Valmiki's Ramayana tells of Rama, the exiled prince whose conduct embodies dharma, and of Sita and Hanuman; Rama's standing as an avatar of Vishnu, present in the epic's framing books, makes the poem a charter of Vaishnava devotion.
Tagged: Hindu Smarta Tradition Vaishnavism
The Event
- Date
- c. 200 BCE–200 CE (approximate)
- Era
- Classical; Standard periodization of Hindu history
- Location
- Northern India; today Northern India
- Traditions
- Hinduism
- Streams
- Vaishnavism, Smarta Tradition
- Key figures
- Valmiki (attributed)
- Key texts
- Ramayana
Primary Sources
- Ramayana (critical edition, Baroda)
Secondary Sources
- Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism (Cambridge, 1996)
- Doniger, The Hindus: An Alternative History (Penguin, 2009)
Provenance: HIST-0305; confidence 0.85; accessed 2026-10-27.
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