Nowhere in the epic genre are we given a more colorful story than The Ramayana. Supernatural weapons, such as Rama’s bow, of great strength, are used against ten-headed monsters such as Ravana, while an army of monkey-people are pitted against demons in battle. The themes of The Ramayana are timeless, as the themes of epics must be. The scope of the epic takes place on the entire Indian continent and Sri Lanka (Lanka, in the story).
Our protagonist is an interesting figure. He possesses near-perfect virtue and was an incarnation of a god, Vishnu. In R.K. Narayan’s prose translation, we learn that “Although Rama was Vishnu, his human incarnation made him unaware of his identity at the moment” (Narayan 13). This allows the epic to take place on a human level, as the protagonist must deal with situations as an ordinary human would, though without supernatural strength of course. Rama is a demigod or, more correctly, as an incarnation of Vishnu, a god in human form. He is imbued with godlike traits like exceptional speed, strength, and power and, except for a couple questionably moral moments- such as Rama killing Vali in a “cowardly” way with his bow from a distance, has perfect morals and judgment in all things, similar to the god of Roland’s Christians
What sets the Ramayana apart from Roland and Gilgamesh is, as I said before, the colorfulness of the story. The world is populated by a monkey race of people, of which Hanuman is one. Monsters and demons with multiple heads fight against armies. It is all quite exciting.
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