The Five Brothers (Krishnavatara Vol. III)

The Five Brothers (Krishnavatara Vol. III)

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Book Specification

Item Code: IDI870
Author: K. M. Munshi
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Language: English
Edition: 2014
ISBN: 9788172764845
Pages: 632
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 7.0" X 4.6"
Weight 280 gm

Book Description

About the book

Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi's versatility and achievements were in a way unique. He was an eminent lawyer, one of the framers of India's Constitution and a seasoned statesman. Coming under the inspiring influence of Sri Aurobindo during his student days, Munshi had been an ardent fighter for India's freedom, working at different stages in close association with Jinnah, Tilak, Besant, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and Pandit Nehru. His achievements as Home Minister of Bombay in 1937, as India's food Minister and as Governor of Uttar Pradesh had been characterized by rare courage and decisive energy.

Acknowledged as the foremost writer in modern Gujarati literature, he has to his credit a vast and varied literature including novels, dramas, memoirs and history in Gujarati, as also several historical and other works in English, notably Gujarat and Its Literature, Imperial Gurjaras, Creative Art of Life, To Badrinath, The End of an Era, Krishnavatara, Bhagavad Gita and Modern Life, Saga of Indian Sculpture, Bhagawan Parashurama, Tapasvini and Prithvi Vallabh.

Preface

The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan-that Institute of Indian Culture in Bombay-needed a Book University, a series of books which, if read, would serve the purpose of providing higher education. Particular emphasis, however, was to be put on such literature as revealed the deeper impulsions of India. As a first step, it was decided to bring out in English 100 books, 50 of which were to be taken in hand almost at once.

It is our intention to publish the books we select, not only in English, but also in the following Indian languages: Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.

This scheme, involving the publication of 900 volumes, requires ample funds and an all Indian organization. The Bhavan is exerting its utmost to supply them.

The objectives for which the Bhavan stands are the reintegration of Indian culture in the light of modern knowledge and to suit our present day needs and the resuscitation of its fundamental values in their pristine vigour.

Let me make our goal more explicit:

We seek the dignity of man, which necessarily implies the creation of social condition which would allow him freedom to evolve along the lines of his own temperament and capacities; we seek the harmony of individual efforts and social relations, not in any make-shift way, but within the frame-work of the Moral Order; we seek the creative art of life, by the alchemy of which human limitations are progressively transmuted, so that man become the instrument of God, and is able to see Him in all and all in Him.

The world, we feel, is too much with us. Nothing would uplift or inspire us so much as the beauty and aspiration which such books can teach.

In this series, therefore, the literature of India, ancient and modern, will be published in a form easily accessible to all. Books in other literatures of the world, if they illustrate the principles we stand for, will also be included.

This common pool of literature, it is hoped, will enable the reader, eastern or western, to understand and appreciate currents of world thought, as also the movements of the mind in India, which, though they flow through different linguistic channels, have a common urge and aspiration.

Fittingly, the Book University's first venture is the Mahabharat, summarised by one of the greatest living Indians, C. Rajagopalachari; the second work is on a section of it, the Gita, by H. V. Divatia, an eminent jurist and a student of philosophy. Centuries ago, it was proclaimed of the Mahabharata. "What is not in it , is nowhere." After twenty-five centuries, we can use the same words about it. He who knows it not, knows not the heights and depths of the soul; he misses the trials and tragedy and the beauty and grandeur of life.

The Mahabharata is not a mere epic; it is a romance, telling the tale of heroic men and women and of some who were divine; it is a whole literature itself, containing a code of life, a philosophy of social and ethical relations, and speculative thought on human problems that is hard to rival; but above all, it has for its core the Gita, which is, as the world is beginning to find out, the noblest of scriptures and the grandest of sagas in which the climax is reached in the wondrous apocalypse in the Eleventh Canto.

Through such books alone the harmonies under lying true culture, I am convinced, will one day reconcile the disorders of modern life.

I thank all those who have helped to make this new branch of the Bhavan's activity successful.

C O N T E N T S
Chapter page
Introduction ix
Prologue xvii
1. King Drupada's Resolve 1
2. Sandipani Arrives 7
3. The Teacher and the Pupil 12
4. Dronacharya's Decision 17
5. The Uncle's Commands 25
6. Banishment 32
7. The Blow 38
8. Duryodhana is Afraid 44
9. Grandfather Bhishma 48
10. A Gopi in Hastinapura 55
11. Gouri Puja 59
12. The Dowager Empress 67
13. The Best of Munis 72
14. Kampily 80
15. The Loyal Daughter 89
16. Uddhava among the Nagas 98
17. Uddhava's Trials 105
18. In the Land of the Demons 111
19. King Vrikodara 121
20. King Vrikodara Wins a Wife 126
21. King Vrikidara Makes a Decision 134
22. The Miraculous Victory 142
23. The Last Wish of Aryaka 151
24. The Boy who was a Girl 159
25. Invitation to the Swayamvara 169
26. Bhanumati's Devotion 176
27. Uddhava's Mission 184
28. The Master in Rakshasavarta 194
29. King Vrikodara relinquishes the Sceptre 198
30. Krishna is a Predicament 208
31. "What is Dharma?" 214
32. "Dharma has Seized Me" 220
33. Big Brother is Angry 225
34. The Charming Kidnapper 231
35. The Kidnapper's Secret 237
36 Dharma Wins 242
37 Bhanumati Secures a Promise 249
38 How to Win the Bride 253
39 How to Carry off the Bride 259
40 Drupada's Dilemma 267
41 A Gift from the Enemy 275
42 "Share My Burden with Me, Krishnaa" 284
43 Shikhandin Intervenes 293
44 The Night Before 304
45 "Your Pledge shall be fulfilled" 313
46 Draupadi Goes to the Swayamvara Mandap 316
47 The all too Familiar Laughter 322
48 "Vaasudeva, You have kept your Promise" 327
49 The Master Decides 336
Epilogue 346
Notes 360
Appendices 363
Glossary 367

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