Description:
The Pándavas believe they have completed the terms of their exile, though Duryódhana claims that they did not live unknown for the full thirteenth year, since Árjuna was recognized in the battle at the end of the preceding book, Viráta. While the Pándavas and Kurus make their preparations for war they organize a series of embassies to negotiate peace. This volume constantly highlights the inevitability of conflict and the futility of negotiation. Most characters are concerned that war between family cannot fail to be sinful. Contained herein is the "Sanat-sujatíya," a philosophical passage to rival the "Bhagavad-gita." Like the "Bhagavad-gita," the "Sanat-sujatíya" tells that karma will not chain one in the cycle of rebirth, if one refrains from desire. Through understanding the truth of non-duality, that the world is mere illusion, one is subsumed into eternal existence with Brahman.
Co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation
For more on this title and other titles in the Clay Sanskrit series, please visit http: //www.claysanskritlibrary.org
Brief description: Kathleen Garbutt translates and edits Sanskrit literature full time for the JJC Foundation, co-publishers (with NYU Press) of the Clay Sanskrit Library.
Review Quotes: "No effort has been spared to make these little volumes as attractive as possible to readers: the paper is of high quality, the typesetting immaculate. The founders of the series are John and Jennifer Clay, and Sanskritists can only thank them for an initiative intended to make the classics of an ancient Indian language accessible to a modern international audience."-- "The Times Higher Education Supplement"