The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. It is an epic narrative of the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kauravas and the Pandava princes as well as containing philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four goals of life. Here we have Santi Parva, the twelfth, featuring the crowning of Yudhisthira as king of Hastinapura and the instructions of Bhishma for the newly anointed king on society, economics and politics. Vyasa is a revered figure in Hindu traditions. He is a kala-Avatar or part-incarnation of God Vishnu. Vyasa is sometimes conflated by some Vaishnavas with Badarayana, the compiler of the Vedanta Sutras and considered to be one of the seven Chiranjivins. He is also the fourth member of the Rishi Parampara of the Advaita Guru Parampar of which Adi Shankara is the chief proponent.

It Is A Transformation Of An Ancient Legend Into A Modern Novel. In This Process, It Has Gained Rational Credibility And A Human Perspective. The Main Incident, The Bharata War, Symbolic Of The Birthpangs Of A New World-Order, Depicts A Heroic But Vain Effort To Arrest The Disintegration And Continue The Prevailing Order. It Is Viewed From The Stand Points Of The Partisan Participants And Judged With Reference To The Objective Understanding Of Krishna. Narration, Dialogue, Monologue And Comment All Are Employed For Its Presentation. Shot Through With Irony, Pity And Understanding Objectivity, The Novel Ends With The True Tragic Vision Of Faith In Life And Hope For Mankind.

Democracy and political violence can hardly be considered conceptual siblings, at least at first sight. Democracy allows people to route their aspirations, demands, and expectations of the state through peaceful methods; violence works outside these prescribed and institutionalized channels in public spaces, in the streets, in the forests and in inhospitable terrains. But can committed democrats afford to ignore the fact that violence has become a routine way of doing politics in countries such as India? By exploring the concept of political violence from the perspective of critical political theory, Neera Chandhoke investigates its nature, justification and contradictions. She uses the case study of Maoist revolutionaries in India to globalize and relocate the debate alongside questions of social injustice, exploitation, oppression and imperfect democracies. As such, this is an important and much-needed contribution to the dialogue surrounding revolutionary violence.