(proper) One of the two great epics of India, written in Sanskrit some time after the Mahabharata and telling of Rama.
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A Sanskrit epic, traditionally attributed to Valmiki, that concerns the banishment of Rama from his kingdom, the abduction of his wife Sita by a demon and her rescue, and Rama's eventual restoration to the throne.
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Origin of ramayana
Sanskrit Rāmāyaṇamthe going of RamaRāmaḥRamaayanama going, way (frometiay-he goesei- in Indo-European roots)
From
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Ramayana Sentence Examples
The Ramayana and Mahabharata afford evidence of the employment of incense by the Hindus, in the worship of the gods and the burning of the dead, from the remotest antiquity.
The principal cities of India at this date were Ayodhya, the capital of Kosala at the time of the Ramayana, though it after wards gave place to Sravasti, which was one of the Capital cities.
Dramatic works exist, as also a version of the Ramayana in the first volume of the Bstodts'ogs of the Bstan-hgyur.
During his residence at Ajodhya the Lord Rama is said to have appeared to him in a dream, and to have commanded him to write a Ramayana in the language used by the common people.
The literary documents, both in Sanskrit and Pali, dating from about the time of Buddha onwards - particularly the two epic poems, the Mahabharata and Ramayana - still show us in the main the personnel of the old pantheon; but the character of the gods has changed; they have become anthropomorphized and almost purely mythological figures.