WHEN ANYONE WISHES TO SPEAK OF A GREAT RULER, THEY SAY, `A KING LIKE RAMA? All is well in the prosperous and orderly kingdom of Ayodhya until the greedy Queen Kaikeyi tricks King Dashratha into sending his beloved eldest son and heir apparent, Rama, into exile for fourteen years. The noble prince, accompanied by his brother Lakshmana and wife Sita, leaves for the forests. When Sita is abducted by Ravana, the demon-king of Lanka, it triggers off a series of events starting with the search for her and culminating in the cataclysmic battle between Rama and Ravana. What unfolds in between is a remarkable tale of divine reincarnations, fierce demons, powerful kings, magical weapons and amazing creatures ? all woven into the extraordinary and keystone Indian epic of good and evil, love and enmity, boons and curses, hardship and destiny. These retelling of the Ramayana, written especially for young readers by the inimitable Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, and checked and proofed originally by none other than Rabindranath Tagore, has been translated for the first time into English by leading children?s writer and translator, Swapna Dutta.

An epic fantasy based on the ancient Hindu classic finds young Rama, heir to the throne of Ayodhya, called upon by the legendary mage Vishwamitra when two powerful demons raise an army to defeat the human world. 20,000 first printing.

A rigged game of dice brings the 100 Kaurava princes, led by the scheming Duryodhana, to the battlefield against their cousins, the five Pandavas – the noble but gullible Yudhishthira, the mighty Bhima, master archer Arjuna and the twins, Nakula and Sahadeva. The epic war of Kurukshetra, which lasted 18 tragic days, pitted brother against brother, uncle against nephew and disciple against teacher. The intense battles between warriors equally fearless and skilled – Bhima and Duryodhana, Arjuna and Bheeshma, Drona and Dhrishtadyumna, and Karna and Arjuna – were as much conflicts of loyalty and ambition as they were of choices. The side they chose to support, or fight against, led them into a labyrinth of duty and destiny, where both the defeated and the victorious lost something or someone precious to them. This classic retelling of the Mahabharata, was written especially for young readers by the inimitable Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, and originally checked and proofed by none other than Rabindranath Tagore. Translated for the first time into English by leading children’s writer and translator, Swapna Dutta, this eternal tale is brought to life in all its drama and detail.

The Ramayana is not history or biography. It is a part of Hindu mythology. One cannot understand Hindu dharma unless one knows Rama and Seeta, Bharata, Lakshmana, Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Hanuman. Mythology cannot be dispensed with. Philosophy alone or rituals alone or mythology alone cannot be sufficient. These are the three strands of all ancient religions. The attitude towards things spiritual which belongs to a particular people cannot be grasped or preserved or conveyed unless we have all these three. To millions of men, women and children in India, the Ramayana is not a mere tale. It has more truth and meaning than the events in one's own life. Just as plants grow under the influence of sunlight, the people of India grow in mental strength and culture by absorbing the glowing inspiration of the Ramayana.

A rigged game of dice brings the 100 Kaurava princes, led by the scheming Duryodhana, to the battlefield against their cousins, the five Pandavas – the noble but gullible Yudhishthira, the mighty Bhima, master archer Arjuna and the twins, Nakula and Sahadeva. The epic war of Kurukshetra, which lasted 18 tragic days, pitted brother against brother, uncle against nephew and disciple against teacher. The intense battles between warriors equally fearless and skilled – Bhima and Duryodhana, Arjuna and Bheeshma, Drona and Dhrishtadyumna, and Karna and Arjuna – were as much conflicts of loyalty and ambition as they were of choices. The side they chose to support, or fight against, led them into a labyrinth of duty and destiny, where both the defeated and the victorious lost something or someone precious to them. This classic retelling of the Mahabharata, was written especially for young readers by the inimitable Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, and originally checked and proofed by none other than Rabindranath Tagore. Translated for the first time into English by leading children’s writer and translator, Swapna Dutta, this eternal tale is brought to life in all its drama and detail.

Centuries ago, it was proclaimed of the Mahabharata: "What is not in it, is nowhere." But even now, we can use the same words about it. He who knows it not, knows not the heights and depths of the soul; he misses the trials and tragedy and the beauty and grandeur of life. The Mahabharata is not a mere epic; it is a romance, telling the tale of heroic men and women, and of some who were divine; it is a whole literature in itself, containing a code of life, a philosophy of social and ethical relations, and speculative thought on human problems that is hard to rival; but, above all, it has for its core the Gita,which is, as the world is beginning to find out, the noblest of scriptures and the grandest of sagas in which the climax is reached in the wondrous apocalypse in the Eleventh Canto.

While children figure prominently in religious traditions, few books have directly explored the complex relationships between children and religion. This is the first book to examine the theme of children in major religions of the world. Each of six chapters, edited by world-class scholars, focuses on one religious tradition and includes an introduction and a selection of primary texts ranging from legal to liturgical and from the ancient to the contemporary. Through both the scholarly introductions and the primary sources, this comprehensive volume addresses a range of topics, from the sanctity of birth to a child's relationship to evil, showing that issues regarding children are central to understanding world religions and raising significant questions about our own conceptions of children today.