who are the characters in the epic ramayana?

Answer 1

The following are the main characters in The EPIC RAMAYANA ...

Ahalya - Wife of sage Gautama, who got curse and turn into a stone and later became free from curse by the touch of Rama
Bharat - Brother of Rama and son of Kaikeyi
Dasharatha - Rama's father and King of Kaushala
Dashanan - Ten headed King of Lanka; Also see Ravana
Garuda - Eagel; King of winged creatures
Gautam - Sage/Rishi who cursed her wife Ahalya to be a stone for her immoral conduct
Hanuman - Son of the wind God; Devout of Rama and a leading warrior among monkey tribe
Indrajit - Ravana's son who fought with Rama with magical powers
Jambuvan - Leader of bears who found Sita with his supernatural powers
Janaka - King of Mithila; Father of Sita, who found her in a furrow
Jatayu - Great bird who was killed by Ravana while rescuing Sita
Kaikeyi - Dashartha's youngest queen and mother of Bharata who asked for Rama's exile
Kausalya - Dashratha's queen and Rama's mother
Kevat - Boatman who let Rama, Laxman and Sita cross the river in his boat and washes Rama's feet for his fee
Khar Brother of Ravana and Shurpanakha
Kumbhkarna - Ravan's brother known for sleeping and eating
Kush - Son of Rama and Sita
Laxman - Queen Sumitra's son and Rama's brother
Lava / Luv - Son of Ram and Sita; brother of Kush
Mandavi - Bharat's wife & King Janak's daughter
Manthara - Maid servant of Keikeyi who convinced her for Bharat's thorn and exile of Rama
Maricha or Mareech - Who assumed form of suvarna mriga (golden deer) and help abduct Sita
Meghanad - Ravana's son, who made Laxman unconscious in the battlefield with his arrow
Nala and Nil - Son of great builder who helped Rama build bridge to Lanka
Rama - Lord Vishnu's Avatar
Ravana - Ten headed King of Lanka, who abducted Sita; brother of Vibhishana & Surpanakha; father of Indrajit; husband of Mandodari
Sampati - Brother of Jatayu
Shatrughna - Rama's younger borther
Shabari - Devotee of Ram who offered him berry fruit
Shatananda - Head Preist (kul Guru) of Mithila
Shiva - Hindu Lord, whose bow was lifted by Rama in swayamvar
Shravan - Son of blind parents; known as an idol of service to parents
Shrutkirti - Shatrughna's wife and King Janak's daughter
Shurpanakha - Ravan's sister whose ears and nose were cut by Laxman
Sita - Daughter of Janaka; wife of Rama; mother of Luv and Kush
Sugriva - King of monkey tribe and King of Kiskindha
Sumanta - Charioteer of King Dasharatha
Sumitra - Wife of Dashratha; Mother of Laxman & Shatrughna
Sunayana- Wife of King Janak; Mother of Sita
Sushen - Lankan physician, who advised Sanjivani herbs from Kailas mountain in order to cure Laxman
Tataka - Demoness (rakshasi) killed by Rama; mother of Mareecha
Tulsidas - Sanskrit scholar and poet who created Ramcharitmanas, a version of Valmiki Ramayana in local Avadhi language
Urmila - Laxman's wife; daughter of King Janak and sister of Sita
Vali (Bali) or Vaali - Cousin of Sugriva, who occupied Kiskindha and was killed by Rama
Valmiki - Great Poet and creator of Ramayana; Sage who helped Sita and her two son Lava-Kush stay at his place
Vanara - Monkey; A hill tribe of Southern India
Vasistha - Head priest (kul Guru) of Ayodhya
Vibhishana - Ravana's brother who leaves Lanka to join Rama and later become king of Lanka
Vishnu - Hindu Lord; Rama is considered as eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu
Vishwamitra - Rishi, who took Rama for killing troubling demons

Answer 2

Here's an excellent site that details the characters:
http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/extra/bl-ramayana-characters.htm

Answer 3

The whole epic is around RAMA - an incarnation of lord VISHNU. Rama was the best of kings of all times. The story is about his stepmother greed, his brother love,his wife,and how he saves his wife from the demon king RAVAN- the one with ten heads.
I heard an American Kid say the same story
this is how he went about it...

" So, like this dude had, like, a big cool kingdom and people liked him. But, like, his step-mom, or something, was kind of a *****,

and

she forced her husband to, like, send this cool-dude, he was Ram, to some national forest or something...

Since he was going, for like,something like more than 10 years or so..
he decided to get his wife and his bro along... you know...
so that they could all chill out together.

But Dude, the forest was reeeeal scary ****... really man...

they had monkeys and devils and **** like that. But this dude, Ram, kicked with darts and bows and arrows... so it was fine.

But then some bad gangsta boys, some jerk called Ravan, picks up his babe (Sita) and lures her away to his hood.

And boy,was our man, and also his bro, Laxman, pissed.....

all the gods were with him... So anyways,you don't mess with gods.

So, Ram, and his bro get an army of monkeys..

Dude, don't ask me how they trained the damn monkeys... just go along with me, ok... ..

so, Ram, Lax and their monkeys whip this gangsta's *** in his own hood.

Anyways, by this time, their time's up in the forest..and anyways...it gets kinda boring,you know... no TV or malls or **** like that.

So,they decided to hitch a ride back home... and when the people realize that our dude, his bro and the wife are back home...

they thought, well, you know, at least they deserve something nice...

and they didn't have any bars or clubs in those days... so they couldn't take them out for a drink, so they, like, decided to
smoke and ****...

and since they also had some lamps, they lit the lamps also...

so it was pretty cooool... you know with all those fireworks...

Really, they even had some local band play along with the fireworks...and you know, what, dude, that was the very first, no
kidding..,

that was the very first music-synchronized fireworks... you know, like the 4th of July stuff, but just, more cooler and stuff,
you know.

Answer 4

R, A, M, A, Y, A, N, and A - character has a meaning as 'letter' also