2023-02-19 11:52:53 by ambuda-bot
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FOREWORD
without our consent. When Shelley
remarked that poets are the unacknow-
ledged legislators of the world", he meant
that by their works they stir the imagination,
move the mind, mould the will, in &
word, change our life. Great poets are
life changers.
66
and
The literature of each generation reflects
the turbulence of its times. It often echoes
the stress in which it has been conceived.
The Mahabharata takes up the original saga
of the struggle between the Kauravas and
the Pandavas, and weaves round it a mass
of legendary lore and tradition as well as
ethical
philosophical material. It
describes to us an interesting period of
Indian History when the country was
parcelled out into little states under warlike
kings, rivalling each other in the arts of
peace and of war. It gives a just and
illuminating account of the Indian genius
both in its nobility and greatness and
in its tragic weakness and insufficiencies.
A strange slavery to ideas, hero worshipping
and legend creating tendencies, which
are still at work with us, are found
there in plenty. It was the ambition
of the author to take men and women as
he found them and give a higher purpose
to their lives. He describes the strong
passions in the human breast, greed, jealousy,
sensuality, addiction to drink, love
of
gambling, with
great truth and terrible
power. He yet shows that in the midst of
FOREWORD
without our consent. When Shelley
remarked that poets are the unacknow-
ledged legislators of the world", he meant
that by their works they stir the imagination,
move the mind, mould the will, in &
word, change our life. Great poets are
life changers.
66
and
The literature of each generation reflects
the turbulence of its times. It often echoes
the stress in which it has been conceived.
The Mahabharata takes up the original saga
of the struggle between the Kauravas and
the Pandavas, and weaves round it a mass
of legendary lore and tradition as well as
ethical
philosophical material. It
describes to us an interesting period of
Indian History when the country was
parcelled out into little states under warlike
kings, rivalling each other in the arts of
peace and of war. It gives a just and
illuminating account of the Indian genius
both in its nobility and greatness and
in its tragic weakness and insufficiencies.
A strange slavery to ideas, hero worshipping
and legend creating tendencies, which
are still at work with us, are found
there in plenty. It was the ambition
of the author to take men and women as
he found them and give a higher purpose
to their lives. He describes the strong
passions in the human breast, greed, jealousy,
sensuality, addiction to drink, love
of
gambling, with
great truth and terrible
power. He yet shows that in the midst of