Various scholars estimate that the earliest parts of the text were written from the 7th to the 4th century BCE and that the text grew with later additions around the 3rd century CE. The epic narrates the life of Rama, the prince of the Kosala Kingdom, and the author is believed to be Valmiki. The Ramayana is the other epic poem of India, forming, along with the Mahabharata, the Hindu Itihasa (meaning 'history' in Hindi).
