Title of the book: The Gita for Children
Author: Roopa Pai
Date of Publication: 2015
Publisher: Hachette -India
Price: Rs 299
This is a review of the book ‘The Gita for Children’ authored by Roopa Pai and published
by Hachette-India. The book is a brief disscusionthe holy book the Bhagvad Gita and the epic war
of Mahabharata. It also talks about the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna. The book
mentions that there are about 1,00,000 shlokas in the Mahabharata. Mahabharata started off only
with 24,000 shlokas at first. This form was known as Jaya. There are eighteen chapters in the
Mahabharata. According to legend, sage Vyasa dictated this shlokas to Lord Ganesha who wrote it
down on palm leaves as a scribe. The additions and deletions in the Mahabharata that we know only
date back to the fourth century c.e. or 1600 years ago.
It’s said so in this book that Kunti was once taught a mantra by a venerable sage and was
told by him that if she chanted the mantra with great devotion while focusing on any God of her
choice then that God would come down to earth as her a son. First she chanted it to dharma ( aka
Yama, the God of death and righteousness) then, a couple of years later Vayu (God of wind) and
then to Indra (lord of the heavens and master of thunder bolt) and had three boys named
respectively Yudhishtra, Bhima and Arjuna. Kunti’s co wife named Madri seeing Kunti also
wanted to have sons . Kunti being generous taught the mantra to Madri. Madri chanted the mantra
to Aswini twins ( the Gods of medicine) and got blessed with two lovely twin children whom she
named Nakula and Sahadeva. Together the five sons of Pandu were known as Pandavas. Kunti took
them to Dhritrashtra. Much had happened in Hastinapura since Pandu and his wives had left.
Dhritrashtra had married a princess named Gandhari and had hundred sons and one
beautiful daughter. The sons of Dhritrashtra were known as Kauravas and the eldest of them being
Duryodhana. The Pandavas were ahead of Kauravas in every field. The Kauravas were jealous of
them. The kingdom of Indraprastha was annexed by Kauravas who won it from the Pandavas in a
biased game of Chausar. Thy also lost their freedom to Kauravas, and hence, were sent to exile for
14 years. On return from exile, the Kauravas were opposed to the idea of handing over Indraprastha
back to Pandavas. Hence, they had to fight a war to claim their kingdom. Then a war aptly called as
“Mahabharata” took place between the two brothers for the throne of Indraprastha.
During the war, Arjuna, was reluctant to fight against their own brothers and his beloved
people. To convince Arjuna, Krishna, who was his charioter, narrated the Bhagwad Gita to him. The
magical words of Lord Krishna, could bring confidence in Arjuna. Finally, Arjuna fought the war
and the Pandavas defeated the Kauravas. The Pandavas won as they were on the side of
righteousness and took great care of the kingdom afterwards. The book is very intresting as it tells
us beautiful slokas pertaining to life and goal of life.
My Opinion:
I reccomend this book as this book uses very simple language and it could be read easily without
any help. This book is so intresting that when I take it in my hand I can’t put it down. Children as
well as adults should read this book as it gives a lot of information about rich culture of ancient
INDIA as teaches beautiful lessons of life.
0 Comments