Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of Mahabharata by Devdutt Pattanaik

Genre: Mythology

Rating: 2.5 stars

“Human memory is short, and history always repeats itself.”

Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of Mahabharata was my third attempt at reading and enjoying Devdutt Pattanaik’s writing, and this time I decided to jump into one of my favourite stories of all time. Ever since I received a version of the Mahabharata for children, despite how inappropriate the epic really is in many ways for younger readers, from my grandparents, the mythological epic has intrigued me. As an adult, I have sought out every retelling of the story there is with an expectation that it will meet up to the fascination of the first retelling that I had read. While some manage to do that, others fail miserably, and this retelling fell somewhere in the middle.

As many have pointed out over the years, Mahabharata is a story that covers every aspect of human life and is an exceptional study of politics, gender narratives and warfare. The epic has several plot lines and an extensive cast of characters and spans generations of the Kuru clan. This was Pattanaik’s attempt to give that story in a more digestible form, as I have realised he is prone to do in all his works. What I appreciated about the book were the details he mentioned about the origins of the story and his choice of name for this particular retelling. He divides the story into sections as Vaisampayana narrates the story to Janamejaya, and that adds an extra layer to the narrative.

“Through Karna, Vyasa reiterates that our knowledge of the world is imperfect based on perceptions and false information. We are surrounded by Kuntis who hide the truth in fear. We are surrounded by Karnas, villains who are actually brothers.”

As always, Pattanaik’s grey boxes annoyed me beyond belief but by now, I have learned to only take what is interesting from them, his discussions on the versions of Mahabharata that exist in folk tales and oral histories, and leave out the rest. He does not rely solely on the Sanskrit version of the story; instead, bringing in new aspects from different languages and regions of the country, and that is an interesting addition. He also attempts to explain the conversation that takes place between Krishna and Arjuna, which is known to us as the Bhagavad Gita. While it may be a good way to introduce readers to the concepts explored in a simpler language, for someone who has read other versions or already has a basic knowledge of it, Pattanaik’s version does not add much.

Where this retelling fell short was the manner in which the story is narrated. The short chapters that read almost like essays or disjointed short stories left me feeling slightly disappointed at the end. There is very little exploration of the motivations and personalities of the different characters, and even the fantastical charm of the more whimsical parts of the story is missing. Even after exploring all the branches and subplots of the story, Jaya failed to match the magic and epic (pun intended) proportions of the original story. After previous experiences with Pattanaik’s writing, I was surprised to find myself enjoying this book in many places, however, I have read better versions of the story and hope to find many more of them in the future.

“Dharma is not about justice; it is about empathy and wisdom. Dharma is not about defeating others; it is about conquering ourselves. Everybody wins in dharma.”