Itihāsa — The Epics

इतिहास — महाकाव्य

Strictly the two great epics and their integral parts. Texts that circulate independently but originate inside an epic stay here and carry an “extracted from” pointer — one work, one home, many paths to it. Vernacular retellings are not here: a retelling is devotional poetry, and lives in Bhakti.

1 Work 3 Subdivisions Canon · Smṛti

Mahābhārata

महाभारत 1 Work

Eighteen parvas, roughly one hundred thousand verses — the longest epic composed.

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita - As It Is

श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता - यथारूप

Kṛṣṇa's counsel to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra — the most widely read scripture in the Hindu tradition, an episode within the Mahābhārata that stands on its own as a complete guide to duty, devotion, and self-realization.

A.C. Bhaktivendanta Swami Prabhupada · 18 Chapters

Rāmāyaṇa

रामायण Not yet catalogued

Vālmīki's ādi-kāvya, the first poem — seven kāṇḍas.

Khila

खिल Not yet catalogued

Appendix literature attached to the epic corpus.