ABSTRACT
The Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa are India’s most popular tales. 1 I concentrate here on the Sanskrit versions of the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa, which are the earliest surviving versions. 2 Scholars often date these Sanskrit texts to an extended period, from about 500 bce to 500 ce, and for various adventitious reasons assume – there is no direct evidence for it – that they developed gradually, with significant dependence upon oral versions. Much of the secondary literature on these texts involves text-historical speculation, and until recently they have rarely been studied as unitary works of literature. Taking them as units could imply more unitary dates of composition.
