Vedic literature was extensive and diverse. It held the wisest and most profound spiritual insight. It was only comprehended by the educated. Ramayana And Mahabharata gives us serious knowledge about human culture.

But it was difficult for the average person to be aware of the more profound philosophical ideas found in the Vedas, Upanishads, Aranyakas, etc.

They were aware of this. They eventually wrote the two major epics in an effort to spread knowledge among the general populace. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata were the two epics. Before the Christian era, the epics were composed in the latter half of the second millennium and the early part of the first millennium.

Ramayana:

Valmiki is the author of the Ramayana. It is broken into ten segments and has a total of 24 000 slokas. By singing Ramachandra’s noble actions, Valmiki, according to him, hoped to convey to the common people the substance of the Vedic lessons.

The life of Rama, the oldest child of Dasaratha, the ruler of Ayodhya, is chronicled in the Ramayana. When the old king Dasaratha wanted to set up Rama, the crown prince, on the throne, Rama made the decision to spend fourteen years in the forest to keep his father’s promise to Kaikeyi, his second queen, to honor her request at the appropriate time. Kaikeyee demanded that Rama be banished to the forest so that her son Bharata could sit on the throne. After the death of king Dasaratha in extreme sorrow over Rama, When Rama refused to return, a horrified Bharata proceeded to install his footwear on the throne and take over the government in his older brother’s stead.

Rama Departure From Chitrakuta

Rama’s departure from Chitrakuta and arrival at Dandakaranya, where he stays in a hut in the Panchavati jungle; the kidnapping of Sita by Lanka’s demon ruler, Ravana; building a bridge over the ocean and Rama’s invasion of Lanka; Sita’s rescue after the demons are destroyed; after fourteen years of exile, Rama, Sita, and Laxman return to Ayodhya; Rama’s maternal leadership of his people; a subject’s mistrust regarding Sita’s virginity while under Ravana’s control; Ayodhya visit by Valmiki with Kusha and Lava; Kusha and Lava’s melodious song from Valmiki’s Ramayana performed before the assembled gathering; the demands of everyone for Sita’s return; Sita’s stay in Valiniki’s Tapovan where her two sons Kusha and Lava were born; her teaching and training by Valmiki-, the royal sons grew up as heroic boys; and finally, g This is the main theme of the illustrious epic Ramayana.

Valmiki Role

Every moment of Rama’s life was meticulously detailed by Valmiki. To give the epic a broad structure, he inserted several educational stories side by side. The goal was to maintain humanity’s moral course. The Indian way of life has been shaped and governed by this epic as a social and moral code. Truthfulness, morality, and nobility are portrayed as the three highest objectives of life in the Ramayana.

Additionally, it captures the essence of the period, the character of the populace, the characteristics of an ideal monarchy, patriotic fervor for one’s country, and ideal human interactions. Indians have drawn motivation to live a better and nobler life for thousands of years from the precepts of the Ramayana.

Mahabharata:

The Bharata region is vast and lovely. The Mahabharata was written by Vyasa to recount the actions of the Bharata kingdom. The Mahabharata is the longest lyrical work ever produced. It can be found nowhere else on earth. One million ten thousand slokas make up this text.

At that time, the Mahabharata was considered a (religious) historical work. Some experts claim that the Vedas and Upanishads’ many doctrines were distilled into entertaining themes, incidents, and stories for the general public to absorb. The Mahabharata by Vyasa, a repository of knowledge, has shaped Indian philosophy for many ages. Everyone throughout the Indian subcontinent, regardless of gender, age, education, or literacy level, was familiar with Mahabharata’s central premise.

The First Chapter

The first chapter of Vyasa’s Mahabharata tells the tale of the “Lunar Dynasty Dominance “in Hastinapur. That dynasty’s honorable ruler Santanu had a son named Bhishma who was constantly honest and brave. Two further sons from King Santanu’s second queen, Satyabati, were born. Bichitrabirya and Chitrangada were their names. In keeping with his promise, Bhishma refused to take the kingdom following his father’s passing and remained a bachelor for the rest of his life. Therefore, Bichitrabirya was in charge of the kingdom.

Dhritarashtra and Pandu were the names of this king’s two sons. After their father’s passing, Pandu, the younger brother of Dhritarashtra, who had been blind since birth, took the kingdom. Five sons by the name of Yudhisthir, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadev were born to Pandu. They were referred to as Pandavas. As the offspring of the former monarch of the Kuru dynasty, on the other hand, the one hundred sons of Dhritarashtra were referred to as the Kauravas. The first of Dhrutarastra’s sons was Duryodhan.

King Pandu passed away, and each of his five sons received a share of the kingdom to manage. The Pandava brothers constructed their city, Indraprastha, inside the Khandava jungle. The Kaurava brothers were envious as a result of this. As a result, they asked the Pandava brothers to join them in a game of dice.

The Pandava monarch Yudhisthira was repeatedly vanquished by the Kauravas as they played tricks on him. The brothers who lost the wager agreed to live as exiles in forests for twelve years and then spend another year hiding from the authorities.

Pandava Brothers

The Pandava brothers petitioned the Kauravas for their kingdom when their thirteen-year suffering was over. However, the Kaurava monarch Duryodhan refused to cede his kingdom, claiming that he would not cede even a little portion of the land without a fight. The Pandavas and Kauravas engaged in a furious war at the battlefield of Kurukshetra as a result of this injustice. Many monarchs of India participated in the conflict by joining the Kauravas or the Pandavas.

Since Kurukshetra saw the ongoing struggle between right and wrong, goodness and evil, and the just and the unjust, it was also referred to as Dharmakshetra. All the Kaurava brothers, along with the majority of their supporters, were found dead at the conclusion of the battle. Numerous family members, including Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu, who was the battle’s top warrior, were also lost by the Pandava side.

The Pandavas took over the whole country after their victory in the battle of Kurukshetra, and Yudhisthira was crowned king. However, Yudhisthira left the kingdom in the hands of Parikshita, the dead Abhimanyu’s son, and set off for the Himalayas with his four brothers and wife out of a strong sense of regret for the loss of his family and in order to perform penance.