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The avatars

Bhagwan Shri Rama

रामः

The seventh avatar: the prince of Ayodhya of the Ikshvaku line in the Treta Yuga, who kept dharma at every cost, went into exile for fourteen years, slew Ravana and ruled in the Rama Rajya that India still holds as its ideal.

Maryada Purushottama, the ideal manRaghava, Raghunatha, of Raghu’s lineDasharathi, son of DasharathaKodandarama, bearer of the bow KodandaSitapati
Consort
Mata Sita
Abode
Ayodhya; Saketa
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Cite

MLA

“Bhagwan Shri Rama.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/devata/rama/. Accessed .

APA

Hindu History. (2026). Bhagwan Shri Rama. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/devata/rama/

How they are shown

Dark-complexioned like a raincloud, two-armed, holding the bow Kodanda and an arrow, wearing a crown or, in exile, matted hair. He stands with Sita on his left and Lakshmana on his right, Hanuman kneeling before them; at the coronation, the Rama Panchayatana, the whole family is seated together.

01The Adi Kavya

Maharshi Valmiki saw a hunter shoot one of a pair of krauncha birds, and his grief came out as the first shloka; Narada then told him the life of Rama, and he composed the Ramayana in seven kandas, the Adi Kavya. Rama was born to Kausalya and King Dasharatha on Chaitra Shukla Navami. He went with Vishvamitra to guard his yajna, broke Shiva’s bow at Mithila to win Sita, and on the eve of his coronation accepted fourteen years of exile so that his father’s word to Kaikeyi would not be broken.

02Exile, war and return

Chitrakoot, Panchavati, the hermitage of Shabari, Kishkindha: the forest years are a map of Bharat that pilgrims still walk. Ravana carried Sita off from Panchavati; Hanuman found her in Lanka; the vanara army built the bridge from Rameswaram, where Rama first worshipped Shiva in a linga of sand. After Ravana fell, Rama returned to Ayodhya on the new moon of Kartik, and the people lit rows of lamps, which is why Diwali is kept that night. Vijayadashami remembers the victory.

03Ramayanas of every tongue

Every language of India retold the Ramayana. Kamban wrote the Ramavataram in Tamil in the twelfth century, Krittibas Ojha the Bengali Ramayana in the fifteenth, and Goswami Tulsidas began the Ramcharitmanas in Awadhi in 1574 at Ayodhya. The Manas is sung in the Ramlila of every north Indian town in the nights before Dussehra. Bhakta Ramadasu built the Bhadrachalam temple on the Godavari in the seventeenth century, and the Ramakien of Thailand and the Kakawin of Java carried the katha across the sea.

04Ayodhya and other dhams

At Ayodhya the new temple on the Ram Janmabhoomi saw the pran pratishtha of Ram Lalla, the child Rama, on 22 January 2024, after a dispute of centuries and a long legal case that ended with the Supreme Court’s verdict of 2019. Kanak Bhawan, held to be Kaikeyi’s gift to Sita, and Hanuman Garhi are close by. At Orchha, Rama is worshipped as the reigning king and given a guard of honour each day. Chitrakoot, Bhadrachalam, Ramtek and the Raghunath temple of Jammu are among his other great shrines.

In the texts

  • Valmiki Ramayana
  • Adhyatma Ramayana (Brahmanda Purana)
  • Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas
  • Kamba Ramayanam
  • Mahabharata, Vana Parva (Ramopakhyana)

Utsav: festivals

Dussehra (Vijayadashami)Ashvina Shukla DashamiRam NavamiChaitra Shukla Navami, at middayRama NavamiVijayadashami and RamlilaDiwaliVivah Panchami

Temples on this site 38

Shri Ram Janmabhoomi, AyodhyaRebuilt
Independent Bharat

Shri Ram Janmabhoomi, Ayodhya

The birthplace of Shri Ram in Ayodhya, the capital of the Ikshvakus. A mosque stood on the spot from 1528; after five centuries of struggle and a unanimous Supreme Court judgment in 2019, a new temple was consecrated in 2024.

Ayodhya (Saketa)Standing
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Ayodhya (Saketa)

The city of the Ikshvakus on the Sarayu, first of the seven moksha-giving cities, birthplace of Shri Ram and of five Jain Tirthankaras. A Shunga-period inscription found here calls the place Kosala and names its king Dhanadeva as a descendant of Pushyamitra.

Kanak Bhawan, AyodhyaRebuilt
Renaissance and the struggle for Swaraj

Kanak Bhawan, Ayodhya

The ‘golden palace’ that, by Ayodhya’s tradition, Mata Kaikeyi gave to Sita on her arrival as a bride. The present palace-temple was built in 1891 by the Bundela queen Vrishbhanu Kunwari of Orchha.

Ram Raja Temple, OrchhaStanding
The Mughal era and the resistance

Ram Raja Temple, Orchha

The only temple where Shri Rama is worshipped as a reigning king. Brought from Ayodhya by a Bundela queen, the murti was set down in her palace and would not be moved; the palace became the temple.

ChitrakootStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Chitrakoot

The hill country on the Mandakini where Rama, Sita and Lakshmana lived for much of their exile, and where Bharata came to beg Rama to return.

Sita Ramachandraswamy Temple, BhadrachalamStanding
The Mughal era and the resistance

Sita Ramachandraswamy Temple, Bhadrachalam

Rama’s temple on the Godavari, built by a Golconda revenue officer with the Sultan’s taxes, for which he spent twelve years in prison. His songs are still sung all over the south.

Ramtek (Ramagiri)Standing
The Gupta Age

Ramtek (Ramagiri)

The hill near Nagpur where, by tradition, Rama rested during the vanavasa, crowned by a fort-temple of Rama and some of the oldest Vakataka temples in Bharat.

Raghunath Temple, JammuStanding
Company rule and the war of 1857

Raghunath Temple, Jammu

A complex of seven shrines in the heart of Jammu, raised by the first two Dogra Maharajas, whose gilded spires gave Jammu the name City of Temples. Its library of Sanskrit manuscripts is one of the great collections of the north.

Ramanathaswamy Temple, RameswaramStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram

The southern Jyotirlinga, installed by Shri Rama on the island at the head of the setu before the war in Lanka. It is also the southern dham of the Char Dham.

Janaki Mandir, JanakpurStanding
Renaissance and the struggle for Swaraj

Janaki Mandir, Janakpur

A white marble palace-temple in Janakpur, the city of Raja Janaka, where Mata Sita was raised and married to Shri Rama.

Adi Jagannatha Perumal Temple, ThiruppullaniStanding
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Adi Jagannatha Perumal Temple, Thiruppullani

Here Shri Rama lay on darbha grass for three days, asking the Ocean for a way to Lanka. Pul is grass and anai a pillow: Thiruppullani. Childless couples come to pray, for the temple links Dasharatha’s payasam to this Lord.

Anjanadri Hill, Hampi (Kishkindha)Standing
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Anjanadri Hill, Hampi (Kishkindha)

Across the Tungabhadra from Hampi, in the country the Ramayana calls Kishkindha, a white shrine on a boulder hill marks where the Kishkindha tradition holds that Mata Anjana gave birth to Hanuman.

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