Itihasa (itihāsa)

Itihasa means literally so it was, and names the class of narrative to which the Mahabharata and the Ramayana belong: history told for the sake of instruction. The Mahabharata calls itself the fifth Veda and claims to be open to everyone, including those barred from Vedic study. Its structure of stories inside stories, with Ugrashrava reciting to sages what Vaishampayana recited to Janamejaya what Vyasa composed, is part of the claim, since each retelling insists the account has been handed down rather than invented.