The Ramayna and the Mahabharta
After the Vedic Age in India, when the Vedas were written, came what is called the Epic Age. It is called the Epic Age because two great epics, that is long poems telling us the stories of great heroes, were written then. These two books were the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which you know. During the Epic Age, the Aryans had spread out all over Northern India up to the Vindhya mountains. All this land was called 'Aryavarta', as I have told you. What is the United Provinces now was called the Madhyadesha, the middle country. Bengal was called Vanga. Now there is an interesting fact which you may like to know. If you look at the map of India and imagine where Aryavarta must have been, between the Himalayas and the Vindhya mountains, you will see it is rather like a crescent moon. Therefore Aryavarta was also called the land of the Moon. Indu means moon and so Aryavarta was Indu- land.i The Aryans were very fond of the crescent moon. They considered all crescent-shaped plac