Indian literature spans several millennia, describing a variety of lifestyles, traditions, and cultures across a vast and diverse region, written in dozens of languages. Famous works originating from India include poetry, scriptures, novels and epics, all of which were originally written in different languages, ranging from ancient Sanskrit, Hindi, English and many other regional dialects. The two most notable Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, are the best known throughout Indian country. ("The Epics of India, Ancient and Modern.") These two stories, which bear great similarities to Western works such as Homer's Odyssey and the Bible, tell a story of kingdoms and gods that contains many central themes of Hinduism, such as dharma and karma. The Ramayana is attributed to the sage Valmiki, who wrote the epic around 2500 years ago. The original version was written in the ancient Sanskrit language, which is now considered a dead language, but holy to the gods. Although a full transcription of Valmiki's work could not be found, partial renderings and scripts exist that may date back to his time. This story was passed down primarily through oral tradition, primarily by the saints and learned reciters of the ancient kingdoms. The tradition of passing on this story is still relevant today, and it is told in more modern modes such as films, television series, and theater. Due to India's regional diversity, the Ramayana has been rendered differently in each region, taking on different meanings and emphasizing different scenes and features of the epic. For example, many in South India worship the monkey Hanuman, who helped Rama during his stay in the forest and his journey to defeat middle of paper...... and which these two epics granted great importance to dharma.In conclusion, these two poems are epic in their themes and spirit, but they are unlike any other epic in the world, but are entirely of their own nature and typically different from others in their principle. These epics are therefore a highly artistic representation of the meanings of life, a developed ethical spirit and a high social, political and spiritual ideal of dharma, and the image of a great culture. These Indian epic poems were designed to serve a greater cultural function and should have been received and absorbed by both the elite and the common man, the cultured and the masses and remained for twenty centuries an intimate and formative part of the life of the entire nation is the strongest possible proof of the greatness of these ancient Indian epics.