India: Rama, riding on Hanuman, accompanied by Lakshmana, riding on Angada, set out at the head of an army of monkeys to free Sita from Ravana, the demon-king of Lanka. Miniature from the Rana Jagat Singh Ramayana or 'Mewar Ramayana', 17th century.

The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon, considered to be based on historical events. The Ramayana depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife and the ideal king. The name Ramayana is a tatpurusha compound of R_ma and ayana (going, advancing), translating to ÔRama's JourneyÕ. The Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses in seven books (k___as) and 500 cantos (sargas), and tells the story of Rama (an Avatar of the Hindu preserver-God Vishnu), whose wife Sita is abducted by the demon king of Lanka, Ravana. The epic was an important influence on later Sanskrit poetry and Indian life and culture. The characters Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Bharata, Hanuman and Ravana are all fundamental to the cultural consciousness of India. There are other versions of the Ramayana, notably Buddhist and Jain in India, as well as Indonesian, Philippine, Thai, Lao, Burmese, Cambodian and Malay versions of the tale. (Photo by: Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)