1. രാമായണം – The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic poem which narrates the struggle of the divine prince Rama to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. Along with the Mahabharata, it forms the Sanskrit Itihasa, the Ramayana is one of the largest ancient epics in world literature. It consists of nearly 24,000 verses, divided into seven Kandas, in Hindu tradition, it is considered to be the adi-kavya. It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying characters like the ideal father, the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife. The Ramayana was an important influence on later Sanskrit poetry and Hindu life, like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana is not just a story, it presents the teachings of ancient Hindu sages in narrative allegory, interspersing philosophical and ethical elements. The name Ramayana is a compound of the name Rāma and ayana. According to Hindu tradition—and according to the Ramayana itself—the epic belongs to the genre of itihasa like Mahabharata, the definition of itihāsa is a narrative of past events which includes teachings on the goals of human life. According to Hindu tradition, Ramayana takes place during a period of known as Treta Yuga. In its extant form, Valmikis Ramayana is a poem of some 24,000 verses. The text survives in several thousand partial and complete manuscripts, the oldest of which is a manuscript found in Nepal. A Times of India report dated 18 December 2015 informs about discovery of a 6th-century manuscript of the Ramayana at the Asiatic Society library, the Ramayana text has several regional renderings, recensions and subrecensions. Goldman differentiates two major regional recensions, the northern and the southern, scholar Romesh Chunder Dutt writes that the Ramayana, like the Mahabharata, is a growth of centuries, but the main story is more distinctly the creation of one mind. There has been discussion as to whether the first and the last chapters of Valmikis Ramayana were composed by the original author. Most Hindus still believe they are parts of the book, in spite of some style differences. Some cultural evidence, such as the presence of sati in Mahabharata but not in the body of Ramayana. By tradition, the text belongs to the Treta Yuga, second of the four eons of Hindu chronology, Rama is said to have been born in the Treta yuga to king Dasharatha in the Ikshvaku dynasty. The names of the characters are all known in late Vedic literature, however, nowhere in the surviving Vedic poetry is there a story similar to the Ramayana of Valmiki. Also, in the epic Mahabharata, there is a version of Ramayana known as Ramopakhyana and this version is depicted as a narration to Yudhishthira

2. സീത – Sita, also known as Siya, Vaidehi, Janaki, Maithili, or Bhoomija, is the central female character of the Hindu epic Ramayana and daughter of King Janaka of Videha and his wife queen Sunaina. She was the sister of Urmila and cousins Mandavi and Shrutakirti. She is consort of Hindu god Rama and is an avatar of Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and she is esteemed as a paragon of spousal and feminine virtues for all Hindu women. Sita is known for her dedication, self-sacrifice, courage and purity, Sita is described as the daughter of the earth goddess Bhūmi and the adopted daughter of King Janaka of Mithila and Queen Sunaina. In her youth, she marries Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, after marriage, she goes to exile with her husband and brother-in-law Lakshmana. While in exile, the settle in the Dandaka forest, from where she is abducted by Ravana. She is imprisoned in the Ashoka Vatika of Lanka by Ravana, until she is rescued by Rama, who slays her captor. After the war, Rama asks Sita to undergo Agni Pariksha by which she proves her purity before she is accepted by Rama, which for the first time made his brother Lakshmana get angry at him. In some versions of the epic, the fire-god Agni creates Maya Sita, at Agni Pariksha, Maya Sita and the real Sita exchange places again. While some texts mention that Maya Sita is destroyed in the flames of Agni Pariksha, others narrate how she is blessed, Some scriptures also mention her previous birth being Vedavati, a woman Ravana tries to molest. After proving her purity, Rama and Sita return to Ayodhya, after few months, Sita becomes pregnant which brought doubt to the Kingdom. Rama then sends Sita away on exile, Lakshmana is the one who leaves Sita in the forests near sage Valmikis ashrama after Rama banishes her from the kingdom. Years later, Sita returns to her mother, the Earths womb, the goddess is best known by the name Sita, derived from the Sanskrit word sīta, furrow. According to Ramayana, Janaka found her while ploughing as a part of a yagna, the word Sīta was a poetic term, its imagery redolent of fecundity and the many blessings coming from settled agriculture. The Sita of the Ramayana may have named after a more ancient Vedic goddess Sita. In the Vedic period, she was one of the associated with fertility. A Vedic hymn recites, In Harivamsa, Sita has been invoked as one of the names of goddess Arya, The Kausik-sutra, Sita is known by many epithets. She is called Jānaki as the daughter of Janaka and Maithili as the princess of Mithila, as the wife of Rama, she is called Ramā

3. രാവണൻ – Ravana is the primary antagonist in the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana where he is depicted as Rakshasa king of Lanka. Ramayana is considered by the Indian traditions to be the itihasa or the history along with Mahabharata, Ravana is the son of Vishrava and Kaikesi and grandson of Pulastya. Ravana, a devotee of Lord Shiva, is depicted and described as a scholar, a capable ruler. He is also described as powerful and has ten heads. His paramount ambition was to overpower and dominate the devas and his ten heads represent his knowledge of the six shastras and the four Vedas. In the Ramayana, Ravana kidnaps Ramas wife Sita to exact vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the ears and nose of his sister Shurpanakha. Ravana, as a practitioner of Buddhism, is a character in Buddhist texts such as the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the Gathering of Intentions. Ravana is worshipped by Hindus in some parts of India, Sri Lanka, images of Ravana are seen associated with Shiva at some places. The word Rāvaṇa means roaring opposite of Vaiśravaṇa meaning hear distinctly, both Ravana and Vaiśravaṇa, who is popularly known as Kubera, are considered to be patronymics derived as sons of Vishrava. According to F. E. Pargiter, the word may originally have been a Sanskritisation of Iraivan, Ravana has many other popular names such as Dasis Ravana, Dasis Sakvithi Maha Ravana, Dashaanan, Ravula, Lankeshwar, Lankeshwaran, Ravanaeshwaran, Eela Vendhar. However, in stories in Java told that every year, Ravana cuts one of his heads every year. Each head was reflecting his desire, by cutting it and presenting it, he was sacrificing one of his many desires to appease Shiva. He kept doing it every year until the last one, turned out the last head was considered as the true head of Ravana and Shiva considered his devoutness is a worthy one and his sacrifices were accepted. He is described as a follower of Shiva, a great scholar, a capable ruler. Ravana is also depicted as the author of the Ravana Samhita, a book on Hindu astrology, and of the Arka Prakasham, Ravana possessed a thorough knowledge of Siddha and political science. He is said to have possessed the nectar of immortality, which was stored inside his belly, Ravana was born to a great sage, Vishrava and his wife, the daitya princess Kaikesi. People of Bisrakh village in Uttar Pradesh claim that their village was named after Vishrava, Ravana, as a practitioner of Buddhism, is a major character in Buddhist texts such as the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the Gathering of Intentions, a text of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. According to Uttara Kanda section of Ramayana, the Rakshasa clan were the inhabitants of Lanka who were said to have lived among the Naga, Yaksha

4. മാരീചൻ – He is mentioned as an uncle of Ravana, the antagonist of the epic. His most notable exploit is his role in the kidnapping of Sita and his son Kalanemi was killed by Hanuman. Cursed to be a rakshasa along with his mother Tataka and brother Subahu and he was defeated by Rama at the behest of the sage Vishvamitra. He tried again to kill Rama, but had to run for his life again, ultimately, Maricha assumed the form of a golden deer and helped Ravana kidnap Sita. In his previous life, Maricha was a servant of Jaya-Vijaya, the gatekeepers of Vaikuntha, the celestial abode of God Vishnu. Once, displeased by his conduct, he was cursed by Vishnu to be born on earth as a rakshasa, Maricha was the son of the demon Sunda and Yaksha female Tataka, also known as Taraka, Tadaka or Thataka. Tataka was daughter of the yaksha king Suketu, who had gained her as a blessing from the god Brahma, Maricha also had a younger brother Subahu. The siblings were very handsome and noble in character, once, Sunda attacked the ashram of the sage Agastya in an intoxicated state. The angry Agastya burnt him by his meditative powers, when Tataka came to know of Sundas death, she and her sons attacked Agastya to wreak vengeance on the sage. The sage cursed Tataka, Maricha and Subahu, transforming them into wicked, hideous, Tataka and her sons then went to Patala to seek aid from Sumali, the patriarch of the rakshasas. Sumali took them to his grandson, Ravana, the king of Lanka. Ravana helped the trio capture the states of Malada and Karusha, the trio destroyed the states and turned them into a dense forest, which became known as the forest of Tataka. They terrorized the people, devouring anyone who dared to venture in that forest, the gods, demons and men, as well as even the sun and the clouds did not dare to enter the territory of Tataka and her sons. Maricha and Subahu liked to harass the sages in the region, the brothers threw blood, flesh, bones on the sacrificial altar and destroyed the sanctity of the sacrifices of the sages. The great sage Vishvamitra was living in the area near the forest of Tataka and was doing penance and yajna with his disciples and was tormented by Tataka, unable to tolerate the menace any longer, Vishvamitra approached Dasharatha, the King of Ayodhya for help. He requested Dasharatha to send his eldest son, Rama to protect his yajna, though Dasharatha was initially reluctant to send his 13-year-old boy, he finally sent Rama and his younger brother Lakshmana with Vishvamitra on the advice of the royal guru Vashishtha. Vishvamitra trained them in warfare and taught them various mantras, when Vishvamitra and the princes were passing through the forest of Tataka, Tataka attacked them. Rama, aided by Lakshamana, slew her with his arrow, Vishvamitra blessed Rama, as the gods rejoiced the end of Tataka

5. ലക്ഷ്മണൻ – In the Hindu sacred text Ramayana, Lakshmana also known as Soumitri, Bharatanuja Laxman, Lakhan is the younger brother and close companion of God Rama, hero of the epic and avatar of God Vishnu. Lakshmana is twin brother of Shatrughna, Lakshmana and his brother Shatrughna, were born in Ayodhya to Sumitra and King Dasharatha. In the Puranas, Lakshmana is described as an incarnation of Sesha, when sage Vishwamitra takes Rama for killing the demons, Lakshmana accompanies them and goes to Mithila with them. Lakshmana is specially attached to Rama and when Rama marries Sita, later, when Rama goes on exile for fourteen years on the insistence of Kaikeyi, Lakshmana leaves his wife Urmila and joins Rama. He serves Rama and Sita reverently during the exile, Lakshmana also built hut for Rama and Sita to live in Panchvati. Lakshmana cuts off Ravanas sister Surpanakhas nose in anger when she tries to covet Rama and he plays an important role in the war with Ravana and slays Ravanas son Indrajit. When Sita asks Rama to fetch a magical golden deer for her, Rama asks Lakshmana to stand guard as he sensed danger, the golden deer is in fact the demon Maricha, who distracts Rama. When Rama kills Maricha, he cries out in Ramas own voice for help, although Lakshmana knows that Rama is invincible and beyond any danger, Sita panics and frantically orders Lakshmana to go to Ramas aid immediately. Unable to disobey Sita, Lakshmana draws a line, which Sita must not cross. Sita however, out of compulsion of religious duty and compassion for Ravana disguised as a poor brahmin crosses the line to give him alms following which she is abducted. Lakshmana Rekha has become a metaphor in situations where a certain limit must not be transgressed by human beings in any circumstance whatsoever, during the war between Rama and Ravana, he killed Indrajit and Atikaya, who were the sons of Ravana. Before he killed Indrajit, Lakhshmana and Rama were twice defeated by Indrajit, after the war, when Rama asked Sita to give test of her purity, Lakshmana for the first time got angry on Rama and opposed him. After the war in Lanka, Rama was crowned king of Ayodhya, Rama had offered Lakshmana become the crown prince he refused saying Bharata is greater than him and is more deserving of the title. Lakshmana is the one who leaves Sita in the forests near sage Valmikis ashram after Rama banishes her from the kingdom, Lakshmana remains loyal to his brother and fights against Ramas sons Lava and Kusha later. Sage Durvasa appears at Ramas doorstep and seeing Lakshmana guarding the door, at the time, Rama was having a private conversation with Yama. Before the conversation began, Yama gave Rama strict instructions that their dialogue was to remain confidential, Rama agreed and entrusted Lakshmana with the duty of guarding his door. When Durvasa made his demand, Lakshmana politely refused, the sage grew angry and threatened to curse all of Ayodhya if Lakshmana did not immediately inform Rama of his arrival. Lakshmana, in a dilemma, decided it would be better that he alone die to all of Ayodhya from falling under Durvasas curse