[Advaita-l] Are Vedic Characters and events fictitious?

[Rajaram Venkataramani]

We have Dwaraka and Ayodhya. The question that arises for those who believe
in the yuga cycle is whether these cities were destroyed after that
particular yuga. If they were, then how do they exist today? If people
developed these places based on the stories described in the Vedas, then we
already agree that Vedas predates the places. People take birth in places
and cannot exist without the places. So, Vedas exist before these places
and people. It does not mean that real people don't appear in real places
as per the script in the Vedas. And the authors of smrti add to the corpus
of literature after the real event. But the historical reality of the
people, places and events is secondary to the anadi and apaureshya sabda.