besides the two great classical epics (mahàkavyas)—the mahabharata and the ramayana—indian literature claims eighteen puranas, each of which bears a distinctive title. these puranas treat mainly of "ancient legendary lore," and contain many tales of gods and sages, as well as descriptions of the hindu world, with mount meru as its centre, and also of the deluge.
many of the incidents of the two great epics inspired later poets to compose what are known as kavyas, or court epics. six of these by bahrtruhari are termed great court epics (mahàkavyas), and another, by the poet a?vaghosha, describing the doings of buddha at length, was translated, into chinese between 414 and 421 a.d. the golden age for the court epics (which were written from 200 b.c. to 1100 a.d.) was during the sixth century of our era.
in the fifth century a.d. the poet kalidasa composed a nineteen-canto epic, entitled raghuvam?a, wherein he related at length the life of rama, as well as of rama's ancestors and of his twenty-four successors. this poem abounds in striking similes, as does also the same poet's kumarasambhava or birth and wooing of the war god siva. there are, however, sundry cantos in all these poems which are too erotic to meet with favor among modern readers. kalidasa is also the author of an epic in prakrit, wherein he sings of the building of the bridge between india and ceylon and of the death of ravana.
we are told that the ramayana inspired the greatest poet of mediaeval india, tulsi das, to compose the ram charit manas, an epic wherein he gives a somewhat shorter and very popular version of rama's adventures. this work still serves as a sort of bible for a hundred million of the people of northern india.
the poet kaviraja (c. 800 a.d.) composed an epic wherein he combines the ramayana and mahabharata into one single poem. this is a hindu tour de force, for we are told that "the composition is so arranged that by the use of ambiguous words and phrases the story of the ramayana and the mahabharata is told at one and the same time. the same words, according to the sense in which they are understood, narrate the events of each epic."
