Sandhya KathaRāmāyaṇa · Mahābhārata · Purāṇas · Upaniṣads

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Rāmāyaṇa stories for children

Stories from Rāmāyaṇa, laid out to read aloud. This page is generated from stories that have already passed Sandhya Katha's publication gate.

What “with sources” means here. Every story below names the work and passage we checked, carries age guidance, and says when the tradition is variant, regional or oral instead of smoothing those differences away.

16 published stories

The Squirrel Who Carried Sand Rāmāyaṇa · Yuddha Kāṇḍa — the building of the Setu Ages 4+ · regional tradition An army is throwing mountains into the sea. Nobody notices the squirrel with sand in her fur. Read the sourced telling → Śabarī's Tasted Berries Rāmāyaṇa · Araṇya Kāṇḍa, Sarga 73–74 Ages 5+ · variant She bites every berry first to check it is sweet, which ruins it. He eats them anyway. Read the sourced telling → Jāmbavān Reminds Hanumān Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa · Kiṣkindhākāṇḍa 4.63–66; Uttarakāṇḍa 7.36 for the curse tradition (Critical Edition) Ages 6+ · variant Everyone on the shore says how far they can jump. Hanumān says nothing. Then Jāmbavān begins telling him his own story. Read the sourced telling → Guha Keeps Watch Rāmāyaṇa · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, Sargas 50–52 Ages 6+ · stable in the checked source Rāma's friend offers him a kingdom. Rāma asks for only one thing: feed my father's horses. Read the sourced telling → Jaṭāyu's Last Flight Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa · Araṇyakāṇḍa 3.13.33–36; 3.47.36–3.50; 3.63–64 (Baroda Critical Edition) Ages 7+ · stable in the checked source An old king of birds sees Rāvaṇa carrying Sītā away. Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa are far away. Jaṭāyu says: while I am alive, you will not take her. Read the sourced telling → Śravaṇa and the Two Baskets Rāmāyaṇa · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sargas 63–64 — Daśaratha's confession Ages 8+ · stable in the checked source A boy carries both his parents across the country on a pole. Then, at the river, an arrow finds him in the dark. Read the sourced telling → When Rāvaṇa Shook Kailāsa Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa · Uttara Kāṇḍa, sarga 16, the shaking of Kailāsa and the naming of Rāvaṇa Ages 8+ · variant A flying chariot stops at Śiva’s mountain. Rāvaṇa decides to move the mountain itself, until one toe presses down. Read the sourced telling → Bhagīratha Waits for the River Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa · Bāla Kāṇḍa 1.40–44 Ages 8+ · stable in the checked source The river is caught in Śiva’s hair, then swallowed by a sage. A king keeps going because sixty thousand ancestors still wait for her water. Read the sourced telling → The Night They Lit the Whole Road Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa · Yuddha Kāṇḍa, sargas 125–128 Ages 5+ · variant Fourteen years, to the day. Nobody knows what hour he will arrive, so the whole city puts out lamps and leaves them burning all night, in case. Read the sourced telling → The Empty Chair Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 2.106–115; sandals 2.112.21–29; Nandigrāma 2.115.1–27 Ages 6+ · stable in the checked source He is offered a kingdom his mother took for him. He goes to the forest to give it back, is refused, and comes home with a pair of sandals instead. Read the sourced telling → Vibhīṣaṇa Comes Across the Sky Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa · Yuddha Kāṇḍa 6.17–19 Ages 9+ · stable in the checked source Rāvaṇa's brother appears over Rāma's camp asking for refuge. The camp thinks he may be a spy. Read the sourced telling → The First Poem Was an Accident Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa · Bāla Kāṇḍa, sarga 2 Ages 8+ · stable in the checked source A man walks to the river to bathe. He comes back with the first line of poetry anyone in that language had ever made, and he did not mean to make it. Read the sourced telling → Sampāti Can Help Only With Words Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa · Kiṣkindhā Kāṇḍa 4.58–63 Ages 7+ · variant The search party needs a direction. The bird who knows where Sītā is has no wings. Read the sourced telling → The Ring in the Aśoka Grove Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa · Sundara Kāṇḍa 5.34–38 Ages 7+ · stable in the checked source Hanumān finds Sītā. Now he has to prove that a stranger in Laṅkā really comes from Rāma. Read the sourced telling → The Mountain That Offered Hanumān Rest Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa · Sundara Kāṇḍa 5.1.87–143 Ages 7+ · stable in the checked source A mountain rises from the sea in Hanumān’s path. It has a welcome to offer, but the journey cannot wait. Read the sourced telling → The Enemy Who Was Still a Brother Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa · Yuddha Kāṇḍa, received-text sargas 109 and 111 Ages 9+ · stable in the checked source Vibhīṣaṇa grieves for the brother he opposed. Rāma tells him that the funeral rites must still be performed. Read the sourced telling →

Sandhya Katha chooses one story each night for your child's age and the calendar, and lays it out to be read aloud.

Open tonight's story

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