Rama finally could go rescue his wife Sita! But when he found her, he was worried if she still loved him. There was a terrible battle, but finally Rama killed the demon Ravana. The monkeys made a bridge over to the island. Hanuman went back to the forest and got Rama and Lakshmana, and they all went back with the whole monkey army to attack the island of Lanka. Sita was very happy, but then the demon Ravana caught Hanuman and set his tail on fire! In the end, though, Hanuman escaped and set fire to the whole island of Lanka. Hanuman found Sita on the island of Lanka and told her that Rama was coming to save her. Rama and his brother Lakshmana needed help to rescue Sita, so they went to see the king of the monkeys, Hanuman, who had the magic power to make himself bigger or smaller. (Compare the story of Helen of Troy, written in the 700s BC, about the same time as the Ramayana.) Helen of Troy Hanuman, King of the Monkeys Sita was very sad there and missed Rama very much. When Ravana got to the forest, he found that Sita was indeed very beautiful, and he stole her away from Rama and took her back to Lanka with him. So he went to the forest to see for himself. Also, Ravana’s sister told him how beautiful Rama’s wife Sita was. Ravana was very angry because Rama had beaten up his sister (compare the story of Phaedra). The demon went back to her brother Ravana on the island of Lanka (modern Sri Lanka) and complained to him that Rama had been mean to her and attacked her. When Rama said no, Ravana’s sister attacked him, but Rama and his brother Lakshmana fought her off. But when they were living in the forest, the demon Ravana’s sister fell in love with Rama and tried to get Rama to leave Sita and come live with her.
Rama and his other brother Lakshmana and Rama’s wife Sita went away to live a simple life in the forest. Rama was supposed to be king when his father died, but at the last minute his father decided to make his brother king instead. So Vishnu decided to be reborn as a man, and then he would not be a god and he would be able to fight Ravana. None of the gods could fight Ravana because of a promise they had foolishly made earlier, and Ravana was messing with everyone and nobody could stop him. The Ramayana tells the story of a battle between the Hindu god Vishnu and a demon called Ravana. The Vedic period What else was going on then? What’s the story? Most people think the Ramayana was written down around 800-300 BC, during the Vedic period (the Iron Age). More about Hinduism All our ancient India articles When was the Ramayana written? The Ramayana is a story from ancient India that is a very important part of the Hindu religion. A scene from the Ramayana: Rama in the forest (a Gupta carving of the 400s AD, now in New Delhi) What is the Ramayana?
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