Thematically, the Ramayana explores human values and the concept of dharma. Incidentally the first letter of every 1000 verses (total 24) make the Gayatri mantra.
The Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses in seven books (kāṇḍas) and 500 cantos (sargas), and tells the story of Rama (an avatar of the Hindu supreme-god Vishnu), whose wife Sita is abducted by Ravana, the king of Lanka (current day Sri Lanka). The name Ramayana is a tatpurusha compound of Rāma and ayana ('going, advancing'), translating to 'Rama's Journey'. It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal father, the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife, and the ideal king. Sita’s eyes have tears (water) of fear and hope, and a simile is drawn by Goswami Tulsidas with a fish, while in Draupadi’s case a fish is hung over water in pond. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu literature (smṛti), considered to be itihāasa.The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of Hinduism, the other being the Mahabharata. In Janaki’s Swayamvar, Lord Shiva is in imperceptible form of the bow and Sita prays to him to help make the weapon light, in Draupadi’s Swayamvar Krishna is physically present.
The Ramayana is one of the great Hindu epics. Learn how Sita, the daughter of King Janaka, was married to Lord Rama in a swayamvar ceremony described in the Valmiki Ramayana.
