ABSTRACT
There exists a great divergence of opinion regarding the historicity of the two Indian epics, namely the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. According to some, everything mentioned in these texts is true to the very letter, while others regard them as mere figments of the imagination. Such confusion seems to prevail because there are no inscriptions contemporary with the events mentioned in these epics, which could indisputably authenticate their historicity. The earliest inscriptions available in India date back to the third or fourth century BC (leaving aside the inscriptions of the Indus Civilization, which, unfortunately, still remain undeciphered). On the other hand, the events narrated in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, if these had a basis in historical reality, are unlikely to have been later than the time of the Buddha, that is the sixth or fifth centuries BC, since the history of India after the Buddha is so well known that it is difficult to accommodate the Mahabharata and the Ramayana events thereafter.
