Bhishma: Your Complete Guide to the Mahabharata Hero

I picked up this bundle with a bit of hesitation, because there is so much content out there about the Mahabharata. But I was pleasantly surprised how well-organized the content is here. You approach each character from multiple angles - and many of the lesser known characters are also represented. Will use this as a reference book for a long time to come. Must read!

I didn't know much about the Mahabharata before I picked up these books. Now I feel like an expert. Definitely going to recommend these to one and all. In our current modern life, I feel it is important to get in touch with your roots.

I really liked the straight-forward, conversational writing style. It is devoid of all religious propaganda; Sharath treats the Mahabharata and its characters as literary treasures. The respect he has for the epic and its people is evident in his writing. I'd heard of Sharath before with his Murder in Amaravati, but this was the first time I took a chance on his work. Initially I was skeptical about the eBooks because I am a print-book reader, the books are compatible with just about any app that opens any document. What's more, you can also print out the PDF if you want. I appreciated that flexibility. Get it without any hesitation!

If you're a fan of the Mahabharata, this is a no-brainer. If you don't like them, you always have the 30 Day Money Back Guarantee. As far as I know, no other writer is offering a money back guarantee on any of his books, so that alone makes this worth trying. Go for it!

Murder in Amaravati was the only one of Sharath Komarraju's books I'd read before I picked up this one. I can see that his fiction writing skills help him in writing nonfiction too. He brings a fiction writer's curiosity and imagination to this set. The feeling is infectious!

I'd heard of Sharath before but had never read his work. His earlier books were quite popular I guess. I vaguely remember seeing his books in bookstores in the past. Anyway, I am not a nonfiction reader generally, but thought of giving this a go because I like the subject matter. Not disappointed! Once in a while the writer goes into analysis mode and dwells on a single point at great length... but overall, you come away with plenty of knowledge that you didn't have. I certainly did!

Good books! If you're interested in the Mahabharata, go for it. If you're not, you can skip. Author goes into a lot of detail that a casual reader might find boring. I gave it to a friend and she gave it right back!

The four main characters are sketched out very thoroughly - Krishna, Draupadi, Arjuna and Karna. Among the others, Bhishma and Drona are okay. Kurukshetra is good too. Among the others, some of the guides are slim volumes. Still, definitely worth the price.

I was initially skeptical about the whole printable PDF thing, but I am surprised how readable and well-formatted it is. It of course is not formatted like a real book, but it's ready to print without any change of settings etc. I've just been printing out a few pages at a time on my home printer for some bedtime reading. The font, design etc is more readable than many 'actua' books!

Hadn't heard of Sharath Komarraju before, but saw an ad for this set, and I had been going through a reading lull. So I thought why not! I did not enjoy these as much as some of the others, but they were not bad either. Definitely more interesting than some of the more dense / academic books out there. This author knows how to make his stuff readable. Worth a try.

Loved the character guides omnibus! I am not usually for analysis of this kind but the way Sharath Komarraju does it without prejudice or judgement is a revelation. You follow multiple trains of thought and build hypothetical scenarios for each character. Thought-provoking!

Of all the characters in the omnibus, I like the care and empathy that Sharath lends to the Bhishma and Drona characters. These are usually on the fringes, and very rarely do you see their characters and motivations explored. The leaps of logic that Sharath makes are always well thought out. The hypotheticals and thought experiments are lovely. Can see myself getting lost in these.

Highly recommended! I discovered Sharath Komarraju through his Birbal books, and I've enjoyed his fiction writing. I was not sure if his nonfiction would be to my taste. I am not even THAT interested in the Mahabharata. I mean - I know the story but that's it. I bought these books on a whim, and thought these would be good initial reading before picking up the Hastinapur series. That might still be true, but the books by themselves are great! I really enjoyed the women's character guides: Draupadi, Kunti and Gandhari. Also enjoyed the guide on Karna, though I'm not a big fan of the character.

Yudhishthir's character guide was great. Many other writers show him as a weak person but the author has a soft spot for him it looks like. Sympathetic portrayal of Yudhishthir. Interesting.

Before I read these books, I actually thought I knew plenty about the Mahabharata. But the analysis that Sharath does in these books, helping us see the world from the eyes of the various characters, is nothing short of amazing. I've read other Mahabharata-related books and they are NOT this good. My favourite is the Krishna character guide. It is good enough to stand as a book in its own right. I've seen writers build a whole career based on a single book like this. The fact that you get 14 of these books in a bundle is just great.

The characters of the Mahabharata are very interesting. I've always been fascinated by the likes of Abhimanyu and Vidura. To my disappointment, Vidura is not present in this set (I wonder why), but Abhimanyu is. What I did not expect was to see 'Kurukshetra' as a character. Interesting idea. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I like the question-answer format.

Drona and Bhishma are the best books in the set. The parts where Drona's motivations as the teacher of the Kuru princes are explored... simply great. Bhishma also emerges as a complex figure from this guide, not just a resigned patriarch who failed to do his best. I was really surprised by the 'Kurukshetra' guide, which gave me a great working knowledge of the war in its entirety.

The main four character guides are the best - Karna, Arjuna, Draupadi and Krishna. After that, second tier are Bhishma and Drona. Maybe Abhimanyu. The other ones are okay too, but are shorter and not as comprehensive. The four main books are worth the price alone, though.

Deep in the 'Draupadi' guide, there is a question: 'Did Draupadi love Arjuna the most?' This is of course taken as gospel truth by readers usually but here, Sharath Komarraju flips it on its head and reminds us that this is just Yudhishthir's opinion. And what I've always considered a 'truth' is carefully deconstructed with supporting evidence. The conclusion and 'answer' don't matter as much as the intellectual journey these books take you through. I for one am thankful.

I've always been interested in the Mahabharata, but I've only read Amar Chitra Katha so far. I like the 'Bhishma' and 'Drona' books in ACK. I picked up this bundle because it felt like a deeper dive into the story characters. I found that it's much more than that. Sharath Komarraju explores different facets to each character, their situations, and the context in which their decisions were made. Gave me fresh insights to people I thought I knew well enough. Lot to ponder over and lot to digest! Definitely recommend.

Dhritarashtra and Yudhishthir's books were my favourite. You hardly ever get to read about these two characters in such detail, with their motivations and biographies. The main characters are of course well presented: I really enjoyed the 'relationship questions' between Arjuna, Draupadi and Karna. The other 'non character' guide I liked was Kurukshetra - it felt like Sharath wanted an excuse to write about the war and chose this path. But I am glad he did. A no-brainer for anyone interested in the Mahabharata - and at such a no-risk price.

Question and answer format might not be for everybody. I did not like it at first, but slowly it grew on me. That aside, I enjoyed the main four guides the best: Draupadi, Krishna, Karna and Arjuna. The rest were so-so.

Loved the Kunti-Gandhari-Draupadi guides!

I came to the 'Character Guides' after first reading the Hastinapur books, so the shift from fiction to fact was a little jarring in the beginning. But once I got used to the 'nonfiction voice' of Sharath (it is very different to his fiction voice), I was good to go. My favourite of the fourteen books is the 'Kurukshetra' volume. I learned so much about the war that I did not know before... especially small details like what happens on which day and which event triggers which consequence etc. IMO the perfect set of books to try after reading the Hastinapur series.

My favourite character in the Mahabharata is Karna, so it was nice to get a book-length 'guide' about him. The question and answer format took a little getting used to, but I see the wisdom of arranging the information this way. Especially appreciated the relationships between Karna and Arjuna, Karna and Krishna, Karna and Draupadi etc. These dynamics are often missed in other books I've read. With the writing style, I was particularly impressed by how many different angles Sharath Komarraju explores in his analysis. 'What if this was the case, what if that was the case' etc. Intellectually very rewarding. I'd not heard about the author or his work before, so the Money Back Guarantee definitely gave me a nudge. Makes me wonder why more authors don't offer this sort of guarantee. Feels only natural in our modern ecommerce world. Go for it - you won't regret it.

Some of the guides are shorter than I expected, but the longer ones more than make up for the short ones! Abhimanyu's guide was particularly fascinating for me. Sometimes I feel Sharath goes too far with his 'hypothetical' but it never gets tiresome. You might disagree with the conclusions but not with the process!

I'm impressed with the author's ability to make even lesser-known figures feel compelling. What's particularly intriguing is how Kurukshetra itself receives character treatment. While it would have been nice to get away from the question-answer format for a few guides just to change it up, overall I have no complaints because everything is covered comprehensively for every character. Excellent value for money for anyone seeking insights into the Mahabharata.

I have purchased this bundle as I am very interested in reading books in a book format, I was interested when I have seen and advertisement on Instagram, read the details and saw printable format so I have purchased it as birthday gift but now when I opened it, it was like a study material format In an unorganised manner, it is very hard for book lovers to print it, make a book and read it.