The Essence of Mahabharata

Foreword

By the divine ordinance of Lord Venkateswara, I had the fortune of serving "Dharma Prachara Parishat" of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, Tirupati as secretary for five years (1999 - 2004).

During my stay at Tirupati, I had the blessings of many Vedic and Puranic scholars from various parts of India. When I visited Mauritius, as a representative of TTDs. to attend the ‘Saptaha of Sri Venkateswara Bhakta Samajam’, I found the impact that Indian Epics have on the minds of the young people abroad.

Then many parents for USA and other countries contacted me and asked me to prepare ‘books for children in English particularly on Ramayana, Bharata, and Bhagavata, the great legends of India.

This is the first attempt to summarise the ‘Essence of Maha Bharata’ in English particularly for school and college going children, and elders as well.

In this connection, I recollect my fond memory with the T.T. Devasthanams Executives and DPP employees who worked with me throught the ‘day’ for 5 years.

I thank my beloved teacher Prof. T Koteswara Rao, who guided me to work on ‘Maha Bharata’ a few years ago, to co-author a paper for ‘Encyclopaedia in Asian Studies’ Chennai.

In this short book, I do not claim an exhaustive study of the epic, but I am sure that children will benefit to have a clear thought about the entire epic in an abridged form, as rendered by Kavitraya in Telugu. I thank the TTO authorities for their financial help and seek the blessings of the Lord for the reestablishment of ‘Dharma’ in the present day ‘busy’ world of technological blowout, when the ‘humanity’ in Man and Woman is missing.

Let us add moral values to our education.

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