The Ramayana Beyond What We Know: The Infinite Story of Rama - Why Every Ramayana Ever Told Is Only a Fragment of the Whole A Story That Has No Single Author and No Single Form Most people who have grown up with the Ramayana assume they know the story. Whether through Valmiki's Sanskrit verses, the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas, televised serials, or regional folk performances, the tale of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman feels familiar, even complete. But according to Hindu scriptural tradition, this sense of completeness is itself an illusion. The Ramayana as we know it is not the Ramayana in its entirety. It is a fragment — a sacred, luminous fragment — of something far vaster than any single human mind can contain. The Cosmic Scale of the Narration Hindu tradition preserves a remarkable hierarchy of Ramayana tellings, each one larger than the next, ascending toward the infinite. At the human level, Valmiki composes what is widely regarded as the Adi Kavya, the first poem, co...