About the Ramayana

The timeless journey of virtue

Srimad Valmiki Ramayana is an epic poem of India which narrates the journey of Virtue to annihilate vice. Sri Rama is the Hero and aayana is His journey. We in India believe that Sri Rama lived in Treta Yug, millennia BC, and we are presently concerned with what Srimad Valmiki Ramayana tells us, rather than when it was told.

This epic poem Ramayana is a smritiwhich is translated as “from memory.” Given the antiquity of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana, there have been some interjected verses. Sometimes these verses can be contradicting. However, scholars, grammarians, and historians have put lot of effort to standardize the original text, by verifying various manuscripts available from various parts of India, thus trying to stabilize and save the text from further contradictions.

Structure of the Ramayana

Srimad Valmiki Ramayana is composed of verses called Sloka, in Sanskrit language, in a complex meter called Anustup. These verses are grouped into individual chapters called Sargas, wherein a specific event or intent is told. These chapters are grouped into books called Kaandas— where Kaanda means the inter-node stem of sugar cane, or a particular phase of the story.

The Six Books

Bala Kanda (Book of Youth)

77 chapters — The origins of Rama, his childhood, and the story of his youth. Narrates the birth of Rama, his education, and his marriage to Sita.

Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya)

119 chapters — The preparations for Rama's coronation and his exile. Covers the palace intrigues, Rama's banishment to the forest for fourteen years, and the death of King Dasharatha.

Aranya Kanda (Book of the Forest)

75 chapters — Rama's life in the Dandaka forest. Describes encounters with sages and demons, and culminates in the abduction of Sita by Ravana.

Kishkindha Kanda (The Empire of Holy Monkeys)

67 chapters — Rama's alliance with the Vanara kingdom. Describes the friendship with Hanuman and Sugriva, the defeat of Vali, and the search for Sita.

Sundara Kanda (Book of Beauty)

68 chapters — Hanuman's journey to Lanka. Details Hanuman's leap across the ocean, his search for Sita in Lanka, and his meeting with her in Ashoka Vatika.

Yuddha Kanda (Book of War)

128 chapters — The great war between Rama and Ravana. Covers the building of the bridge to Lanka, the epic battles, the defeat of Ravana, and the coronation of Rama.

The Translators

This Valmiki Ramayana in Sanskrit is translated and presented by Sri Desiraju Hanumanta Rao (Bala, Aranya and Kishkindha Kanda) and Sri K. M. K. Murthy (Ayodhya, Sundara and Yuddha Kanda) with contributions from Durga Naaga Devi, Vaasudeva Kishore, Smt. Desiraju Kumari, and Smt. K. Rajeswari — with all enthusiasm and devotion to the classical literature of India.

aapadaam apahartaaram daataaram sarvasaMpadaam

lokaabhiraamam shriiraamam bhuuyo bhuuyo namaamyaham

“I bow again and again to Sri Rama Who removes all obstacles, grants all wealth and pleases all.”