Lights Dim and Bright on Old Lore

Buddhadeva Bose who died in 1974 at the age of sixty-six was a distinguished Bengali poet, novelist and critic and the work under review is the English translation of his Mahabharater Katha. Fascinating as his fresh look at the greatest epic not only of India but of the whole world is, it would seem that the wrong man has been selected for reviewing it. For I find that his analysis is almost totally at variance with that of my own venture in the field, The Mahabharata, a Literary Study (Clarion, 1985). On the other hand, the Juxtaposition of contrasted perspectives may perhaps turn out to be piquant for the reader. But the assignment does impose on this reviewer the duty to be particularly careful in presenting Bose’s views correctly, and unambiguously clear in explaining his own dissent.