Ramayana

Ramayana (/rɑːˈmɑːjənə/;[1] Sanskrit: रामायणम्, Rāmāyaṇam [rɑːˈmɑːjəɳəm]) is an ancient Indian epic

poem which narrates the struggle of the divine prince Rama to rescue his wife Sita from the demon
king Ravana. Along with the Mahabharata, it forms the Hindu Itihasa.
The epic, traditionally ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki, narrates the life of Rama, the legendary
prince of the Kosala Kingdom. It follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest from the kingdom, by his
father King Dasharatha, on request of his second wife Kaikeyi. His travels across forests in India
with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, the kidnapping of his wife by Ravana, the demon king
of Lanka, resulting in a war with him, and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya to be crowned king.
There have been many attempts to unravel the epic's historical growth and compositional layers;
various recent scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text range from the 7th to 4th
centuries BCE, with later stages extending up to the 3rd century CE.[2]
The Ramayana is one of the largest ancient epics in world literature. It consists of nearly
24,000 verses (mostly set in the Shloka meter), divided into seven Kandas and about 500 sargas
(chapters). In Hindu tradition, it is considered to be the adi-kavya (first poem). It depicts the duties of
relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal father, the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the
ideal husband and the ideal king. Ramayana was an important influence on later Sanskrit poetry and
Hindu life and culture. Like Mahabharata, Ramayana is not just a story: it presents the teachings of
ancient Hindu sages in narrative allegory, interspersing philosophical and ethical elements. The
characters Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Bharata, Hanuman, Shatrughna, and Ravana are all
fundamental to the cultural consciousness of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and south-east Asian countries
such as Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia.
There are many versions of Ramayana in Indian languages, besides Buddhist, Sikh
and Jain adaptations. There are
also Cambodian, Indonesian, Filipino, Thai, Lao, Burmese and Malaysian versions of the tale.

Etymology[edit]
The name Ramayana is a tatpuruṣa compound of the name Rāma.

Textual history and structure[edit]

An artist's impression of Valmiki Muni composing the Ramayana

According to Hindu tradition, and the Ramayana itself, the epic belongs to the genre
of itihasa like Mahabharata. The definition of itihāsa is a narrative of past events (purāvṛtta) which
includes teachings on the goals of human life. According to Hindu tradition, Ramayana takes place
during a period of time known as Treta Yuga.[3]
In its extant form, Valmiki's Ramayana is an epic poem of some 24,000 verses. The text survives in
several thousand partial and complete manuscripts, the oldest of which is a palm-leaf
manuscript found in Nepal and dated to the 11th century CE. A Times of India report dated 18
December 2015 informs about the discovery of a 6th-century manuscript of the Ramayana at the
Asiatic Society library, Kolkata.[4] The Ramayana text has several regional renderings, recensions
and sub recensions. Textual scholar Robert P. Goldman differentiates two major regional revisions:
the northern (n) and the southern (s). Scholar Romesh Chunder Dutt writes that "the Ramayana, like
the Mahabharata, is a growth of centuries, but the main story is more distinctly the creation of one
mind."
There has been discussion as to whether the first and the last volumes (bala kandam and uttara
kandam) of Valmiki's Ramayana were composed by the original author. Most Hindus still believe
they are integral parts of the book, in spite of some style differences and narrative contradictions
between these two volumes and the rest of the book.[5]
Retellings include Kamban's Ramavataram in Tamil (c. 11th–12th century), Gona Budda
Reddy's Ramayanam in Telugu (c. 13th century), Madhava Kandali's Saptakanda
Ramayana in Assamese (c. 14th century), Krittibas Ojha's Krittivasi Ramayan (also known as Shri
Rama Panchali) in Bengali (c. 15th century), Sarala Das' Vilanka Ramayana(c. 15th
century)[6][7][8][9] and Balaram Das' Dandi Ramayana (also known as the Jagamohan Ramayana) (c.
16th century) both in Odia, sant Eknath's Bhavarth Ramayan (c. 16th century)
in Marathi, Tulsidas' Ramcharitamanas (c. 16th century) in Awadhi (which is an eastern form
of Hindi) and Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan's Adhyathmaramayanam in Malayalam.