# Are the Ramayana and Mahabharata History? A Debate on Caste - Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2120098377518203104 - Source account: [@Maha_Periyavaa](https://x.com/Maha_Periyavaa) - Source language: Tamil - Target language: English - Duration: 2:13 - Published: 2026-11-10 - Machine translated. Check the original before quoting. - Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste - Original-language version: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/ta/%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%AF%E0%AE%A3%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%AA%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%B2%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%B1%E0%AE%BE-%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%BF-%E0%AE%86%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%B1%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4-%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D.md ## Transcript [0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste) Did the Ramayana and Mahabharata really happen? [0:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=3) They’re just made up, sir. How do you know they’re made up? [0:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=6) Mr. Neelakandan says so. From now on, Neelakandan is your authority. [0:09](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=9) As far as this is concerned, that’s all Neelakandan knows. [0:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=12) Exactly. Sir, can I ask you something? Was Aurangzeb real? He was. [0:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=18) Have you seen him? Is he your uncle? Was the Maratha warrior Shivaji real? Mm-hm. [0:23](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=23) How do you know all this? I read it in a book. [0:26](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=26) This is in books too. Why don’t you read the Ramayana and Mahabharata? [0:29](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=29) Then those would become real too. Sir, that’s history. [0:31](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=31) That’s history. History. What is history, sir? [0:35](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=35) What you witnessed firsthand is something someone wrote down at some point. [0:39](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=39) What someone from that time wrote down. Someone living today writes about what happened back then. [0:43](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=43) That’s why a British scholar said… That history is a pack of lies. [0:49](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=49) But that doesn't bother you. All right, let's leave all this aside, sir. [0:54](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=54) Did your great- great- grandfather have a grandfather? He did. [0:57](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=57) Ah. Was he a good man? A very good man. Oh. [1:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=60) How do you know, sir? My grandfather told me. Ah. [1:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=63) You believe it when your grandfather tells you. [1:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=65) This is the grandfather of Vyasa, Valmiki, and everyone else, sir. [1:08](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=68) Wouldn't you believe this if someone told you? [1:10](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=70) If it were written down. Sir, these are stories told so Brahmins could dominate, sir. [1:15](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=75) Stories told by Brahmins. Vyasa wasn't a Brahmin. Valmiki wasn't a Brahmin either. [1:20](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=80) Vyasa was born to a fisherwoman. Valmiki was a hunter. [1:27](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=87) Did these two say they were Brahmins? All right, who did they talk about? [1:32](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=92) Valmiki spoke about Rama. Rama was a Kshatriya, not a Brahmin. [1:37](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=97) Vyasa spoke about Krishna. Krishna belonged to the Yadava clan. [1:41](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=101) He wasn't a Brahmin either. Sir, the people who said it weren't Brahmins. [1:45](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=105) The people being talked about weren't Brahmins either. [1:47](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=107) Why would they say that? How can you say this was about Brahmin domination? [1:52](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=112) Then they should have portrayed the Brahmin as superior, shouldn't they? [1:55](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=115) Some Brahmin. He was a king. He was that kind of ruler. [1:58](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=118) That's how he should have told the story, right? [2:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=120) But they didn't tell it that way. In fact, if you look at the Ramayana, a Brahmin sage named Jabali persuades him otherwise. [2:08](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=128) He persuades him by arguing for atheism. [2:11](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/IEY4QDV1Gpzk/en/are-the-ramayana-and-mahabharata-history-a-debate-on-caste?t=131) Why is that?