Ramayana
Sign in to saveThe Ramayana (; ), also known as the Valmiki Ramayana, as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics of Hinduism known as the Itihasas, the other being the Mahabharata. The epic narrates the life of Rama, the seventh avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu, who was a prince of Ayodhya in the kingdom of Kosala. The epic follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest urged by his father King Dasharatha, on the request of Rama's stepmother Kaikeyi; his travels across the forests in the Indian subcontinent wi
AI overview
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic from India that tells the story of Rama, a prince considered an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, and his fourteen-year exile to the forest. It is one of the two most important epics in Hinduism and remains a foundational text that has shaped Hindu culture and values for thousands of years.
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Key facts
- Religious text.name
- Rāmāyaṇa
- Religious text.image
- Rāma slays Rāvaṇa.png
- Religious text.caption
- Rāma slaying Rāvaṇa, from a royal Mewar manuscript, 17th century
- Religious text.author
- Valmiki
- Religious text.religion
- Hinduism
- Religious text.language
- Sanskrit
- Religious text.period
- 7th century BCE – 3rd century CE
- Religious text.native_wikisource
- वाल्मीकिरामायणम्
- Religious text.orig_lang_code
- sa
- Religious text.wikisource
- The Ramayana
- Religious text.verses
- 24,000
- Religious text.chapters
- 500 Sargas, 7 Kandas
Article
43 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Dating
- Textual characteristics
- Genre
- Structure
- Recensions
- Characters
- Synopsis
- ''Bāla Kā���ḍa''
- ''Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa''
- ''Araṇya Kāṇḍa''
- ''Kiṣkindhā Kāṇḍa''
- ''Sundara Kāṇḍa''
- ''Yuddha Kāṇḍa''
- ''Uttara Kāṇḍa''
- Versions
- India
- Early references in Tamil literature
- Buddhist version
- Jain versions
- Southeast Asian
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- Myanmar (Burma)
- Philippines
- Thailand
- Critical edition
- Commentaries
- Influence
- Holidays
- Vijayadashami
- Diwali
- In art
- In popular culture
- Stage
- Nomenclatures
- Texts and translations
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Sources
- Further reading
- External links
The Ramayana (; ), also known as the Valmiki Ramayana, as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics of Hinduism known as the Itihasas, the other being the Mahabharata. The epic narrates the life of Rama, the seventh avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu, who was a prince of Ayodhya in the kingdom of Kosala. The epic follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest urged by his father King Dasharatha, on the request of Rama's stepmother Kaikeyi; his travels across the forests in the Indian subcontinent with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana; the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana, the king of Lanka; and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya along with Sita to be crowned king amidst jubilation and celebration.
Scholarly estimates for the earliest stage of the text range from the 7th–5th to 5th–4th century BCE, and later stages extend up to the 3rd century CE, although the original date of composition is unknown. It is one of the largest ancient epics in world literature and consists of nearly 24,000 shlokas (verses), divided into seven (chapters). Each shloka is a couplet (two individual lines). The Ramayana belongs to the genre of Itihasa, narratives of past events (), interspersed with teachings on the goals of human life.