The Ramayana

 Valmiki's Ramayana, the oldest version of Ramayana, is the basis of all the various versions of the
Ramayana that are relevant in the various cultures. The text survives in numerous complete and
partial manuscripts, the oldest surviving of which is dated from the eleventh century AD.[7] The
current text of Valmiki Ramayana has come down to us in two regional versions from the north and
the south of India. Valmiki Ramayana has been traditionally divided into seven books, dealing with
the life of Rama from his birth to his death.
 The story is about Rama, a prince in the city of Ayodhya - the capital of Kosala kingdom, belonging
to Suryavansh (the Sun dynasty) - sometimes referred to as Raghuvansh (Raghu dynasty, named
after Raghu, one of his illustrious forefathers). The story starts just before his birth and ends after
his death when his two sons ascend to power. The story operates at multiple levels: at one level, it
describes the society at that time: vast empires, the life of a prince destined to become the next
king, the rivalry between mothers and stepmothers, the bond of affection and loyalty between
brothers, contests to win the hands of a princess, etc. At a second level, it describes how a ethical
human being and a leader of men conducts himself at all times, facing situations with equanimity,
rising to occasions to lead his people independent of his own personal tragedies and limitations,
cultivating affection and respect of his people. At yet another level, it is a story of the seventh
incarnation of Lord Vishnu, incarnating as a human this time, combating evil, restoring justice in
the land, fully aware of his divinity and yet resorting to using his superhuman powers only when
absolutely necessary.
 The story is as follows:
Dasa-ratha, the king of Kosala, has been
childless for a long time, and is anxious
to produce an heir. He performs a ritual (
Puthrakameshti Yagna) for the gods to
bless him with progeny. The gods
present him with a bowl of divine nectar.
His three queens partake of this, and in
due course four princes - Rama,
Lakshmana and Shatrughna (twins), and
Bharata - are born to them. Rama, being
the eldest, is naturally being groomed as
the future king. All the brothers are close-
knit, with Lakshmana forming the closest
bond with Rama. Together, they are
schooled in archery. Vishwaamitra, one
of the legendary seven sages of
Hindu mythology, trains them in the art of
firing missile-arrows imbued with power
by secret chants that can cause them to
shower fire or water on enemies, and
even follow them through the seven
worlds until they are killed.
 Vishwamitra leads Rama and Lakshmana to Mithila, the capital city of the kingdom of
Videha ruled by king Janaka. Janaka's daughter Sita (also called Janaki, Vaidehi,
Mythili) is to wed, and the king is holding a contest to select the best prince for his
daughter. Rama wins the contest and returns home to Ayodhya with his new bride.
 The time comes for Dasaratha to coronate Rama as the next king. Kaikeyi, the third
and youngest of Dasaratha's queens, reminds her husband of his promise to her a
long time ago that he would grant her any two wishes she had. This happened on an
occasion when Dasaratha was wounded in his chariot on the battlefield, and Kaikeyi
saved his life by taking over the reins and driving the chariot to safety. Kaikeyi
demands that her son Bharata be the next king, and that Rama is banished to the
forest (see: vanvas) for fourteen years, in order to prevent him from damaging
Bharata's rule. The king, unable to refuse these wishes agrees. The coronation
preparations are halted and Rama told to prepare to leave for the forest. At first,
Rama wants to go to the forest alone, but Sita and Lakshmana will have none of it
and convince Rama that, for them, "Ayodhya is wherever Rama is".
 The king descends into despair when the three leave for the forest, and dies soon
afterwards. All this while, Bharata and Shatrughna have been away from the
kingdom. They are summoned upon their father's death, and when they arrive, are
told what has happened. Bharata is aghast at his mother's greed (ostensibly for his
good), and promises that he will restore Rama as king. He travels to the forest to
convince Rama to return to Ayodhya. Rama refuses on the grounds that he must
obey his father's command but allows Bharata to take Rama's sandals back to
Ayodhya so that Bharata can symbolically enthrone Rama's sandals and rule as
regent for Rama.
The story details with the experiences of the trio in the forest,
especially how the royals, used to soft living and multitudes of
servants, train themselves to live frugally amongst nature and be
self-sufficient. It also covers the interactions between them and the
various hermits and sages living in the forest, some of who realize
the divinity of Rama. Rama and Lakshmana frequently battle the
forest demons that disturb the hermits' meditations. One of the
demons who had been defeated by them decides to take revenge.
She describes the beauty of Sita to her brother, Ravana, the demon
king of Lanka (modern day Sri Lanka). Ravana decides that he must
possess Sita, and has one of his brothers take the form of a deer to
attract Sita's attention. Sita sends out Rama to capture the deer for
her as a pet. The deer leads Rama far away from their cottage, and
when Rama realizes that this is no ordinary deer, he kills it. The dying
demon shouts Sita's and Lakshmana's names in Rama's voice,
causing Sita to send Lakshmana out to help Rama. When the cottage
is thus unguarded, Ravana sweeps in, kidnaps Sita and flies off to
Lanka. When Rama sees Lakshmana approaching him, he at once
realizes the trick. They both run back to the cottage to find it empty.
The rest of the story is about how Rama and Lakshmana travel to
Lanka to fight and kill the demon king and to get Sita back. They
start out by travelling south (in the direction Ravana was seen to
have flown with Sita), killing demons and helping hermits and sages
along the away, until they reach Kishkinda, where Rama befriends
Sugriva, the king of a troupe of monkeys. His belief that they're on
the right track is reinforced when the monkeys show him a bundle of
jewels that fell from the sky - Sita had removed her jewels and
dropped them to earth while being carried away. Sugriva sends
groups of monkeys in all four directions to scout out the location of
Raavana. The group that travels south contains Hanumaan,
Sugriva's minister. Being the son of the Wind God, Hanumaan is
endowed with supernatural strength and powers. When the troupe
reaches the southern tip of India and are at a loss as how they were
to proceed, Hanumaan decides to leap across the sea to Lanka and
continue the search there. He locates Sita imprisoned there,
identifies himself, and assures her that help is coming. He also has
skirmishes with the demon king's army and informs Ravana that his
days are numbered.
Upon Hanumaan's return from Lanka, the entire monkey army and
Rama and Lakshmana march to Lanka (building a bridge across the
By this time the required period of exile of fourteen years has come
to an end. Rama returns to Ayodhya and is crowned as king. He rules
as a just king for several decades. He exiles Sita to the forest when
he overhears a conversation casting doubts on her fidelity: "unlike
Sita, my wife has never left my household". In the forest, Sita, now
pregnant with Rama's twins, is taken care of by the sage Vaalmiki
(another one of the seven legendary sages of Hindu mythology).
(Many stories in Hindu mythology have some autobiographical
segments, where the author features in the story.) Rama's twin sons
Lava and Kusha are born and brought up in the sage's hermitage.
As emperor, Rama performs a horse sacrifice (Ashwamedha Yagna)
to enlarge his empire. (The horse sacrifice is a ritual where an
emperor sends out a horse accompanied by a huge army to various
neighboring lands. Into whichever kingdom the horse wanders, the
local king can allow the horse to wander - signalling that his
kingdom may be annexed, or tie up the horse - indicating that he's
ready to battle the emperor's army to prevent his kingdom from
being annexed. The horse wanders into the forest where Rama's
twin sons live and they tie the horse, not knowing its significance.
When confronted by the accompanying army, they refuse to untie
the horse and soundly defeat the army. (They had been trained in
arms by the sage Vaalmiki since he knew that one day they would be
kings.) Rama hears of this and guesses that two youths at a