The Geography of the Puranas c7.s1.23

c7.s1.23

The subject matter of the Epics, i.e., the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata, in some cases goes back to the remotest antiquity, but both of them in their existing forms are far later than any of the Vedic hymns, and probably posterior to all the Brāhmaṇas. The two Epics, are intimately related and include a large number of substantially identical verses (for instance, the present edition of the Rāmāyaṇa has copied from the Mahābhārata a whole chapter word for word: Canto 100 of the Ayodhyākāṇḍa is the same as Chapter 5 of the Sabhāparva). However, the original works of Vālmīki, that is to say, Books II-VI of the Rāmāyaṇa are believed to have been completed before the Epic kernel of the Mahābhārata had assumed a definite shape. We shall therefore consider the geographical ideas contained in the Rāmāyaṇa first.