnificent cast of characters, human, demonic, and divine, and its riveting narrative, the Mahabharata continues to enchant readers and scholars the world over. This new rendering brings the epic to the contemporary reader in sparkling modern prose. It brings alive all the excitement, magic, and grandeur of the original - for our times.

Even after he has composed the awesome Mahabharata, the Maharishi Vyasa finds no peace. Narada Muni says to him, Ordinary men will be delighted by your work, but what about the Sages of heaven and earth? You have described the human life, its strife and its ends, but you have not yet described the Lord himself. You must turn your great gift to that task; only then will you find peace. Veda Vyasa composes the Bhagavata Purana, in eighteen thousand slokas and twelve kandas. He teaches it to his illumined son Suka, who narrates the Secret Purana to Yudhishtira s heir, King Parikshit, on the banks of the Ganga. The Bhagavata Purana is a living embodiment of the Lord Narayana and claims to bestow moksha merely by being heard. Just before Krishna, the Avatara, leaves the world, Uddhava says to him, leave us a tangible form, Lord, in which we can find you, touch you, and be near you. Krishna enters the Bhagavata Purana with all of his being. This book is a full literary rendering of the Bhagavata Purana, bringing all the wonder, wisdom and grace of the Book of God to the modern reader.

Bhagavata Purana

Blue God opens on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, where the Pandava warrior, Arjuna, suffers a crisis of courage. His charioteer, Krishna, expounds the eternal dharma for him. This exposition between two armies is the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu’s Bible. BLUE GOD cuts back to Krishna’s birth, and back again to the battlefield, and so on, chapter by chapter, until both narratives flow together near the book’s end. Never before have Krishna’s sacred Gita and his colorful personality and life been put together in the same book, certainly not in English by a modern novelist for a modern audience.

Blue God

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the two great epics of India, the Mahabharata being by far the longer. Both were first composed in verse and, coming down the centuries in the ancient oral tradition, have deeply influenced the history, culture and arts of not only the Indian subcontinent but of most of South-East Asia. The Mahabharata tells of a Great War, and the events that lead upto it. The original Mahabharata in Sankrit is an epic poem of 100,000 couplets seven times as long as the Iliad and the Odyssey together.

The Siva Purana Retold

Siva

The Devi Bhagavatam is said to have been composed in Bengal in the sixth century CE, in twelve Parvas and 18,000 slokas. The text is only available in Bengali, with Hindi commentaries. It is replete with references to and legends from an obviously pre-Vedic religion of the Goddess. The Devi Bhagavatam is a Shakta Purana. It is for the Shakta what the Bhagavata Purana is for the Vaishnava: his or her most sacred book. The Shaktas worship Shakti, the Eternal Feminine, in all her forms. Devi is Kali and Durga; she is Saraswati, Mahalakshmi and Parvati; she is Sati, Sita and Radha. She is the Mother of the Universe; without her animating power, Shiva becomes shava, a corpse. This book is an abridged literary rendering of the Devi Bhagavatam. It retells all the major legends of the Goddess, as well as some other, less known tales.

The Devi Bhagavatam Retold

Devi

The Complete Mahabharata: pt. 1. Sabha parva and Vana parva

The Hunt for K

Most of us lead careless lifestyles that keep adding to environmental pollution. Carbon Footprint: reducing it for a better tomorrow takes an in-depth and critical look at our day-to-day activities: food habits, lifestyle, or mode of transport. It offers solutions and measures to reduce our carbon footprint to make our homes energy-efficient, recycle waste, reduce greenhouse gases, or gain from the benefits of using renewable energy. Follow 101 easy ways to refashion our lifestyles and emerge as "green" citizens. About the Author: Ramesh Menon is an author, journalist, documentary fi lmmaker, and corporate trainer. He is sensitive about environmental issues and writes on them extensively. At present, he is freelancing for numerous newspapers, magazines, and websites.

Reducing It for a Better Tomorrow

Carbon Footprint

Dwarkadas K Baheti

H Snehalata Dhayagude

K Jayant Deshpande

Part of the World Clinics: Anesthesia, Critical Care & Pain - Pediatric Anesthesia series, this book presents evidence-based reviews on topics in paediatric anaesthesia, to provide practitioners and trainees with an up to date understanding of the subject. Beginning with articles on anaesthesia used for different surgical procedures, the following sections discuss challenges in anaesthesia for thoracic surgery in infants and perioperative care for neonatal emergencies. Further topics include perioperative complications of anaesthesia in children, neurotoxicity of anaesthesia on the developing brain, and ethical issues. Each article is supplemented by editors’ comments highlighting their own personal, clinical experience. Key points Part of the World Clinics: Anesthesia, Critical Care & Pain – Pediatric Anesthesia series Presents evidence-based reviews of latest advances and thinking in the field Each article supplemented by editors’ comments based on clinical experience

Volume 3, Number 1

World Clinics Anesthesia, Critical Care & Pain: Pediatric Anesthesia-II

Blue God opens on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, where the Pandava warrior, Arjuna, suffers a crisis of courage. His charioteer, Krishna, expounds the eternal dharma for him. This exposition between two armies is the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindus Bible. BLUE GOD cuts back to Krishnas birth, and back again to the battlefield, and so on, chapter by chapter, until both narratives flow together near the books end. Never before have Krishnas sacred Gita and his colorful personality and life been put together in the same book, certainly not in English by a modern novelist for a modern audience.

A Life of Krishna

There are eighteen Mahapuranas, great Puranas, and the Siva Purana is one of them. Siva is a vivid retelling of the Siva Purana for today's reader. The book contains all the major legends of Siva, bringing them alive again for a new generation.

THE MAHABHARATA

Sanskrit text with English verse translation.

Srimad Bhagavad Gita

Ramesh

A Modern Translation

The Ramayana is certainly one of the world's oldest legends.Modern scholars claim that it was first composed around 300 BC.The devout hindu believes that Rama lived many hundred millenia ago,in the treta yuga, and that was also when the Valmiki first told his immortal story.The epic is called the Adi Kavya,the world's first poem.The God Brahma himself is meant to have inspired Valmiki to creat his classics,in twenty-four thousand slokas. The sages of India have always said that thye true purpose of the Ramayana is to awaken its reader spiritually, and to send him forth on the great journey that leads to moksha,to God. These masters of old held that listening to the Ramayana washes one's sins and purifies the body and the mind. They also believed that hearing or reading the epic with faith will give a man anything at all that his heart desires. Besides,the legend is a literary masterpiece in every sense,full of enchantment,mystery and wisdom. Hardly a handful of books in any language, from any age or part of the world, can be compared to it. The epic came through the mists of time in the ancient oral tradition of guru and shishya, before it was first written down. Alonng the way, surely, numberless variations and embellishments were introduces into it by a host of now forgotten rishis, pauranikas, and even grandmothers telling Rama's story to their grandchindren- in so many different languages and folk traditions. There is also a comparatively recent traditions of retelling the Ramayana in English, to which this volume belongs. Though he takes no liberties with the story, Ramesh menon's Ramayana is a novelist's lush, imaginative rendering of the epic, rather than a scholar's translation. Yet, even if the language he uses is modern and exciting, his book remains, first and last, a work of worship, of bhakti. As he wrote and rewrote it for ten years, this was his offering to Rama.

Ramesh Menon

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