Thanks for Online Pdf Reader . These epics are very old and hence, have lots and lots of versions. So, it's very difficult to judge which version has minimum deviations from true events. However, you can get to know basic structure of story and more importantly philosophy behind it by following sources that I know of (there are many books in Hindi language that are equally good or even better but I am not listing them here). Few of the most recommended books are. Ramayana and Mahabharata by C. Rajagopalachari(Rajaji). Then you can move on to Krishnavatara series by KM Munshi. K. M. Munshi did excellent work on these books which can be referred for more intimate understanding of characters. Watch TV series Mahabharat of channel Star Plus with English subtitles. You can easily get it by googling it. It has nice Vfx and storyplay. Books are better but TV series will possibly seem to be more interesting. For a nice story you can also read. MahÄbhÄrata - Retold by Ká¹á¹£á¹a Dharma and RÄmÄyaá¹a - Retold by Ká¹á¹£á¹a Dharma An important point to remember is what should not be read. Devdutt Patnaik is an author who has marketed himself as an authority in Indian Mythology but his books have lots of completely wrong facts and interpretation that seem to have come out of random intuition. So, definitely avoid him. Thank you for reading.
PS — My blog post was not meant to say that the whole series was false.