Few works in world literature have inspired so vast an audience, in nations with radically different languages and cultures, as the Ramayana and Mahabharata, two Sanskrit verse epics written some 2,000 years ago.

In Ramayana (written by a poet known to us as Valmiki), William Buck has retold the story of Prince Rama--with all its nobility of spirit, courtly intrigue, heroic renunciation, fierce battles, and triumph of good over evil--in a length and manner that will make the great Indian epics accessible to the contemporary reader.

The same is true for the Mahabharata--in its original Sanskrit, probably the longest Indian epic ever composed. It is the story of a dynastic struggle, between the Kurus and Pandavas, for land. In his introduction, Sanskritist B. A. van Nooten notes, "Apart from William Buck’s rendition [no other English version has] been able to capture the blend of religion and martial spirit that pervades the original epic."

Presented accessibly for the general reader without compromising the spirit and lyricism of the originals, William Buck’s Ramayana and Mahabharata capture the essence of the Indian cultural heritage.

William Buck(1933-1970) was a Sanskritist, devoting his life's work to modern retellings of the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and the unfinished Harivamsa.

"To say the Ramayana is one of the great epics of India may be a misleading understatement, for it is of far greater importance to India than the Greek epics are to Western thought. . . . Buck has succeeded better than anyone else in conveying the spirit of the original."—Choice







“A fascinating story of courtly intrigue, fierce battles, and sacrifice on a heroic scale. As in his retelling of the Mahabharata, Buck has done a real service in making available to the English-speaking world this incomparable Indian epic.”—The Virginia Quarterly Review

"For the purposes of the general reader, the book is flawless: a marvelous tale, told with all the elan of a Tolkien, charmingly but unobtrusively illustrated, and with an introduction by a prominent Sanskritist."—Pacific Affairs