Also...

[telophase]

I've started reading the Mahabharata, the great Hindu epic, because I am a sheep baa rachelmanija talked me into it (this is before she started posting about all the hot sweaty men in it). She's started reading_maha, a community much like reading_genji, for discussion of it. I've splurged on volume 1 of Ramesh Menon's translation, which reads really easily. I just have to get my brain to remember all the names. I may ask for a pronunciation guide on the comm - I think it's easier for me to remember something if I'm sure I'm pronouncing it correctly.

I also, on a whim, bought 6 comics of stories from the Mahabharata from nehaflix.com, purveyor of fine Bollywood movies like the classic Aabra Ka Daabra, which is having a $3 sale on them. I look forward to comparing their version with Menon's version. :)

Am also reading (what? you don't have several books in progress at any one time?) a book from the library called In Search of the Supernatural: A Written Record, which is a translation of a fourth-century Chinese collection of supernatural short stories, anecdotes, cures, creatures, etc. I skipped the introduction as I was in the mood to read about Chinese beasties and things that go bump in the night rather than historical writers. I'll go back and read it at some point. What I'm posting about is how it's amusing to go from short narratives of things that seem utterly fantastic, such as a man who would feed his retainers by writing a talisman and otssing it into a well, whereupon two carp would jump out and when cooked they'd feed all his retainers, to a mention of a Hindu fakir who came to Chiang-nan and performed various miraculous feats, all of which are the sort of things still performed by fakirs today (and sometimes busted by skeptics). Makes you wonder what else is true, or was based on some sort of true occurrence but got distorted over the years of telling.

Am also reading in dribs and drabs here and there Yeats' The Celtic Twilight, another collection of short supernatural tales and anecdotes, this time from 19th century Ireland. I can't imagine why I never read this before.

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I can not only tell you how to pronounce everything, I can tell you who's important if it isn't obvious. How far have you gotten and who are you curious about?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I've read the first five chapters. Looking at it now, I think it's mostly the words with the "bh" construction in it that confound my brain - there's names like Bheema and names like Brihaspati, and I'm not sure what the difference is there.

I think I also have a hard time remembering names I'm not familiar with. Names like George and Jason are ingrained in me, so I don't forget, but names like Shantanu and Satyavati don't occupy the same brainspace and are harder to remember.

Menon has a gloassary in the back, which has been excellent for the untranslated non-name words.

What are some general pronunciation rules? Is there stress on a particular syllable?


Am going to sleep now, before I crash right here and get waffleface.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

...you know, for that you need to ask on reading_maha, because those are the very issues that I have trouble pronouncng.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I should have said, that involves where your tongue is and whether or not you blow out air, and it is the very thing I SUCKED at. Otherwise, it's fairly phonetic.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

mahabarata

for summaries of the first 23 sections.

Good luck!

[cicer.livejournal.com]

what? you don't have several books in progress at any one time?

Crazy talk! I never have less than four books in progress at any given time. Usually more, if I include the 'I started reading it two months ago and then got busy and forgot about it, but I should really finish it at some poit' books.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I had to stop counting those, otherwise I'd go crazy. XD