The entire text of the Hindu epic Ramayana by Valmiki will be published here on Mamandram.org. The version featured here is a 1915 translation by Ralph T.H. Griffith. This verse translation of the original Sanskrit text by the great Hindu sage, Valmiki, is now in the public domain.

The Ramayana is the tale of the trials faced by Lord Rama of Ayodhya in his fight against the evil king of Lanka, the demon Ravana. Rama is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu who takes birth in order to destroy Ravana who was terrorizing the gods with the powers he gained by performing severe austerities. Ravana's fate is doomed when he kidnaps Rama's wife Sita while they are exiled from Ayodhya. With the help of the monkey army of Hanuman, Rama and his brother Lakshmana go to Lanka to recover Sita and destroy Ravana.

The Ramayana is one of the two great Hindu epics, the other being the Mahabharata. It consists of 24,000 slokas separated into six books - Bala Kanda, Ayodhya Kanda, Aranya Kanda, Kishkindha Kanda, Sundara Kanda, Yuddha Kanda. While the main storyline is of Lord Rama, the Ramayana of Valmiki incorporates moral values, dharma, Hindu culture and philosophy as well as a description of society in ancient India.

Read the entire epic of Ramayana by Valmiki.