Ramayana is considered a very famous scripture of Hindus in India. It is believed that the Ramayana was first written by Maharishi Valmiki.
Many types of questions often arise regarding Ramayana? like :-
(1) In which century or period was Rama born on earth?
(2) Where is the actual birthplace of Rama?
(3) When and where did the war of Rama and Ravana take place?
(4) Where exactly was Ravana’s Lanka as described in the Ramayana?
(5) In which language did Rama speak?
(6) In which period was the epic Ramayana written?
Maharishi Valmiki first composed the epic Ramayana. It is believed that Maharishi Valmiki was born on the full moon day of Ashwin month. Maharishi Valmiki also composed the Ramayana and himself was also an important character of this epic. In his epic, he composed 5 kandas of Ramayana. Later on, 2 other Kandas were also added to Ramayana, in which Uttarkand is mainly described. An estimated 6th or 5th century Ramayana manuscript found in Calcutta has only 4 Kandas and does not contain Agnipariksha and Uttarkanda. That is, two kandas have been composed in much later years.
The original Ramayana was written by Maharishi Valmiki. Now we will know through the following points that in which period Valmiki wrote Ramayana.
The oldest texts in India are the Vedas. Great prominence has been given to the gods Agni, Indra and Varuna in these Vedas. There is no mention of Ramayana or characters related to Ramayana in any Veda. The language of writing the Vedas was Vedic Sanskrit. The Vedas were composed by the Aryans after coming and settling in India. Aryans arrived in India 1500 BC. Happened a little earlier.
The epic Ramayana of Valmiki was written in the language ‘Laulik Sanskrit’. This language is the language after Vedic Sanskrit, the language in which the Vedas were written. Laulik Sanskrit was developed after Panini wrote a Sanskrit grammar named ‘Ashtadhyayi’. The Sanskrit grammar called Ashtadhyayi was written from 700 BCE to 600 BCE. When the language of Sanskrit became simpler after this, then the epics were composed.
In the Ramayana composed by Valmiki, Buddha has been discussed in ‘Ayodhyakanda’. It is also clear from this that Ramayana has been composed only after the spread of Buddhism.
In this way we can come to the conclusion that Valmikirta Ramayana was composed only after 600 BCE.
In the Ramayana, Ravana is described as the complete knower of the four Vedas. That is, the origin of Ravana must have happened only after the origin of the four Vedas. It is also told in the Ramayana that the princes were taught the Vedas. It is clear from this that the composition of the Ramayana took place long after the Vedas were written, when the Vedas came to be considered as complete knowledge.