Review: The Mahabharata (critical edition, Āraṇyakaparvan)
Summary
This review welcomes the first fasciculus of the critical edition of the Mahābhārata’s Āraṇyakaparvan, edited by Vishnu S. Sukthankar and published by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. The fasciculus covers the first 154 adhyāyas, or roughly half of the parvan, and is based on a collation of twenty‑eight manuscripts representing different regional recensions. Additional manuscripts were consulted and variants from them are occasionally recorded. One of the oldest sources is a Bengali manuscript dated 1261 AD. Because the Āraṇyakaparvan contains fewer textual difficulties, the editor considers its text relatively smooth. The reviewer notes that several passages in the vulgate have been omitted in this edition; for example, the sections describing Arjuna’s temptation and the killing of Naraka are absent and will be printed in an appendix in the final fasciculus. Minor omissions of lines and couplets are documented in footnotes. The review praises the meticulous scholarship behind the project and applauds the systematic progress of the critical edition. By collating manuscripts from across India and presenting a reconstructed text with an apparatus of variants, the edition aims to establish a reliable version of the epic. The reviewer emphasises the significance of this undertaking for Indology: a critical text of the Mahābhārata is essential for philological study, translation and comparative research. The Bhandarkar Institute’s endeavour, he writes, should be warmly welcomed and supported.
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Conclusion
The reviewer concludes that the first instalment of the Āraṇyakaparvan critical edition demonstrates rigorous scholarship and promises a reliable reconstruction of the Mahābhārata. Collation of numerous manuscripts and transparent reporting of variants make this project invaluable for future research. The omission of interpolated passages will clarify the epic’s core narrative and the reviewer urges continued support for the monumental edition.