This volume, the second in the Proceedings of the 13th World Sanskrit Conference (Edinburgh, July 2006), reflects the continued increase in interest in the Sanskrit epics seen in recent years, containing no less than 19 articles (a larger number than in the corresponding volume from the 12th WSC at Helsinki) by a number of distinguished scholars in the section devoted to the Sanskrit epics. The great majority of the articles focus on the Mahabharata but several focus on the Ramayana, as well as one on the Harivamua. The variety of approaches adopted by their authors underlines the vitality of this area of research and collectively these massive works, their place in the total field of Sanskrit literature and indeed of Indian literature and culture as a whole.