One day the forest sage Vishvamitra came to Ayodhya and asked Dasharatha to let him take Rama along with him in the forest to protect him against the demons. By this time Rama was a young man of around sixteen years. Dasharatha reluctantly allowed Rama to go, and Lakshmana, who loved Rama so much that he could never bear to be apart from him, went also. Vishvamitra taught the young princes the use of magic weapons, and they successfully drove away many demons. One day Vishvamitra brought them to the kingdom of Mithila, ruled by king Janaka. Rama won the hand of Janaka's beautiful daughter in a contest, by bending the great bow of Shiva that no man had ever been able to bend. Sita was an incomparable woman, having every possible virtue. She was, moreover, the daughter of the earth goddess; king Janaka had found her as a baby in a furrow of earth. The love between Rama and Sita became so strong that it remains the ideal love for married couples. Rama's brothers were also married to daughters of Janaka, and they all lived happily in the city of Ayodhya.

Years later, Dasharatha decided to retire and allow his eldest son Rama to be king, as was customary and right. However, queen Kaikeyi, egged on by her selfish maid Manthara, demanded that her son Bharata be made the new king. Dasharatha did not want to do this, but many years before this he had made a promise to queen Kaikeyi to give her any two wishes she wanted, since she had once saved his life in battle. She used those wishes now. She wished that Bharata be made king, and that Rama be banished from the kingdom for fourteen years and go into the forest, never entering any city. Dasharatha had to agree, despite his promise to Rama that he would be king. Rama dutifully left the kingdom, and his loving wife Sita went with him, accompanied by the ever faithful Lakshmana. Bharata meanwhile agreed to rule only until Rama returned. Dasharatha died of grief as soon as Rama had left the kingdom.

Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana lived in he forests, often in the company of holy sages. They defeated many demons who tried to upset the rituals of the holy ones. One day, a demoness named Shurpanakha tried to seduce Rama and Lakshmana, but they both refused her. She then decided to kill Sita, and Rama had Lakshmana cut off her nose and ears. She fled to her brother demon Ravana, and told him what had happened. Ravana's lust was aroused by her description of the beautiful Sita, but his advisors told him how Rama had killed many demons, so Ravana decided not to try to fight with Rama directly. Instead, he had another demon, named Maricha, assume the form of a beautiful golden deer. When Sita saw the deer she told Rama to get it for her, and the swift deer lured Rama far away from the hut where he lived with Sita and Lakshmana. Then the deer cried out for help, using the voice of Rama. Sita insisted that Lakshmana go help Rama, even though Lakshamana had been told to stay and protect Sita. After Lakshmana had left, Ravana appeared and abducted Sita, taking her away in his flying chariot.

A heroic bird named Jatayu tried to save Sita, but he was fatally injured by Ravana. Rama and Lakshmana returned to find Jatayu dieing. Jatayu told them that Ravana had taken Sita. Rama was distraught, and did not know where Ravana had taken her. Finally they met a monkey named Hanuman who was the general of the monkey kingdom of Kishkinda forest. His friend Sugriva had recently been king of the monkeys, but his brother Vali had thrown out of his kingdom and taken his wife. Rama helped to restore Sugriva to the throne by killing Vali. Sugriva offered to help find Sita. The monkeys searched everywhere, and Hanuman, who was the son of the wind god, was able to fly across the ocean to the island city of Lanka, where he discovered the unhappy Sita in the palace garden. Ravana threatened Sita daily, and demanded that she become his consort, but she always refused. Hanuman now told her that he was a messenger from Rama, and that Rama would soon come to rescue her. Hanuman himself was captured, however, and as punishment the demons tied rags around his tail to set it on fire. To their chagrin, Hanuman used the fire to set the city of Lanka ablaze, and then flew back over the ocean to tell Rama that he had discovered Sita.

Unable to enter any city because of his promise, Rama raised an army of monkeys and bears. The monkeys built a bridge of stones across the ocean to Lanka, and the army prepared to storm the city. Vibhishana, Ravana's brother, joined Rama's army, because although he was a demon, he hated the wickedness of Ravana. The battle took the lives of many monkeys, bears, and demons. At one point the magic arrows of Ravana's son Indrajit paralyzed Rama and Lakshmana, and the monkeys almost lost hope. However, Hanuman saved the day by flying to a certain peak in the Himalayan mountains to fetch magic herbs that would cure the two heroes. Not knowing which herbs to pick, he simply picked up the whole mountain and flew with it back to Lanka, where the herbs restored Rama and Lakshmana. Another low point in the battle was when the demons awakened Ravana's giant brother Kumbhakarna. Kumbhakarna wrecked havoc among Rama's army until Rama was able to kill him.

Finally Ravana himself entered the battle. Rama and Ravana fought with each other for two days. Finally, the Rama killed the mighty Ravana with a magic arrow. Ravana's noble brother Vibhishana was made the new king of the demons, and the army of monkeys and bears were prepared for a great celebration. Sita was returned to Rama, but at that point Rama refused to accept her back. It was unacceptable for a noble man to accept a woman who had lived with another man. Even if Rama believed that Sita were blameless and had not accepted Ravana during her long stay with him, the subjects of the Rama's kingdom would never believe her innocence. So a test was devised. Sita appealed to the fire god, Agni, to prove her innocence. She entered the fire, and it did not burn her. Thus, Agni proved her innocence for all to see.

At this point, the heavenly gods appeared to Rama and revealed to him that he was, in fact, the earthly incarnation of the great god Vishnu. Vishnu had incarnated himself as a man deliberately in order to kill Ravana. Ravana's boon, conceived in arrogance, protected him from death in battle with gods and demons, but it did not protect him against defeat by a man, because the mighty Ravana had never imagined he would need a charm to protect himself from lowly humans. The gods further revealed at this time that Sita was an incarnation of Vishnu's heavenly consort, the goddess Lakshmi. Rama and Sita then returned to Ayodhya, where Rama assumed the throne, gladly vacated by his brother Bharata. The rule of Rama was a golden age in civilization. This would have been a happy ending.

However, after much time, some of Rama's subjects were still suspicious of Sita and believed that she had misbehaved while living with Ravana. Rama was forced to banish Sita to the forest. Unbeknownst to Rama, Sita was pregnant at the time she was banished, and in the forest she gave birth to two sons named Lava and Kusha. She lived there with the holy sage Valmiki, who composed the verses telling the story of the Ramayana. When Sita's sons were older, they returned to visit Rama, and when Rama found out who they were he gladly acepted them, as well as his wife Sita. But then Sita went through another test to satify her detractors. She appealed to her mother the earth goddess to accept her if she were innocent of the charges against her. The earth opened up and Sita was taken into it, never to be seen again. Her innocence was proven, but Rama was alone. He lived for another ten thousand years, always loving Sita in her absence. Finally he decided it was time to die, and he returned to heaven, where he and his consort Sita exist forever as Vishnu and Lakshmi.