The Ramayana is one of the two great Sanskrit epics of India, the other being the Mahabharata. It is believed to have been composed sometime between the eighth and sixth centuries BCE by the Hindu sage Valmiki. The characters in the Ramayana are all fundamental to the cultural consciousness of India, Nepal, and many south-east Asian countries such as Thailand and Indonesia.The Ramayana tells the heroic tale of Rama, an incarnation of the Hindu supreme-god Vishnu, whose wife Sita is abducted by Ravana, the king of Lanka. Ending with the inevitable triumph of good over evil, it is played out in a universe populated by larger-than-life humans, gods and celestial beings, wondrous animals and terrifying demons. But like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana is more than just a story: it also presents the teachings of ancient Hindu sages in narrative allegory, interspersing philosophical and devotional elements, all of which continue to engage the interest of philosophers and theologians.