Telling a story about a hero or about exciting events or adventures is called epic.
Very great or large and usually difficult or impressive
The famous Indian Epics are:
The Purana, The Mahabharata and The Ramayana
‘Maha’ means big. ‘Bharata’ basically means the descendants of the king Bharat.
Mahabharata really has come to mean the story of India itself and includes all experience, that one can have in worldly life. It’s 2000 years old, and has hundred thousand verses. It’s the longest poem in the world. Mahabharata ties India together. It doesn’t matter where people have grown up in far South-India or foot-hills of the Himalayas, they know these stories, they know these characters like members of their own families.