On the Diwali myths

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In popular mythology, the festival of Diwali is best known as marking the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya after his long years of banishment and his killing of the demon Ravana. However, depending on which sacred text you read, the day is significant for other reasons too.

For instance, it commemorates the death of Narakasura at the hands of Krishna, a story widely told in the Puranas. Also, according to the Skanda Purana, Deepavali marks the final day of a period of austerity observed by the goddess Shakti in order to obtain half the body of Lord Shiva.

There are many notable translations of the ancient texts that deal with these stories. Here's one.

The Ramayana: A Modern Translation
Ramesh Menon
HarperCollins, 880 pages

In the past few years, Ramesh Menon's evocative prose has been a godsend for English-language readers wanting to discover or re-discover Hindu mythology. Menon's most acclaimed work is his excellent two-volume translation of the Mahabharata, published in 2004, but he has also done English renderings of such texts as the Siva Purana, the Devi Bhagavatam and the Life of Krishna.

The Ramayana is an epic that sometimes gets short shrift from modern readers (this is understandable to an extent "" as a work of depth and complexity, it pales when set beside the Mahabharata), but Menon's translation is a marvel of good, economical storytelling.

The writing has a contemporary feel to it, so as not to alienate the modern reader, but it's clear the author has respect for the original myths; it isn't his intention to take on the purists. This book strikes a near-perfect balance between detail and narrative excitement, and may well be the best single-volume English translation of the epic now available.