Mahabharata
Page 83
varnas [English plural; singular: var·na, SU; var·na, HL]: social categories; precursors of caste divisions
Varuna [Va·ru·na, SUU; va·ru·na, LLL]: god of the waters; one of the world guardians
Vasus [English plural; singular: Va·su, SU; LL]: eight celestial beings born as mortals; Bhishma is an incarnation of the eighth
Vasudeva [Va·su·de·va, UUSU; LLHL]: Krishna’s father
Vasudeva [Vaa·su·de·va, SUSU; HLHL]: “son of Vasudeva,” one of Krishna’s names
Vasuki [Vaa·su·ki, SUU; HLL]: Naga king
Vayu [Vaa·yu, SU; HL]: god of the wind; Bhima’s father
Vedas [English plural; singular: Ve·da, SU; HL]: the most holy scriptures, orally transmitted by brahmins
Vibhishana [Vi·bhee·sha·na, USUU; vi·bhī·sha·na, LHLL]: king of Lanka
Vichitravirya [Vi·chi·tra·veer·ya, USUSU; LHLHL]: son of Shantanu and Satyavati
Vidura [Vi·du·ra, SUU; LLL]: son of Vyasa by a maidservant; brother of Dhritarashtra and Pandu
Vikarna [Vi·kar·na, USU; vi·kar·na, LHL]: son of Dhritarashtra
Virata [Vi·raa·ta, USU; vi·rā·ta, LHL]: king of Matsya; host to the Pandavas in exile
Vishnu [Vish·nu, SU; vish·nu, HL]: supreme deity
Vishvakarman [Vish·va·kar·man, SUSU; HLHL]: divine craftsman
Vishvamitra [Vish·vaa·mit·ra, SUSU; HHHL]: a seer
Vivimshati [Vi·vim·sha·ti, USUU; LHLL]: son of Dhritarashtra
Vrishasena [Vri·sha·se·na, SUSU; HLHL]: Karna’s son
Vrishni [Vrish·ni, SU; vrish·ni, HL]: Krishna’s clan, a subdivision of the Yadava people
Vyasa [Vyaa·sa, SU; HL]: seer; author of the Mahabharata and major participant in the events; a.k.a. Krishna Dvaipayana
Wealth-winner: a name for Arjuna
Wearer of the diadem: a name for Arjuna
Wolf-belly: a name for Bhima
Yadavas [English plural; singular: Yaa·da·va, SUU; HLL]: “descendants of Yadu,” a people to whom Krishna belongs
Yaja [Yaa·ja, SU; HL]: priest who brings Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi into being
Yakshas [English plural; singular: Yak·sha, SU; HL]: earth spirits serving Kubera
Yama [Ya·ma, SU; LL]: god of death
Yamuna [Ya·mu·naa, SUU; LLH]: major river of northern India
yoga [as in English]: spiritual discipline
Yudhishthira [Yu·dhish·thi·ra, USUU; yu·dhish·thi·ra, LHLL]: eldest of the Pandava brothers; the Dharma King
Yuvanashva [Yu·va·naash·va, UUSU; LLHL]: king, father of Mandhatri
Yuyutsu [Yu·yut·su, USU; LHL]: son of Dhritarashtra by a vaishya woman; ally of the Pandavas in the war
About the Authors
Vinay Dharwadker is Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and Folklore Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He translates from Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, Punjabi, and Sanskrit, and his Kabir: The Weaver’s Songs won India’s national translation prize in 2008. He is the South Asia editor of the Norton Anthology of World Literature, third edition (2012).
Wendy Doniger (O’Flaherty) received her PhD from Harvard University and her DPhil from Oxford University. She teaches at the University of Chicago and is the author of over thirty books, from Siva: The Erotic Ascetic (1973) to The Bedtrick: Tales of Sex and Masquerade (2000), The Woman Who Pretended to Be Who She Was (2005), The Hindus: An Alternative History (2009), and On Hinduism (2013).
Carole Satyamurti is a poet and sociologist. She has published several books of poetry with Oxford University Press and Bloodaxe, of which the most recent are Stitching the Dark: New and Selected Poems (2005) and Countdown (2011). Her poetry has received many awards and has been widely anthologized.
Praise for
MAHABHARATA
A Modern Retelling
“Carole Satyamurti’s Mahabharata, crucially not a translation, uses previous English versions as a springboard for her blank-verse ‘modern retelling’. Her aim has been to produce a readable and gripping narrative . . . and in this she has been resoundingly successful.”
—Neel Mukherjee, New Statesman
“Carole Satyamurti’s ‘modern retelling’ of this ancient, vast, and various story is a gift to be grateful for. . . . [I]t gives us, as all poetry should, access into a world we did not know or did not know well enough and which henceforth we will visit again and again.”
—David Constantine
“Effortlessly blending a fabulous array of stories with sophisticated narrative devices, this version of the Mahabharata is a spellbinding reading experience and a magisterial achievement.”
—Eva Hoffman
“Like the Iliad, the Mahabharata has everything: love, war, family, gods, all the beauty and horror of life. I hope Carole Satyamurti’s compelling version will introduce this marvelous epic, still largely unknown in the west, to a whole generation of new readers.”
—Katha Pollitt
“This book is a kind of miracle: a talented English poet has brought alive in blank verse an ancient Sanskrit epic for the contemporary ear and in a language that does not draw attention to itself but captures the weft and warp of the original thrilling tale, including its moral complexity.”
—Gurcharan Das
Copyright © 2015 by Carole Satyamurti
Foreword copyright © 2015 by Wendy Doniger
Afterword copyright © 2015 by Vinay Dharwadker
All rights reserved
First published as a Norton paperback 2016
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact W. W. Norton Special Sales at
specialsales@wwnorton.com or 800-233-4830
Book design by Brooke Koven
Production manager: Louise Parasmo
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Satyamurti, Carole.
Mahabharata : a modern retelling / by Carole Satyamurti. —First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-393-08175-6 (hardcover)
1. India—History—To 324 B.C.—Poetry. I. Mahabharata.
English II. Title.
PR6069.A776M34 2015
821’.914—dc23
2014033595
ISBN 978-0-393-24645-2 (e-book)
ISBN 978-0-393-35249-8 (pbk.)
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.
Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT