The first significant appearance of the word "Dvija" occurs in the Manu Smriti (166 mentions) composed between 2nd to 3rd century CE. The Yajnavalkya Smriti, composed in 4th or 5th-century CE mentions the word less often (40 times). The massive Hindu epics, the Valmiki Ramayana and the Mahabharata mention the word "Dvija" 214 and 1535 times respectively. This, states Patrick Olivelle, suggest that "Dvija" is not a Vedic or ancient tradition of Hinduism, but an innovation that appeared sometime in the 1st millennium CE. This word is a significant scholarly marker to identify a text as likely from medieval India.