Few works in world literature have inspired so vast an audience, in nations with radically different languages and cultures, as the <i>Ramayana </i>and <i>Mahabharata,</i> two Sanskrit verse epics written some 2,000 years ago. <br>In <i>Ramayana</i> (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. <br>The same is true for the <i>Mahabharata</i>--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." <br>Presented accessibly for the general reader without compromising the spirit and lyricism of the originals, William Buck's <i>Ramayana</i> and <i>Mahabharata</i> capture the essence of the Indian cultural heritage.