Ramayana · रामायण

A hunter's arrow strikes a bird; its mate cries out; a sage's grief pours out in a new rhythm — and the first poem is born. Why are there hundreds of Ramayanas across Asia, and what does Rama's story ask of us?

The sage Valmiki was walking by the Tamasa river when a hunter shot one of a pair of mating krauncha birds. Hearing the cry of its mate, Valmiki's sorrow (śoka) burst out in a curse that came in a perfect metrical form — the shloka. Brahma appeared and told him to use this new rhythm to tell the story of Rama. That is why the Ramayana is called the Ādi Kāvya, the first poem, and Valmiki the Ādi Kavi.

Valmiki's Ramayana has seven kandas: Bala (childhood), Ayodhya (exile), Aranya (the forest and Sita's abduction), Kishkindha (alliance with the vanaras), Sundara (Hanuman's journey to Lanka), Yuddha (the war) and Uttara (the later story). But Valmiki's is not the only Ramayana…

• Many Ramayanas
• Why the versions differ
• Dharma lived, not preached
• Hard questions

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• Valmiki Ramayana
• Ramcharitmanas — Tulsidas
• Kamba Ramayanam — Kamban
• Adhyatma Ramayana