According to Tom Drake (n.d.), there are six elements in an Epic:

(1)    Plot centres around a Hero of Unbelievable Stature

(2)    Involves deeds of Superhuman strength and valour

(3)    Vast setting

(4)    Involves supernatural and or otherworldly forces

(5)    Sustained elevation of style of writing

(6)    Objective and omniscient (writes as if he knows everything).

Based on the above definition, an Epic applies to Valmiki’s Ramayana mainly because it has all of the above mentioned characteristics. 

According to Valmiki’s Ramayana, there are several times where Rama is shown as a hero of unbelievable stature and possesses superhuman strength.  For example, “The fourteen raksasas fell upon Rama…. the invincible Rama shattered the spears with fourteen arrows decorated with gold.” (Sattar, 2000, p. 247).

In Valmiki’s Ramayana, there are other evidences that depicts the narrative as epic.  For example, the story took place over a “vast setting.  In the text it had showed how Ramayana was living in his Kingdom, exploring past the jungles, and even visiting Lanka.  

Yet another evidence would be that the story involves a lot of supernatural beings such as the gods.  Textual evidence can be found page 638 of Valmiki’s Ramayana, “The fire god rose, carrying Sita in his arms.” (Sattar, 2000, p. 638). 

Throughout the text, we can see that there is a sustained elevation of style of writing; one such example would be in page 499, “the golden monkeys flew…”.  Finally, we can see the narrative knows everything about the story when he switches from Sita’s perspectives to Rama’s perspectives to even Hanuman’s perspectives (Sattar, 2000, p. 499).

However, an epic may not prove apt for the narrative during the several instances when the narrative tries to display Rama as a “human” because it goes against his godly stature and valour.  For example, in page 634 “Go to Laksmana or Bharata or to anyone else who pleases you!”.  We can see that Rama is behaving very impulsively (Sattar, 2000, p. 634).  

Yet another example would be in page 244, “Rama laugh when he heard this speech from Surpanakha…” (Sattar, 2000, p. 244) .  From here we can see that Rama is ridiculing Surpanakha; this act of ridiculing goes against his character of an unbelievable stature and makes him utterly human.

Written By: Yaw Wen Ping

References

Drake, T. (n.d.). Six Elements Of The Epic. Retrieved from https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/engl257/General%20lit/six_elements_of_the_epic.htm

Vālmiki, & Sattar, A. (2000). The Rāmāyaṇa. New Delhi: Penguin Books.