Description of सङ्क्षिप्तमहाभारतम्: The Mahābhārata in a nutshell: a one-chapter narration in forty-three verses presented as an independent-study reader in Sanskrit. By Peter M. Scharf. 2022.

The great ancient Sanskrit epic of India, the Mahābhārata, consisting of about eighty-thousand verses in the critical edition, includes in its fifty-fifth chapter a brief account of the whole in forty-three verses. The present work presents a revised edition of this chapter together with prose sentences and notes that elucidate each verse, and a comprehensive glossary. The work is intended for students of Sanskrit who have completed a first-year university-level course in the language.

The Mahābhārata is one of the longest epics in the world and one of the greatest masterpieces of human civilization. The ancient Indian epic records the great war between two branches of the descendants of Bhārata, the events leading up to it that divided the family, and those that followed it until the ascent of King Yudhiṣṭhira to heaven. Yet besides narrating the events of the main story, the work is filled with beautiful descriptions of characters, edifices, and scenes, and with wonderful discourses, dialogues, and tales imparting instruction on spirituality, philosophy, ethics, good breeding, personal conduct, good governance and every aspect of life. The work beautifully captures and transmits the richness and subtlety of Indian culture.

This edition of the brief account of the epic in MBh. 1.55 presents a corrected version of the adhyāya as in the critical edition. The edition is accompanied by all the information a student who has completed a basic university-level introductory Sanskrit course needs to arrive at a complete understanding of the text, whether at the end of a second-semester class, in an intermediate class, or in independent study. The text includes the forty-three verses of the chapter with an introductory header and its final trailer. Beneath each verse are given several prose sentences that paraphrase the content of the verse. Initial paraphrases state the content in simple form, then subsequent formulations represent it until complete sentences include all the vocabulary of the verse in ordinary prose syntactic order. Notes beneath the prose paraphrases, as well as beneath the header and trailer, supply text critical comments, and syntactic and semantic information helpful in understanding the verse. A complete glossary provides all the vocabulary used in the text and prose paraphrases. The bibliography provides references for further study of Sanskrit and the Mahābhārata.