What is Ramayana?

The Ramayana is one of the two great epic poems of India, the other being the Mahabharata. It is a Sanskrit epic attributed to the sage Valmiki and is considered one of the oldest surviving pieces of literature in the world. The Ramayana is a story of the life of Rama, an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, and his wife Sita. The epic is divided into seven books, or kandas, and contains over 24,000 verses. The Ramayana is a central text of Hinduism and has been adapted and retold in many different forms throughout history.