The History of Indian Literature c6.38

c6.38

*(a) Itihása,* 183–189: forerunners of Epic poetry in Vedic period, 183; the Mahá-Bhárata, 184; existence of a work resembling it in first century A.D., 186; legend of Mahá-Bhárata, its relation to Śatapatha-Bráhmaṇa, &c., 186; text of Mahá-Bhárata, non-epic constituents, 187; Kavi translation; Jaimini-Bhárata, 189; (*b*) *Puráṇas*: their general character—ancient Puráṇas lost—absence of epic and prominence of ritual element in existing Puráṇas and Upa-puráṇas, 190, 191; (*c*) *Kávyas*, 191–196: the Rámáyaṇa, 191; its allegorical character, 192; colonisation of Southern India, 193; Rámáyaṇa the work of a single author, 193; different recensions of the text, 194; remaining Kávyas, artificial Epic, 195.