An Outline of the Religious Literature of India c7.s3.8

c7.s3.8

§ 47. In this chapter, then, we deal only with the first stage. The roots of popular epic poetry lie very far back, in dramatic stories in the Vedic hymns and narratives in the Brāhmaṇas;² and it is probable that the first attempts at actual epics (possibly indeed a rudimentary *Mahābhārata*, or *Rāmāyaṇa*) go back as far as the age of the Brāhmaṇas; for since the epic is popular, and its language is Sanskrit, it must have originated at a time when the warriors in the chieftain's hall understood heroic songs in Sanskrit, that is, a time when the popular and the cultured speech were still near enough to be practically one. That in India, as in Greece, the epic arose from the song that glorified the noble deed, stands out clearly in the ancient evidence. The early songs were sung; and the more elaborate compositions founded on them were either sung or recited with eloquent declamation and dramatic gesture.¹