Valmiki · 400 BCE · overland

The Ramayana, Valmiki's great Sanskrit epic, and the journey at its heart: the fourteen-year exile of Prince Rama. This route follows Rama, his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana from the kingdom of Ayodhya south through the forests of India to Panchavati, where Sita is seized by the demon-king Ravana; the alliance with Hanuman and the vanara army at Kishkindha; the building of the great bridge from Rameshwaram; the war in Lanka and the rescue of Sita; and the triumphant flight home to Ayodhya, celebrated to this day as Diwali.

1. 1
   Ayodhya

   In the prosperous kingdom of Kosala, Prince Rama, beloved heir of King Dasharatha, is to be crowned at Ayodhya. But on the eve of the coronation, the king's wife Kaikeyi calls in an old promise and demands that Rama be exiled to the forest for fourteen years and her own son Bharata made king. Honouring his father's word, Rama accepts his banishment without complaint, and his wife Sita and his devoted brother Lakshmana insist on going with him.

2. 2
   Shringaverapura

   The three travellers journey south to the Ganga at Shringaverapura, where the boatman Guha, chief of the forest people, ferries them across the great river. Leaving the last of the kingdom behind, they put on garments of bark and enter the wilderness, beginning the long years of their forest exile.

3. 3
   Chitrakoot

   At the hill of Chitrakoot, among sages and rivers and quiet groves, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana make their first forest home. Here Bharata, refusing the throne, comes with the whole court to beg Rama to return; but Rama will not break his vow, and gives his brother his sandals to set upon the throne and rule in his name until the exile is done.

4. 4
   Panchavati

   Wandering deep into the Dandaka forest, they settle at Panchavati on the banks of the Godavari. There the demoness Surpanakha, sister of the demon-king Ravana, is spurned and humiliated by Lakshmana, and in revenge Ravana lures Rama away with a golden deer and carries Sita off by force in his flying chariot, southward to his island fortress.

5. 5
   Kishkindha

   Searching desperately for Sita, the brothers come to Kishkindha, the kingdom of the vanaras, the forest people often called monkeys. Rama befriends the exiled prince Sugriva and the mighty Hanuman, helps Sugriva win back his throne, and in return gains a vast army to scour the world for the stolen Sita.

6. 6
   Rameshwaram

   Hanuman, leaping across the sea, at last finds Sita held captive in Ravana's Lanka and brings word back. The great army marches to the southern shore at Rameshwaram, and there, to cross the ocean to the island, the vanaras build a wondrous bridge of stones, the Setu, reaching from the mainland toward Lanka.

7. 7
   Lanka

   Crossing the bridge, Rama and his army lay siege to Lanka, and a tremendous battle is joined against Ravana and his demon hosts. After many days of war, Rama at last slays the ten-headed Ravana, frees Sita, and proves her honour before all, ending the long ordeal of the exile and the abduction.

8. 8
   Ayodhya

   With the fourteen years fulfilled, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana fly home to Ayodhya upon the Pushpaka Vimana, the celestial chariot. The whole city lights rows of lamps to welcome them out of the darkness, and Rama is crowned king at last, beginning the age remembered ever after as the perfect and righteous reign of Ram Rajya.