Age and Date of Ramayana

It is a general believed that Ramayana was originally composed by Rishi Valmiki in Sanskrit.

In this book the great deeds of Lord Rama of Ayodhya have been vividly described. The Ramayana in its present form contains about 24,000 verses (Slokas) and has seven cantos.

It is very difficult to say when this great Epic was written and what particular period of history is mentioned in it. The Indians believe that this book was composed about 3000 B.C. but most of the European critics do not agree with this view. According to Winternitz this voluminous work is not the result of one age and was most probably written between 400 B.C. to 200 A.D. But one thing is quite certain that though this book may have been composed much later (i.e. 400 B.C. to 200 A.D.) the subject matter mentioned in it refers to much earlier times. The story mentioned in the Ramayana became so popular that it was translated into many foreign as well as Indian languages. Perhaps the most important of all such works is “Ramcharitmanas” of Goswami Tulsidas, the immortal poet of the Hindi literature.

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The exact age and date of the Ramayana, an ancient Indian epic poem, is uncertain and widely debated among scholars. It is estimated to have been written between the 7th century BCE and the 4th century CE, although the exact dates remain uncertain. The text has been passed down orally for centuries and was only later written down in Sanskrit.

The Ramayana tells the story of Rama, a prince who is considered to be an incarnation of the Hindu deity Vishnu, and his quest to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. It is considered to be one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, along with the Mahabharata, and is held in high esteem by millions of Hindus worldwide.

Despite the lack of a clear age or date for the Ramayana, it continues to be a significant cultural and historical artifact, influencing art, literature, and religious beliefs in India and beyond.