Itihāsa

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Itihāsa (Skt., ‘so indeed it was’). Early Hindu literature, comprising legends, myths, poems, etc., associated with epics and purāṇas (especially the eighteen Mahāpurāṇas), which is then later called the fifth Veda. More generally the great epics (Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa) are termed itihāsa.