page_title: Ramayana
section_title: Characters
hierarchical_section_title: Ramayana / Characters
caption_attribution_description: Ravana is a great scholar, a capable ruler, a player of the veena and a devoted follower of Shiva, and he has his apologists and staunch devotees within the Hindu traditions
context_page_description: Ramayana is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Mahābhārata. Along with the Mahābhārata, it forms the Hindu Itihasa.
  The epic, traditionally ascribed to the Maharishi Valmiki, narrates the life of Rama, the legendary Kosala Kingdom. It follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest by his father King Dasharatha, on request of his step-mother Kaikeyi, his travels across forests in India with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, the kidnapping of his wife by Ravana, the great king of Lanka, resulting in a war with him and Ram's eventual return to Ayodhya to be crowned king. This is the culmination point of the epic. It is considered a sacred book, and is read by millions of people every year.
  There have been many attempts to unravel the epic's historical growth and compositional layers; various recent scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text range from the 7th to 4th centuries BCE, with later stages extending up to the 3rd century CE.
  The Ramayana is one of the largest ancient epics in world literature.
caption: Statue of Ravana at Koneswaram Hindu Temple, Sri Lanka.
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