The Ramayana, which translates from Sanskrit as "Rama's Journey," is one of the two great epic poems of India and a foundational text of Hinduism; the other is the Mahabharata, which is longer and means "Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty." The Ramayana was composed by the poet Valmiki, probably around the 5th century BCE, though sources vary on this. The poem is split into seven parts; the first and last parts are believed to be later additions. Some of the Ramayana is thought to have taken place at or near the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire—the setting of Salman Rushdie's novel Victory City—and the empire's art and architecture were strongly inspired by the poem.

The Ramayana tells the story of Rama, the son of a king who is exiled to the forest for 14 years. There, his wife Sita is kidnapped by a demon king. Rama then asks Lord Hanuman, the chief of monkeys, to help him rescue Sita. Rama, Hanuman and Hanuman's monkey army travel to the island where Sita is ...