A major epic centered on exile, loyalty, and conduct — with a long afterlife of retellings across many languages and cultures.
The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of the tradition, alongside the Mahabharata. Its core narrative follows a prince's exile and the ordeals that follow, and it has served for centuries as a touchstone for reflection on duty, loyalty, and right conduct.
As with the other epics, this archive treats the Ramayana as a primary source and literary work, not as history. Its enduring importance lies in how it has been read, retold, and argued about — not in any claim that its events are documented fact.
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One of the longest epics ever composed — a vast narrative that also functions as a repository of ethical and philosophical debate.
A cluster of ideas around duty, order, and right conduct that is understood differently across Indian traditions.
The principle of non-harm or non-violence — developed with particular rigor in some traditions and adapted into modern political thought.