• • • Ramayana (;: रामायणम्, Rāmāyaṇam ) is an ancient Indian which narrates the struggle of the divine prince to rescue his wife from the demon king. Along with the, it forms the. The epic, traditionally ascribed to the, narrates the life of, the legendary prince of the. It follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest from the kingdom, by his father King, on request of his third wife. His travels across forests in India with his wife and brother, the kidnapping of his wife by, the great king of, resulting in a war with him, and Rama's eventual return to to be crowned king. There have been many attempts to unravel the epic's historical growth and compositional layers; various recent scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text range from the 7th to 4th centuries BCE, with later stages extending up to the 3rd century CE. The Ramayana is one of the largest ancient epics in world literature.