Srimad Ramayanam by Maharshi Valmiki: Rendered in English Prose in the Same Order as in the Original (Without Slokams)

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This is what Brahma prophesied as he departed after blessing Maharshi Valmiki. How true it is! The Ramayana Katha remains as fresh today as when it was first composed by Maharshi Valmiki many millennia ago.

Srimad Valmiki Ramayana is an Itihasa (epic) integral to Indian civilization. The central theme of this Mahakavya is the practice of Dharma and Satya, epitomized by Sri Rama, the Prince of Ayodhya, who is portrayed as the Maryada Purushottama.

Born into the Suryavanshi Clan in Ayodhya, Rama was about to be coronated as the Raja by his aged father, Dasaratha, when powerful destiny intervened. Due to a boon granted by Dasaratha to his third wife, Kaikeyi, Sri Rama was exiled to the forest for fourteen years. When informed of his exile by Kaikeyi, Rama accepted it without hesitation and left for the forest with his wife, Sita, and brother, Lakshmana, to uphold the sanctity of his father's promise an act that secured his eternal fame.

In the forest, Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana endured many hardships, culminating in the abduction of Sita by Ravana, the Raja of Lanka. The epic narrates how Rama rescued Sita after slaying Ravana. However, the story takes a tragic turn when Rama, despite being convinced of Sita's chastity, discards her to protect his reputation from public calumny. This decision underscores the importance of personal integrity and public accountability for a king, a value upheld by Rama throughout his life.

Throughout his journey, Sri Rama demonstrates equanimity, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to Dharma and Satya. He remains steadfast in honoring his father's promise to Kaikeyi, serving as a model of ideal human conduct.

Valmiki Ramayana portrays Sri Rama as the ideal human being, and reading it provides profound insights into Indian culture at its finest. My effort is to present an undiluted English version of the original Sanskrit Ramayana, making it accessible to readers unfamiliar with Sanskrit.

SHRI T.V.S. KRISHNAN (born 8th May 1935) hails from the southern village of Tattamangalam near Palakkad, Kerala. His father, the late T.S. Vaidyanatha Iyer, Β.Α., Β.Τ. (1903-1964), was a teacher and Headmaster at the local Government SMHS School.

After completing his schooling at SMHS, Shri Krishnan pursued higher education at the Government College, Chittur, earning dual degrees in Mathematics and Commerce. He began his professional career at the Rourkela Steel Plant and later served as the Commercial Manager for a construction company in Calcutta. Subsequently, Shri Krishnan co-founded a manufacturing company in the packaging industry in Bangalore, alongside two partners.

Since retiring in 2007, Shri Krishnan has devoted his time to spiritual pursuits and the literal translation of Itihasas and Puranas into English, aiming to make these ancient texts accessible to readers unfamiliar with Sanskrit.

Srimad Valmiki Ramyanam has held the imagination of the people of this Bharata punya bhumi for several milleniums, It is an itihasam, an event that happened that Maharshi Valmiki composed as a kavyam in samskritam with twenty four thousand slokams divided into seven kandams (sections) keeping to the rules for such compositions, this is recognised as the Adi kavyam (the first composition in metric form). It is said that all subsequent kavyams such as Mahabharatam by Bhagavan Ved Vyasa have followed the style set by Maharshi Valmiki. In latter times, this mahakavyam was followed while composing Ramayanam such as Kamba Ramayanam in Tamil and many others.

This Maha kavyam is centred around the life of Sri Rama the prince of Ayodhya portrayed as an ideal human, the maryada purushottama with all the blessed qualities that anyone taken birth could have. As the eldest of the four sons, when Srirama was about to be coronated as the yuvarjaa by his father Raja Dasaratha of Ayodhya, Kaikeyi, the third wife of the Raja intervened and reminding the Raja of a promise made to her earlier, wanted that Rama be exiled to the forest for fourteen years and Bharata born to her be made the yuvaraja in his place. The truthful Raja was caught in a bind, he had no choice as he was bound by his promise, the Raja sends away Rama who was most dear to him to the forest with much agony. When asked by Kaikeyi to go to the forest in the name of the Raja, Rama agrees without a word of dissent to his eternal fame to keep the truth of the promise made by the Raja to Kaikeyi and leaves for the forest accompanied by his most faithful wife Sita and brother Lakshmana much attached to him as his own soul moving outside him.

In the forest Dandakaryanam, Rama with Lakshmana and Sita spends ten years of his exile living in the many asramams around that of Suteeshna and thereafter moves to Panchavati in Janasthanam as advised by Maharshi Agastya to pass the remaining period of exile. He had promised the Rishis earlier that he would kill the Rakshasas harassing them there. In Janasthanam, the rakshashi Surpanaka comes and enamoured of Rama, seeks to marry him, Rama spurns her, then the Rakshasi in a fit of anger lungs at Sita when Lakshmana asked by Rama mutilates her face sparing her life as a woman cannot be killed by dharmam. The Rakshasi complains to her brother Khara living in Janasthanam, who taking umbrage attacks Rama with fourteen thousand Rakshasas, all of them were killed by Rama fighting alone. Thereafter complained by Surpanakha, her brother Ravana the Raja of the rakshasas in Lanka, comes to Janasthanam, abducts Sita when she was alone in the asramam in a revenge action and carries her away to Lanka.

The shattered Rama search all over for Sita, meets the Gandharva Kabandha of deformed shape and kills him. Freed of the curse on him by the death at the hands of Rama, Kabandha resuming his true form and before going to svargam, tells Rama to make friendship with Sugreiva the powerful monkey in the Prasravana giri who will help him trace and get back Sita keeping agni as the witness. Rama meets the vanara and makes the treaty of friendship with him in return for his help in restoring him to the throne of Kishkindha from where he was driven away by his brother Vali. Rama kills Vali and Sugriva sends his monkeys in search of Sita. Hanuman trace Sita in Lanka in the antapuram of Ravana and reports back to Rama. With a huge army of vanaras, Rama cross the sea building a causeway over it into Lanka, kills all rakshasas and Ravana, gets back Sita and returns to Ayodhya. In Ayodhya, in an anti climax, Rama fearing public censure due to the doubts on the purity of Sita while in the antapuram of Ravana, discards her without a qualm. The story ends with Sita going back to mother earth from where she came and Rama with his brothers merging in their divine forms from which they took human birth, mission completed.

This Rama kavyam is crafted by Maharshi Valmiki in beautiful verses that has lasted the test of time to this day with none of it's charm waning. The central theme of Ramaynam is satyam and dharmam the strong pillars of the sanatana dharmam to which Rama holds on steadfastly till the end. To the believers who are many spread through out the length and breadth of Bharatam, Rama is an avataram of Vishnu who came down to the earth in human form to kill the Rakshasa Ravana harassing the maharshis. Whatever be that, none can question the kavyam of it's literary merit which is also a reason for it's ever remaining fresh.

I have derived much satisfaction in translating the Ramayana kavyam into simple english and am presenting this to the readers in tribute to my silent mentor Yogi Ramasurat Kumar interred in Tiruvannamalai, TN, hoping that they would also be equally pleased and benefited reading this mahakavyam in prose. Bhakti and reverence has been my approach in this translation, I have neither added nor deleted anything from the original, nor taken a critical look at the characters or commented upon the events.