A Tribute to My Grandmother
A Legacy of Love: Preserving the Story of Mahabharat Through 3 Generations of My Family
Project Background
This is the story behind a labor of love—one that spans three generations of women in my family. It’s a tribute to the power of storytelling, and how an ancient epic has continued to live on through handwritten pages, quiet translation, and now, digital retelling.
On my mother’s side of the family, the Mahabharat has been more than an ancient Indian epic—it has been a shared thread, passed from grandmother to daughter to me. Each of us has held it, shaped it, and preserved it in our own way.
It all began in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when India aired its first-ever televised adaptation of the Mahabharat—a landmark Hindi-language series that spanned 94 episodes. My grandmother, Malti Harshey, was deeply captivated by the show. Having grown up listening to and reading the epic in various forms, she saw the series not just as entertainment but as a revival of something deeply sacred.
Inspired, she began documenting each episode—writing her own reflections and summaries in Marathi, her native language. Her journal became a personal retelling of the Mahabharat, penned with devotion, insight, and love. She completed all 94 episodes—one thoughtful chapter at a time.
After her passing in 2003, my mother, Mohini Harshey, inherited the journal. For years, she kept it safe—tucked away as a treasured memory. But after moving to the United States to live with me, she felt a renewed calling. She began translating the entire journal into English, chapter by chapter—preserving not just the words, but the spirit and rhythm of her mother’s storytelling. She completed this quiet labor of love in 2023.
Now, I am stepping into this legacy with deep gratitude and a desire to share it with the world. With the help of ChatGPT, I’m shaping these translations into flowing, narrative blog posts—retelling the Mahabharata through the lens of my grandmother’s handwritten notes, my mother’s translations, and my own voice as a storyteller in the digital age.
This blog is the next chapter in that journey. It is a digital archive of love, made to honor my grandmother’s memory, my mother’s dedication, and the timeless power of an epic.
It is also a space for our extended family—my aunts, uncle, cousins, and loved ones spread across the world—who all cherished my grandmother and will, I hope, enjoy reconnecting with her words.
What to Expect
I will be periodically posting my summaries of group of episodes based on these journal entries, shaped into narrative form. You can find the episode summaries on this page Episode Summaries .
New posts will be added regularly, and each one will continue to trace the path of this epic—not just through the story of kings and wars, but through the lives and love of three women who helped it live on.
Thank you for joining me on this journey.
Once I stop crying , I will read everything again .
May the legacy of our family and the love we bear I. Our hearts for each other stay eternally strong ..
Dear Devi maushi, hope you enjoy reading it and reconnecting with Mummy through these pages!
What a beautiful thing to do Tripti! Vow! I felt the sobs rising in my throat, not just at the sight of her meticulous and aesthetic handwriting, but at the love you and Mona have brought to preserving her memory for the ages in this new world. Her Marathi handwriting was as beautiful as her English one. The sight of the journal evoked memories of her many solitary, single-minded pursuits, always utterly content in her own company. I was moved too by your mother Mona’s diligence in translating Marathi notes on 94 (!) episodes into English in an equally beautiful hand that looks like calligraphy, an art that is rapidly being lost and also worth preserving. I will be calling the orange journal MahaMohini. Bravo! I was moved as well by your commitment to both YOUR mother and MINE through this undertaking. To quote William Faulkner ‘The past is never dead. It’s not even past’. You make me proud.
Dear Rasika maushi, thank you for sharing your heartfelt words! It is truly becoming a very special project for me and for all of us.
Hi Tripti,
This is a tremendously touching revelation, to know the enormity of the mission that Mona maushi and you have quietly undertaken all these years … I had no idea this was brewing under the hood!
It’s overwhelming to imagine the decades of individual effort, starting from October 1988 – that this journey has taken. And to think that the daughter of each generation found it equally compelling to continue and interpret the project in her own meaningful way .. it’s incredibly rare for a personal project (and not a business) to be passed down through generations, with passion.
I’m so proud of you and of Mona maushi and ever so happy that you thought of sharing this story with the world. Tiiiiight hugs to both of you! I’m looking forward to the upcoming blogs 🙂
Thank you dear Karishma.
It’s been a piecemeal journey—shaped by Mummy, Aai, and now me—across different times and hands, but always held together by the single thread of storytelling. I’m grateful that it’s looks like it is coming together as a more coordinated effort, even though it didn’t begin that way 🙂
Hi Titu,You and Mona have done a great job,by transforming Kaku ‘s written Mahabharat in Marathi, then in English. Very proud of you both to keep up the tradition of age old journals in the family. Kaku was brilliant and very practical. I learnt my practicality from her
Lots of love to you all.
Thank you Bharati maushi. I am so glad that you find this effort meaningful. I am hoping our future generations will also find these pages some day and find knowledge and wisdom through these age-old stories.