Rāmāyaṇās
Rāmāyaṇa, simply known as Ramayanas, Sanskrit: रामायण, Telugu: రామాయణాలు, Hindi: रामायण.
The Rāmāyaṇa is the story of Śrī Rāma. Its oldest telling is the Sanskrit Rāmāyaṇa of the ṛshi Vālmīki. It is honoured as the ādi-kāvya, the “first poem.”
The seven kāṇḍas of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa
- Bāla Kāṇḍa: the birth and childhood of Śrī Rāma, and his marriage to Sītā.
- Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa: the events in Ayodhyā that lead to his exile to the forest.
- Araṇya Kāṇḍa: life in the forest, and the abduction of Sītā by Rāvaṇa.
- Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa: the friendship with Sugrīva and the vānaras.
- Sundara Kāṇḍa: Hanumān crosses the ocean and finds Sītā in Laṅkā.
- Yuddha Kāṇḍa: the war in Laṅkā and the return to Ayodhyā.
- Uttara Kāṇḍa: the later events of the reign of Śrī Rāma.
Other tellings
Over the centuries the story was told again by many authors, in Sanskrit and in the regional languages of India. Each telling keeps the same main events but brings out different episodes and teachings. This is why we speak of Rāmāyaṇas, in the plural.
In Sanskrit there are the Adhyātma Rāmāyaṇa, which brings out the spiritual meaning of the story, and the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa. The Mahābhārata tells the story in short as the Rāmopākhyāna. Among the regional tellings are the Kamba Rāmāyaṇam in Tamil, the Raṅganātha Rāmāyaṇam and Molla Rāmāyaṇam in Telugu, and the Rāmacaritamānasa of Tulasīdāsa in Awadhi.
On this website
This section begins with the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa and the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa. More tellings will be added over time.
