Indian epic poetry is the
epic poetry written in the
Indian subcontinent, traditionally called
Kavya (or
Kāvya;
Sanskrit: काव्य, IAST:
kāvyá). The
Ramayana and
Mahabharata, originally composed in
Sanskrit and translated thereafter into many other Indian languages, are some of the oldest surviving epic poems on earth and form part of
itihāsa, which roughly means tradition, or (oral) history.