Ramayana is one of the greatest epics of the Hindu Religion. The author captures the pathos and beauty of Valmiki's magic in an inimitable manner. Written in a homely style, the work is striking in originality and beauty of expression. The popularity of the book is so great that it has run into forty-two impressions ever since it was originally published in the year 1951. Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic poem that narrates the struggle of the divine prince Rama to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. Along with the Mahabharata, it forms the Hindu Itihasa. The epic, traditionally ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki, narrates the life of Rama, the legendary prince of the Kosala Kingdom. It follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest from the kingdom, by his father King Dasharatha, at the request of his second wife Kaikeyi. His travels across forests in India with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, the kidnapping of his wife by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, resulting in a war with him, and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya to be crowned king.