Ramayana, the Sanskrit epic of 24,000 stanzas was written by Valmiki and was taught to Lava and Kusha,

the twin sons of Rama who sang it before their father. It was then that Rama recognized them to be his own sons. Valmiki, who was a pirate called Ratnakara in his younger days, used to waylay people passing through the forests and rob them. Once the divine sage Narada passed by, and when assailed by the pirate, asked him why he was committing such sinful acts. Ratnakara said he had to support his family, and the sage told him to go home and ask his family if they would be willing partners in accepting the resulting fruits of his sins as well. Ratnakara tied the sage to a tree, and asked each of his family members. The family told him bluntly he was only doing his duty of feeding them, and they had nothing to do with any sin his profession entailed. Ratnakara repented his sins, and as advised by Narada, he sat meditating on Ramas name. Ages passed, but he moved not. The Time moved on, and an anthill formed around him, and that was how Narada found him when he returned years later.

Narada brought him out of trance saying he had now become a sage of the highest order, a Brahmarshi, and having come out of an ant hill (Valmika) would be known as Valmiki. Valmiki once asked if there was a perfect man on earth who never swerved from the path of righteousness. Narada narrated to him the story of Rama and left. Filled with the ennobling thoughts of Rama, Valmiki went to river Tamas for his morning ablutions. In the peaceful atmosphere prevailing there, two Krauncha birds were frolicking, when all of a sudden, the male bird fell prey to a hunters arrow, and the female bird cried piteously. Moved and angered by this sight, Rishi Valmiki uttered a curse in Sanskrit that had taken the form of a verse or a Shloka.

As the sage brooded over his own words, it struck him that his impromptu words followed a meter, and that this had been never done by anyone before. Lord Brahma appeared before him and said the words he had spoken had been inspired by him, and following this metric pattern, he should compose the story of Rama as Ramayana. He also blessed him with a divine vision to see

the past, present and the future, and said whatever Valmiki said in Ramayana would be regarded as an absolute truth.

The Story of Ramayana King Ravana had become powerful because of the boon granted to him by Brahma that he would be unassailable by Devas, Asuras, Gandharvas and other heavenly beings. Emboldened, Ravana persecuted the gods relentlessly, and the gods supplicated to Brahma and Vishnu that they put an end to their miseries. In his arrogance, Ravana had not cared to ask for security against mankind. It was decided that Vishnu be born as a man and kill Ravana.

On the banks of the Sarayu River stood the beautiful city of Ayodhya, capital of the ancient kingdom of Kosala. Dasharatha, the king of Ayodhya, belonged to the Ikshvaku dynasty, which was founded by Ikshvaku, the grandson of Surya or Sun.

Dasharatha had three wivesKausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitrabut no sons to succeed him, something that worried him no end. As advised by his Guru Vasishtha, Dasharatha performed a fire sacrifice or Yagna, and out of the sacrificial fire, a god appeared and gave a big bowl of sweet pudding or payasam to Dashratha, directing him to give it to his wives. In a somewhat quirky distribution of this payasam, the eldest queen Kausalya gets a major portion, where as Kaikeyi and Sumitra get the remaining, though Sumitra happens to get two shares of the apportioned payasam. The result is Kausalya gets Rama, Kaikeyi gets Bharata, and twins named Lakshmana and Shatrughna are born to Sumitra.

In the kingdom of Mithila, King Janaka prepares to conduct a Yagna too. As a part of the ritual, he ploughs the land, and finds a casket with a girl child whom he names Sita. Dasharathas
children grow sufficiently trained in archery under the guidance of Guru Vasishtha. From the childhood, Rama and Lakshmana are inseparable.

One day, Sage Vishwamitra comes to Ayodhya and asks Dasharatha to send Rama and Lakshmana to help him perform yagnas without fear of being disturbed by demoness Tataka and her sons Subahu and Maricha. The demons or the asuras often defiled the rituals, and tormented the Rishis.

Dasharatha is unwilling to send his 16-year old sons ; instead, he is prepared to send his entire army in Vishwamitras aid. Vishwamitra is adamantly insistent that only the royal children will do. Fearing the sages ire, Dasharatha sends Rama and Lakshmana to accompany Vishwamitra to Dandakaranya forest. Rama and Lakshmana kill Tataka and Subahu and hurl Mareecha into the sea, and drive away the swarm of demons. Maricha plays an important role in abducting Ramas wife Sita later. Vishwamitra and other sages receive invitation from Janaka requesting attendance for a yagna at Mithila. Vishwamitra takes the royal children along to Mithila, stopping at various Ashrams (hermitages) along the way. They cross the river Ganges, and Vishamitra tells them about the descent of Ganges from the heaven for the salvation of the sons of King Sagar, his ancestor, as a result of severe penance done by King Bhageerata, King Sagars great grandson. They also come across the deserted hermitage of Sage Gautama. Vishwamitra narrates the story of how Indra, the king of gods or devas, has an amorous jaunt with Gautamas wife Ahalya in the disguise of her husband. Gautama curses them both. He turns Ahalya into a stone for the tacit support she gives to Indra. Ahalya repents, and Gautama declares her virtue would be restored when Rama steps on her in the future.

When Rama steps into the Ashram, Ahalya is returned to her earlier virtuous life, and reunited with Sage Gautama.

Finally, they reached Mithila. King Janaka has also announced Sitas Swayamvaram a process of self selection of groom by the bride. The condition, however, is that Sita would marry one who can lift the bow Lord Shiva has gifted to Janaka. Sita is considered the incarnation of the goddess Lakshmi, the eternal consort of Lord Vishnu. The moment their eyes meet, Sita and Rama fall in love with each other instantly. Although there are many strong contenders to win the hand of Sita, none of the kings can lift the bow. On Sage Viswamitras directive, Rama seeks the sages blessings and effortlessly picks up the colossal bow to string it and the bow snaps in two with a thunderous sound.

Janaka sends word to Dasharatha, and a wedding procession proceeds from Ayodhya and lands in Mithila. After the wedding Rama takes Sita to Ayodhya.

Hanuman proceeds in full earnest to search Sita with Valis son Angada and their trusted adviser Jambhavan, the chief of sloth bears, but the search isnt fruitful. Exhausted weak and thirsty, they come upon a mysterious cave. Flocks of birds carrying leaves and fruits in their beaks come out of the entrance of the cave, which is overgrown with exotic plants.

Refreshed, they ask her to lead them out of that place, and she obliges, but after covering their eyes. When they open their eyes again, the search party find an emerald sea stretched before them. Despair engulfs them when they realize they have spent nearly a month inside the cave and the deadline for finding Sita is very close, and yet they have no clue how to proceed further. They decide it is better to die than be punished by Sugriva. They talk despairingly of what brought them here: Ramas exile, Ravanas abduction of Sita, Jataayus death, Valis defeat and Sugriva sending them on this mission. Sitting not far from them is a wingless, old vulture called Sampati whos eyeing the emaciated monkeys hungrily and loudly thanking God for providing a delicious treat for the coming days.

Everyone is too tired and too resigned to fight for survival. Jambhavan muses at the irony of one vulture waiting to gulp the very people who are in search of Sita, and another vulture called Jataayu, who even gives up his life to save Sita. The vulture attention perks up as he hears of Jataayu and asks them about who they are speaking about.

Jambhavan tells him the brave story of Jataayu. Sampati is moved by his brothers death and would like to help those who brought him news about his dear brother whom he had once saved from the scorching rays of the sun with his own wings. Sampati then tells him about how he saw Ravana, the king of Lanka, forcibly taking away Sita in his Pushpak Vimana. The vanars are happy to get news on the whereabouts of Sita. They regain their cheer.

The question of crossing the sea looms large. Every monkey boasts how far they can leap, but Hanuman is silent.

Hanuman also recalls Sita telling him that Ravana has given her a one-month deadline for her to consent to become his wife. Ravana cannot touch Sita against her wishes, because he has been cursed by Brahma that he would be destroyed by such an act, you know! They now decide that they go to Kishkinda to give the happy tidings to Rama. As they near Kishkinda, the fruits and honey-laden private garden of Sugreeva beckons them, and with Angads permission, the monkeys indulge in unrestrained revelry and ruin the beautiful park, ignoring the objections of the guard Dadhimukha and assaulting him.