RAMAYANA. - Valmiki, the author of the R., was the first Indian poet who composed an artistic poem (*kāvya*) based on motifs from popular epic, in the 3rd or 4th century B.C. Over the course of five centuries (until about the middle of the 2nd century A.D.), the Sanskrit text underwent additions and interpolations, reaching its current extent of 24,000 couplets.
The first and seventh books are apocryphal, in which only the hero Rāma is regarded as an incarnation of Viṣṇu. The content of the original R. is as follows: Daśaratha, king of Kosala (Oudh), had three wives and four sons, the eldest of whom, Rāma, born of Kauśalyā, was about to be associated with his father in the regency under the title of *yuvarāja* or heir apparent, when Kaikeyī, the youngest of Daśaratha’s wives, appealing to a promise the king had sworn to grant her two wishes at any time, obtained that her son Bharata should succeed to the throne, and that Rāma should be sent into exile for fourteen years. Accompanied by his faithful consort Sītā and his half-brother Lakṣmaṇa, Rāma took refuge in the Dandaka forest, where Bharata, disappointing his mother’s ambitions, went to beg him to occupy the vacant throne following the death of their father, who had died of grief. When his entreaties proved vain, Bharata agreed to rule in his brother’s name until his return. Rāma had undertaken a victorious struggle against the evil spirits infesting the forest, thereby incurring the hatred of the demon Rāvaṇa, lord of Laṅkā (Ceylon), who succeeded in abducting Sītā and carrying her off to his island. Rāma sought the aid of the monkeys, his allies, the boldest of whom leapt across the ocean, reached Laṅkā, and brought Sītā tidings of Rāma. A vast bridge was then built by the monkeys, over which the simian army, led by Rāma, crossed the sea and conquered Laṅkā. Rāvaṇa was slain by Rāma, who, having returned to his homeland with his liberated wife, reigned happily for a long time.
The pathetic and the marvellous are the dominant notes of the poem, which still enjoys immense popularity in India. Translated into nearly all the modern Indian dialects, it was reworked by Tulsī Dās (1532–1623) under the title *Rāmcaritamānas*: “Lake of the Deeds of Rāma.” This reworking in Eastern Hindi has become a sacred book for the Rāmcaritānis of every social class, who draw comfort from Rāma’s heroic steadfastness in misfortune amid the evils of existence. When staged, the episodes of Rāma attract large crowds, especially during sacred festivals in honour of Rāma-Viṣṇu. The heroic monkey Hanumat is a favourite character in folk theatre.