50 Fun Facts About Ramayana

Valmiki, the traditional author of the Ramayana, is revered by the title Adi Kavi, meaning what?

Legend says he got his name from the anthill (valmika) that grew over him during years of penance.

Rama is regarded as which avatar of the god Vishnu?

Vishnu chose to be born as a mortal specifically to defeat the demon king Ravana, whom the gods could not touch.

Roughly how many shlokas, or couplet verses, does Valmiki's Ramayana contain?

They are divided into seven kandas and about 500 sargas, making it one of the longest epic poems ever written.

Into how many kandas, or books, is the Ramayana divided?

Scholars regard books two to six as the oldest, with the Bala Kanda and Uttara Kanda considered later additions.

What does the name Ramayana literally mean?

It joins Rama with ayana, "travel", by an internal sandhi that lengthens the shared vowel.

Ayodhya, Rama's capital in the kingdom of Kosala, stands on the banks of which river?

The city in modern Uttar Pradesh drew 110 million visitors in the first half of 2024, overtaking Varanasi.

How many wives did King Dasharatha have?

Kausalya bore Rama, Kaikeyi bore Bharata, and Sumitra bore the twins Lakshmana and Shatrughna.

For how many years was Rama exiled to the forest?

The Buddhist Dasaratha Jataka shortens the exile to twelve years and moves the kingdom to Benares.

Which maidservant poisoned Kaikeyi's mind and urged her to claim her two boons?

Kaikeyi had been happy about Rama's coronation until the hunchbacked maid intervened.

Rama won Sita's hand at Mithila by doing what with the great bow of Shiva?

The bow, called Pinaka, had defeated every previous suitor at King Janaka's court.

How did King Janaka find Sita?

Her name derives from the Sanskrit for "furrow", and she is described as the daughter of Bhumi, the earth.

Lakshmana, who followed Rama into exile, is considered an incarnation of which serpent?

Vishnu rests on that many-headed naga, and Lakshmana was married to Sita's sister Urmila.

What did Bharata do when he learned his mother had won him the throne?

He lived in exile at Nandigram until Rama returned, governing on his brother's behalf.

Which demoness, Ravana's sister, lost her nose and ears to Lakshmana?

Her humiliation prompted her brothers Khara and Dushan to attack, and then Ravana himself to plot revenge.

Ravana lured Rama away from Sita using the demon Maricha disguised as what?

Sita begged Rama to catch it, and then sent Lakshmana after him when she heard what sounded like Rama's cry.

In what disguise did Ravana approach Sita's cottage to abduct her?

Lakshmana had drawn a protective line and told her not to leave the cottage or entertain any stranger.

Which creature tried to rescue Sita from Ravana and was mortally wounded?

His elder brother Sampati later told the search party that Sita had been taken to Lanka.

Rama helped Sugriva regain the throne of Kishkindha by killing which elder brother of his?

Vali's widow Tara later talked Sugriva into honouring his forgotten pledge to help find Sita.

Which book, called the heart of the epic, is devoted to Hanuman's leap to Lanka and his heroics there?

On the way he refused rest on the mountain Mainaka and fought the guardian demoness Lankini at the city gate.

What token did Hanuman give Sita to prove that Rama was alive?

She gave him her comb in return, and insisted that Rama himself must come to rescue her.

Where in Lanka did Hanuman find Sita imprisoned?

Ravana and his rakshasis were wooing and threatening her there to make her marry him.

What did Ravana's court do to Hanuman after he was captured, prompting him to burn Lanka?

He slipped his bonds, leapt across the rooftops spreading the flames, and jumped back across the sea.

Which two vanaras built the causeway to Lanka?

The natural chain of shoals between India and Sri Lanka, 48 km long, is still called Rama Setu or Adam's Bridge.

Which brother of Ravana defected to Rama's side and was installed as king of Lanka after the war?

Rama was so grateful that he gave him his own worshipped deity, Sri Ranganathaswamy, as a gift.

Unable to identify the sanjeevani herb that would save the wounded Lakshmana, what did Hanuman do?

Lakshmana had been struck down by a weapon hurled by Ravana's son Meghanada.

Ravana's brother Kumbhakarna was cursed to sleep for how long at a stretch?

Saraswati tied his tongue as he asked Brahma for a boon, and Ravana got the death-like sleep commuted to alternating half-years.

Ravana is usually depicted with how many heads?

He is sometimes shown with nine because he cut one off to convince Shiva of his devotion, and his name Dashanana means "ten-faced".

Besides being a demon king, Ravana is described as a great scholar and a maestro of which instrument?

He was also an ardent devotee of Shiva and is credited with the Shiva Tandava Stotra.

Ravana's flying chariot, the Pushpaka Vimana, was taken from which god of wealth, his half-brother?

Rama returned the aerial palace to its rightful owner after the war.

How did Sita prove her purity after the war?

In Tulsidas's version she had been under Agni's protection all along, and it was an illusory Sita whom Ravana held.

Which festival marks Rama's return to Ayodhya after his exile?

People are said to have lit rows of lamps to welcome him home, and his coronation is called Rama pattabhisheka.

The just and fair reign of the returned king is remembered by what name, still used for an ideal state?

Mahatma Gandhi borrowed the phrase for his vision of an ideal Indian society.

Which two stories in the Uttara Kanda lead many scholars to call it a later interpolation?

The book is absent from the oldest manuscript and contradicts how Rama and dharma appear elsewhere in the poem.

What are the names of Rama and Sita's twin sons?

Valmiki trained them in archery and taught them the epic, which they recited at Rama's own court.

How did Sita finally leave the world in the Uttara Kanda?

It came after she reunited her sons with their father, as a final testimony to her purity.

Hanuman is traditionally regarded as the spiritual son of which god?

As an infant he mistook the sun for a fruit and leapt at it, and Indra wounded his jaw for the attempt.

Valmiki is said to have composed the first shloka in a burst of grief after watching a hunter kill what?

The surviving bird's cry of agony moved him to curse the hunter in spontaneous verse.

Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas, composed in 1576, is written in which language?

He chose the vernacular over Sanskrit to reach ordinary people, and drew criticism from the scholars of Varanasi for it.

Kamban's Ramavataram, a celebrated 12th-century retelling, is in which language?

References to the Rama story appear in Tamil Sangam literature centuries earlier.

The Ramakien, one version of which was prepared under King Rama I in 1797, is a national epic of which country?

Many earlier versions were lost when Ayutthaya was destroyed in 1767.

The Kakawin Ramayana, written around 870 AD, is a rendering of the epic in which language?

It was based not on Valmiki but on the Ravanavadha of the Indian poet Bhatti, and adds the clown-servant Semar and his sons.

Ramayana scenes are carved on the balustrades of which 9th-century temple complex in Yogyakarta?

The 14th-century Penataran temple in East Java carries similar reliefs.

In the Buddhist Dasaratha Jataka, Dasharatha rules from which city instead of Ayodhya?

In that version Sita is Rama's sister as well as his wife, and the exile lasts twelve years.

In which year was Ramlila added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list?

The Ramnagar version near Varanasi runs for 31 days, while most others are ten-day events ending at Dussehra.

Vijayadashami, or Dussehra, falls on the tenth day of the bright half of which Hindu month?

It celebrates Rama's victory over Ravana in the north and Durga's victory over Mahishasura in the east and south.

The Ram Mandir in Ayodhya was consecrated by Prime Minister Modi on which date?

The temple stands on the site of the Babri Masjid, demolished in 1992, which the Supreme Court awarded to Hindus in 2019.

Which son of Ravana hurls the weapon that mortally wounds Lakshmana during the war in Lanka?

Hanuman then assumes giant form and flies to the Himalayas for the healing herb that saves him.

The Malay adaptation of the epic, blending Hindu and Islamic mythology, is known as what?

Burma's version is called the Yama Zatdaw, and the Maranao people of the Philippines have the Maharadia Lawana.

In the Balinese kecak dance retelling the epic, how many bare-chested men typically form the chanting chorus?

Dancers play Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Jatayu, Hanuman, Ravana, Kumbhakarna and Indrajit at the centre of the troupe.

Ramanand Sagar's hugely popular television Ramayan was first broadcast in 1987 on which channel?

Sagar followed it with Luv Kush in 1988, and a remake aired on Zee TV in 2012.