The Supreme Court might have banned the bursting of crackers for Diwali. But Diwali 2017 has been made memorable by Devdutt Pattanaik whose latest book on Mahabharata for Children is sure to create ripples among readers, especially the children.
Though we have many English versions of Mahabharata, including the ones by Kisari Mohan Ganguli and C Rajagopalachari, they are all meant for the adults. For the first time, in recent times, children all over the world are getting a chance to read and know Mahabharat, the great Indian epic.
Pattanaik, who has many books on Indian mythology to his credit has chosen a new perspective to drive home the message of this great Indian story. While summing up the Mahabharata in 106 pages in simple and beautiful English, the author has tried to inculcate in the minds of the children, the need to share with the have nots and also the importance of preserving nature.
The book titled The Boys Who Fought, the Mahabharata for children, points out that had Yudhishtira been contended with the Khandava forests which was given to the Pandavas as their part of the kingdom and did not opt to destroy the forest to build a capital city, the great war resulting in the loss of thousands of lives would not have happened.
Krishna, the counsel for the Pandavas had warned Yudhishtira about the repercussions of destroying forest in order to build the capital city and palace. But the eldest of the Pandavas had set his eyes on building a city titled Indraprastha and a palace for him by destroying the forests.
“The forest was set on fire and given as offering to Agni, the fire-god. The flames destroyed the trees and all the birds and beasts that lived in the forest. We Nagas who survived will take revenge on Pandavas,” writes the author. What happened afterwards was that the Pandavas lost not only the kingdom they built but Draupadi (their wife) as well.
“Animals in the forest take food from nature. Humans can give food to each other. When we refuse to share food, the hungry attack and there is war. Refusal to share led to the war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas,” Pattanaik concludes the great small work with these words.
“He has recounted the story for children. But after going through it, I feel he was telling me too about preserving nature, wild life and to share everything with the have-nots,” said S Rameshan Nair, the celebrated Malayalam poet who read the book twice in three hours.
The message Pattanaik is delivering through this 106 page is much louder but sweeter than the bursting of crackers. He would not have chosen a much appropriate time than Diwali for launching The Boys Who Fought.