Ramayana

The (Devanāgarī: ) is an ancient Sanskrit epic attributed to the poet Valmiki and an important part of the Hindu canon (). The name is a tatpurush compound of and "going, advancing", translating to "the travels of Rām". The consists of 24,000 verses in seven cantos () and tells the story of Raam, whose wife Sita is abducted by the demon (Rākshas) king of Lanka, Rāvan. Verses are written in thirty two syllable meter called Anustubh. In its current form, the Valmiki Ramayan is dated from 500 BCE to 100 BCE, or about co-eval to early versions of the Mahābhārat. As with most traditional epics, it has since gone through a long process of interpolations and redactions and thus is impossible to date it accurately. The Ramayan is part of the Itihaas. Valmiki's version is the oldest written form and the most authentic.
See more at Wikipedia.org...

Noun
1. one of two classical Hindu epics telling of the banishment of Rama from his kingdom and the abduction of his wife by a demon and Rama's restoration to the throne
(hypernym) Sanskrit literature

(n.)
The more ancient of the two great epic poems in Sanskrit. The hero and heroine are Rama and his wife Sita.
  

Ramayana (Sanskrit) [from Rama an avatara of Vishnu + ayana goings, adventures] One of the famous epic poems of India, relating the adventures of Rama, an avatara of Vishnu, in 48,000 lines. It is often termed the Iliad of the East.
"The whole History of that period [the struggle between the Atlantean and the Aryan adepts] is allegorized in the Ramayana, which is the mystic narrative in epic form of the struggle between Rama -- the first king of the divine dynasty of the early Aryans -- and Ravana, the symbolical personation of the Atlantean (Lanka) race. The former were the incarnations of the Solar Gods; the latter, of the lunar Devas. This was the great battle between Good and Evil, between white and black magic, for the supremacy of the divine forces, or of the lower terrestrial, or cosmic powers. . . . The Ramayana -- every line of which has to be read esoterically -- discloses in magnificent symbolism and allegory the tribulations of both man and soul" (SD 2:495-6).
The siege and subsequent surrender of Lanka (whose remnant is Ceylon or Sri Lanka) to Rama is placed by Hindu chronology -- based upon the zodiac -- at many hundreds of thousands of years ago, and the statement that the present island of Ceylon is the northern headland of ancient Lanka gives a hint as to how far back these events are to be placed.

The long epic that tells the story of Rama and his love for Sita , her capture, the long series of battles and quests Rama carries out to free her, and the aftermath.