Hindu Sacred Texts

Closely based on the Valmiki version of the Ramayana, written thousands of years ago, this fully illustrated retelling brings the ancient masterpiece into the present and expands upon the details found in the original text.

Originally composed approximately two thousand years ago, the Mahabharata tells the story of a royal dynasty, descended from gods, whose feud over their kingdom results in a devastating war. But it contains much more than conflict.

This new translation of The Upanishads is at once delightfully simple and rigorously learned, providing todays readers with an accurate, accessible rendering of the core work of ancient Indian philosophy.

In a meditation on the wisdom of the Vedas, Roberto Calasso brings ritual and sacrifice to bear on the modern world.

It is significant that the only character in Hindu mythology, a king at that, to be given the title of ekam-patni-vrata, devoted to a single wife, is associated with the most unjust act of abandoning her in the forest to protect family reputation. This seems a deliberate souring of an uplifting narrative.