It is complemented/supplemented with other Puranas and upanishads.įinding a proper acharya or a traditional Guru is the best bet. You will have to get the 'context' first. Mahabharata is a multi-layered book not just politics and ethics. But it is precisely because the spiritual layer is the highest layer, that we would not usually recommend the Mahabharata to a beginner as an 'introduction to Hinduism.' Since I am not sure what to recommend myself, I direct you to Gangopadhyay's excellent answer to a related question: Great minds all over the world have pondered the intricacies of these verses and tried to understand Man's relation to the Godhead. Layer 3: the highest is the spiritual layer and this is mainly concerned with the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna's eternal message to us through the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata is full of great personalities and intriguing ethical problems which are its most important features, IMHO. I have been reading various versions of the great epic for 34 of my 38 years and am still at this layer. We can try to put ourself in the place of the main characters and try to understand their motivations, also attempt to apply the prevailing moral code or Dharma as they would have done, so we can see how the code was either upheld or broken in each incident, and what were the consequences. Even more fascinating and poignant is the constant struggle of most of the major characters to 'do the right thing', and their frequent failure to rise up to their own very high expectations of 'right thought and right action.' The geopolitical tensions of Ancient India are fascinating. Once we are familiar with the events we can try to grasp the moral, ethical and real-world political dilemmas faced by the protagonists. Layer 2: this is the political and ethical reading. The very famous Mahabharata by C.Rajagopalachari (around 450 pages in newer editions) also gives a clear, detailed and yet concise presentation that would be good to understand for a beginner.

Who is related to whom? What were the main events? What was the time sequence? What was the result? If you are determined to read the Mahabharata then Wikipedia gives reliable information about the many characters and events.

The Mahabharata can be read multiple times in at least 3 layers, which in order of increasing complexity are: We who have been brought up with the great epics from childhood often don't understand how difficult and confusing they could appear to a non-Indian. Some say Mahabharata should be read after the Ramayana.

Moreover it is not really any 'introduction to Hinduism', being much more about politics and ethics than religion or devotion, although its central figure is a Great God. (.) the Mahabharata is far too complicated for a beginner. Extract from my own earlier comment under your question:

Saints row 2 remastered