India male artists playing character of holy book ramayan at ramlila

The Ramayana is a smriti text from ancient India, one of the two important epics of Hinduism known as the Itihasas, the other being the Mahābhārata. The epic, traditionally ascribed to the Maharishi Valmiki, narrates the life of Rama, a prince of Ayodhya in the kingdom of Kosala