JAYA : An illustrating retelling of The Mahabharata

I always wanted read ‘Jaya: An Illustrating retelling of The Mahabharata’ by Devdatta Pattanaik. But whenever I took it in my hands to read, ‘Life’ or ‘The Routine’ kept coming in between us, always. But then I came across the review of the book on good reads and navigated the author’s personal blogging website and decided to finally read the book. Being brought up in the family who reads eminently and stores the value of that knowledge forever made me a bookworm ever since I started reading. I was always a little bit extra sensitive about The Mahabharata Epic and the characters. I read and went through the books related to it like a hawk. From Amar Chitra Katha to C. Rajgopalchari’s verbose retelling of the epic I read and tried to take the knowledge of it. I have always had the impression that, every time you read about it, there is always something new that you learn with every version. 

Devdatta Pattanaik’s retelling of The Mahabharata leaves a strong impression on the reader, with its poetic artwork and well explained stories. The author has put in considerable effort into the creation of this work, making it one of the best retelling so far. Devdatta Pattanaik seamlessly weaves into a single narrative plot from the Sanskrit classic as well as its many folk and regional variations, including The Pandavani of Chhattisgarh, Gondhal of Maharashtra, Terukuttu of Tamil Nadu and Yakshagana of Karnataka. Richly illustrated with over 250 line drawings by the author, the chapters are bound with the little details like names of hundred kauravas, the worship of Draupadi as The Goddess of Tamil Nadu and Draupadi temples there, the stories related to Kuru Scion, Yadava Scion, the Dynasty and Detailed family feud, Duryodhana temples in Uttarakhand, the Mahabharata version of The Shakuntalam and The Ramayana, also the dating of the war based on astronomical data. 

This book explains why the epic is a part of the grand Vedic cosmos and how it cannot be understood without appreciating Ramayana, Vishnu Purana, Shiva Purana and Devi Purana. The Story is narrated by Astika, the nephew of Vasuki, King of Nagas to Janamejya – a descendant of The Pandavas, who order rishis to perform the killing of all the nagas. The retelling of the epic by author is very candid and so detailed that you stay stuck to the pages and cannot put it down so easily. So it has become the dearest to my heart. Devdatta Pattanaik articulates the evolution of Hindu Rituals and beliefs from the Vedic times to recent history in an eloquent manner. This is what makes it different from the other versions I read about The Mahabharata. It is also the indicator of the amount of the research effort the author took to give us such splendid details. Even though the epic is a complex one with lots of links to the characters and scenarios, the author manages to intertwine the characters and plots so that then reader does not have a hard time remembering earlier mentioned related events. 

This book has an ending that has never been told in any retelling of The Mahabharata. This ending is the reason the book was originally called Jaya by Rishi Vyasa. The Doorkeepers of the Vaikuntha are the twins, Jaya and Vijaya, both whose names mean ‘Victory’. One keeps you in Swarga the other raises you into Vaikuntha. What is the difference between Jaya and Vijaya? Solve this puzzle and you will solve the mystery of The Mahabharata.