RAMAYANA

This major Hindu epic narrates events which supposedly took place around 2000 BC. Like the Greek Iliad and Odyssey, Ramayana and the other major Sanksrit epic Mahabharata were used as the raw material for drama by Sanskrit writers.

The eponymous King Rama, in order to fulfill a promise of his father, went into exile for fourteen years instead of claiming the throne. He wandered from one jungle to another with his dutiful wife Sita, and his younger brother Lakshmana. During this exile, Rama does battle with evil in the form of various demons. In the central event of the epic, Rama chases a golden stag which is, in fact, a demon in disguise, and during his absence, Ravana, demon king of Lanka (modern Sri Lanka, once Ceylon), kidnaps Sita. Rama wages ware against Ravana aided by Hanuman, the Monkey General, who crosses the sea and sets Golden Lanka ablaze. Rama kills Ravana and rescues Sita. He then returns home having destroyed evil and established peace.