Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana is called the Homer of Sanskrit poetry. The Ramayana has been translated in- every major Indian language. The most famous version is Tulsidas’ Ramcharita Manas, which is also popularly known as the Ramayana.
The first and the foremost thing that strikes us about the Ramayana is the gripping and fascinating narration of the saga of lord Rama. Very few stories of the world arouse the kind of interest as does the Ramayana. Everything about the Ramayana is central and universal. Next to the story are the vividness and the living presentation of the scenes, situations, the characters and the details about its core.
We seem to live by the story. No story in the world justifies the moral behaviour, the human appeal and the sweetened accents of the Ramayana. Every detail is intimately familiar to us than the facts and details about our own life. The world of the Ramayana is a human world bathed amidst the breezes of celestial horizon.
The Ramayana is not only the life personified, like that as the succour. The Ramayana has been compared to a gigantic Banyan tree. Humanity as such could take solace under its shade. Tulsidas wrote Ramcharita Manas, the Hindi version of the Ramayana. Tulsidas’ power of characterization has been compared even with medieval Shakespeare. The characters, Rama, Laxmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna are down to earth core.
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The monkey-god Hanuman, Bali and Sugreeva, Ravana and Meghnand and Sita have been illustrated as true to lives. So, are the changing scenes of the Ramayana? The ethical and human appeal of the Ramayana excels that of every appeal in the world. In our dealing with others, or in bracing the storms of life, or in facing the trails and tribulations of life, the Ramayana gives us hope and courage. It is not without a reason that the serial Ramayana produced and directed by Ramanand Sagar, has attracted such kind of audience, which till now, in the annals of Indian television, no serial has ever attracted.