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Vyasa: The Beginning

Sibaji Bandyopadhyay,

Sankha Banerjee

3.80 · Rating details · 56 ratings · 12 reviews

VIMAL SERIES KAISE BANI by Pathak, Surender Mohan, PAPER BACK, 9789352643707

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Paperback, 216 pages

Published June 15th 2017 by Penguin

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· 56 ratings · 12 reviews

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Dec 08, 2019 Swaroop rated it liked it

Beautiful graphic illustrations and artwork!

Sibaji Bandyopadhyay’s Vyasa: The Beginning is an interesting and innovative modern retelling of the ancient Indian epic The Mahabharata, which was composed by the sage Vysya.

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Dec 25, 2019 Theredheaded_Bibliomaniac rated it really liked it

My First Graphic novel.
I picked this up after looking at the cover and guess what I didnt know it was graphic novel..
Cover seemed interesting and retelling of mahabharata what else I need to buy a book (except that I got it for 100)
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I liked this retelling
There were many things which I didn't know earlier were added in this version.
Like the story of king Pururava.
Specially the story of Yayati and Puru was new and interesting to me. ( I had heard it but couldn't remember it)

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Then this ...more

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Jan 30, 2018 Manish rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018, comics-graphic-novels, mahabharat, own

Amruta Patil’s graphic retelling of the Mahabharata came out in splendid hard back editions. The cheap looking paperback cover of this book made me a reluctant buyer. But as soon as I began reading, I felt that Penguin erred in not bringing this out in a hardback as it’s a worthy work. What stands out is the artistic style of integrating controversial statements. “Did Bhishma secretly envy Chitrangada’s ascent to the throne” and “Did he sow the seeds for the Kuru-Panchala enmity by recruiting ...more

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Jun 03, 2019 Gayathiri Rajendran rated it really liked it

This book wasn't what I expected it to be.The title is kind of misleading.I thought that this would be about Vyasa mostly but it's more about the various incidents in the Mahabharata.Graphically,this book is very exciting.The art is great and I loved the look.However,this book has a lot of controversial statements and one has to ponder over them.I liked the way the story was presented because it wasn't a conventional retelling of the great epic and the narration was fresh.

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Jan 04, 2018 Soumyabrata Sarkar rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites

Though I understand from a standpoint what @Fictionhead suggests in its review, I would like to disagree with the same.
Yes, the writers/illustrators/makers of this graphic novel may have chosen a leaner way to show the discrimination metted out to women. In most of the cases, the way the male counterparts act around the females are insensitive, mean and straightway disgusting. Yet, that is what we find in the main Ved-Vyasa story. And for each of the episodes and scenes, you get a reference at Though I understand from a standpoint what @Fictionhead suggests in its review, I would like to disagree with the same.
Yes, the writers/illustrators/makers of this graphic novel may have chosen a leaner way to show the discrimination metted out to women. In most of the cases, the way the male counterparts act around the females are insensitive, mean and straightway disgusting. Yet, that is what we find in the main Ved-Vyasa story. And for each of the episodes and scenes, you get a reference at the end appendices, singling out the incident for better perspective.
If today's authors would use their prerogative as artists and in their newly gained freedom they would exclude dialogues that show women as petty brides to be kidnapped, for the sake of redefining a story, then the most nearest good thing one would get is a fiction-based-newly-created saga like the Amish Trilogy of Shiva or the new Ikshavaku series.
That would instead belie the whole notion and idea of the title of the book : Vyasa.

For me it would have failed the brilliant cover that shows him, with all his foreboding of the impending doom and the eyes resembling thunders of war, as I turn one page after another to recount the horrors and marvels of the beginning of the grand tell he tells.

One point of keeping these untoward incidents may also be because they work as major plot points which one can't ignore or escape from. Being said the same, these incidents are not praised but shown as they must be : with contempt and in dark-humour, much what is needed in a graphic novel.

It felt much better in my eyes to get the story, as was composed by Vyasa and as it was deferentially told by the various bards : Sauti, Vaisampayana, Saunaka, or even the great Sage. The illustrations are out of this world and one can easily lost her/himself in it. Along with it, the writings/re-writing have been juxtaposed in the most sensible and perfect manner. All kudos to Shibaji Bandopadhyay and Sankha Banerjee.

I know that this kind of master storytelling needs patience to work upon and the next installments would take time, but after having this first bite, I am only craving for more. Must recommended if you are a graphic-novel fan :) ...more

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Apr 29, 2018 Shabbir rated it liked it

If the book is true to the original text, and I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be, the rampant misogyny in most of the anecdotes the book covers is quite disturbing. I hope this is by design, to elicit a sense of repulsion at the abysmally low depth patriarchy had ended up putting women, robbing them from all sense of agency.

Also, I expected the book to be a story of the early life of Vyasa, which it certainly is not. Rather, it's the story of Mahabharata, told in short anecdotes by a ...more

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Jan 18, 2020 Pretty Little Bibliophile rated it it was amazing

This book is on the Indian epic Mahabharata, a personal favourite. The story is by Sibaji Bandyopadhyay and the art is by Sankha Banerjee. The way this book was written was amazing. I loved the recurrent jumps in time and the overall framing structure that combined the stories within the story. However, it was only the first part and I was left dangling. Now I am eagerly waiting for the sequel to Vyasa: The Beginning. The art in this book is stunning as well and I was spellbound throughout. The ...more

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Jan 02, 2018 Fictionhead rated it it was ok

The illustrations are exquisite but the storytelling is insensitive to women. While I understand that epics might have been patriarchal and misogynistic but I don't agree that their recreations in 2017 have to be so. There is no compulsion. In fact, I would argue that today's authors must use their prerogative as artists to exclude dialogues that show women as petty brides to be kidnapped. Read this for the beautiful illustrations.

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Feb 27, 2018 Nikhil Gulati rated it liked it

The artwork is beautiful but the story telling leaves a lot to be desired. I like the fact that the narrator of the Mahabharata is also a character in the story and so we feel that the story we are being told is now “how it was” but “how it was remembered”. However, the story doesn’t flow very smoothly.. characters come and go... and maybe that is because this is just the set up for the main story.. in that hope I’m looking forward to the next volume.

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