Various Ramayans :

A. The Valmiki Ramayan: There are several Ramayans, but the

Valmiki Ramayan is considered to be the standard among them. The
Valmiki Ramayan does not include parts written by other authors
just like the other Ramayans. The opinions of various researchers
about this Ramayan are as follows.

When the fisherman Valya undertook chanting for sixty thousand

years he finally became Sage Valmiki. According to another school of
thought Sage Valmikis real name was Ratnakar, not Valya the
fisherman. Valmik is the name of a species of ants which builds
anthills. These ants built an anthill on the body of a sage named
Ratnakar. Hence people began calling him Sage Valmiki.

Rama was born a hundred and fifty years after Sage Valmiki wrote
the Ramayan. According to some the Ramayan was written in the
Satyayug and Rama was born in the Tretayug.

Sage Dhoumya was a friend of Sage Valmiki and Sage Bharadvaj. He

has written the holy text Agnidhumavati on the spiritual practice by
inhalation of smoke (dhumrasadhana). Sage Valmiki and Sage
Dhoumya lived together for twenty-two years. Sage Dhoumya made
twenty-four amendments in the original Ramayan. Actually what we
call the Valmiki Ramayan should be the Dhoumit Ramayan. The
original Valmiki Ramayan was never available. The Valmiki Ramayan
in use today is the one written in the Puranic period.
Sage Valmiki had taken a vow of not leaving the ashram
(kshetrasanyas); hence Sage Dhoumya propagated the Ramayan. It
was He who preached to everyone that Rama would be born and
that the Ramayan would actually occur. He even told Sage Vasishtha
whose ashram was situated at Prayag (Alahabad) in Vindhyachal
about Rama.
B. The Purva Ramayan and the Uttar Ramayan: The Purva Ramayan

explains how one should travel through the seven regions

(saptalokas) by undertaking spiritual practice of the bijamantra ram
(). The Uttar Ramayan on the other hand describes the life of Rama
who performed such spiritual practice.

C. The Jain Ramayan and the Buddha Ramayan: The biography of

Rama is so ideal that in the later period the Jains and the Buddhists
began to feel that even their religions should be enriched with it.
Hence the Jain and Buddha Ramayans were written.

D. The Adbhut Ramayan: This has been written around the

fourteenth century. It is also known as Adbhutottarkand. It is in the
form of a conversation between Valmiki and Bharadvaj. In this Sita is
depicted as the deity Kali instead of the usual sattvik (sattva
predominant) chaste woman (pativrata). It is said that seeing that
Rama was unable to slay Ravan She Herself slayed him.

E. The Adhyatmaramayan: This is in the form of a conversation

between Uma and Shankar. Uma makes a prayer to Lord Shankar,
The Path of Devotion (Bhaktiyoga) is a superior one to attain The
Lord. But due to varied opinions I am not convinced of His nature. So
please endow Me with Your grace and reveal His true form to Me. In
response to this Shankar narrated the Adhyatmaramayan to Her.

The Valmiki Ramayan is the basis of this holy text, but in some
places a few variations are seen. This holy text is also known as the
Adhyatmaramacharit and the Adhyatmik Ramasanhita.

F. The Tulsi Ramayan: This is more devotional, while the Valmiki

Ramayan is more historical. (This is akin to the Bhagvat which is
more devotional and the Mahabharat which is more historical.)
courtesy : www.hindujagruti.org