How the Valmiki Ramayana Ends: Books 4–7 in Order

Many of us know how the Ramayana ends from the TV serial, a film or a grandparent’s telling. Rama defeats Ravana, comes home, and Diwali follows. Valmiki’s poem goes further, and its final book is the hardest one.

This page covers Books 4 to 7, told in the order of the text. Part 1 ended at Lake Pampa with two deadlines running. Sita had twelve months in Lanka. Rama’s brother Bharata had sworn to enter fire if Rama came home even a day late.

What are Books 4 to 7 about?

The poem has seven books, called kandas. Book 4 is Kishkindha, Book 5 is Sundara, Book 6 is Yuddha (war) and Book 7 is Uttara (the later book). The thread that runs through them is the same as in Part 1. Rama keeps his word, and someone pays for it.

Tradition credits the whole poem to Valmiki. Some scholars think the poem first ended at Book 6, and that Book 7 came later. The poem’s own first book counts “six books and the Uttara besides”. That question is still debated. This page follows the traditional text, and it does not rank other tellings or argue for or against any belief.

A pact by fire in Kishkindha

Kishkindha is the kingdom of the vanaras, the forest people shown as monkeys. Rama has no army, no ship and no lead. Sugriva, an exiled vanara king, sends his minister Hanuman to meet the two strangers.

Hanuman lights a fire, and the two exiles walk around it. That walk is a pact. Rama pledges to kill Sugriva’s brother Vali, who drove Sugriva out and took his wife. Rama gives this word before he has heard the whole story.

Sugriva shows jewels that Sita dropped from the sky. Lakshmana recognises only her anklets. He had bowed at her feet every day. It is a small, human detail, and it proves the trail is real.

The hardest moment in Book 4

The first fight with Vali goes wrong. The brothers look so alike that Rama cannot tell them apart. Before the second fight, Lakshmana ties a creeper around Sugriva’s neck. Rama shoots Vali from cover.

Dying, Vali asks what merit there is in striking a man who is facing away. Rama answers with two reasons. Vali took his brother’s wife, which breaks the oldest law. And a hunter strikes from cover. The poem gives both speeches and then gives no verdict.

Later the rains end, and Sugriva forgets his promise. Rama sends Lakshmana with a warning. Sugriva remembers and keeps his word. So both sides of the pact hold.

Sundara: the beautiful and lonely book

The vanaras search in four directions. The southern party finds nothing, and the deadline passes on an empty shore. They decide to fast. Then an old vulture, Sampati, tells them Sita is in Lanka, across the sea.

Hanuman crosses in one leap and searches Lanka by night. He finds Sita in a grove of Ashoka trees and watches Ravana threaten her. A kind guard, Trijata, tells of a dream in which Rama wins. Hanuman gives Sita Rama’s ring.

Then comes a detail many tellings change. Hanuman offers to carry her home. She refuses. Rama must come for her himself, she says. The decision is hers.

On the way back, the vanaras wreck a forbidden honey garden. The keeper complains to Sugriva, who is glad. His soldiers would never dare unless their task was done. This is Valmiki’s own humour.

Yuddha: a war of choices

The war begins with a family argument. Ravana’s brother Vibhishana tells him to return Sita. Ravana answers with contempt, and Vibhishana leaves for Rama’s camp. The allies fear he is a spy.

Rama answers with a vow. Whoever comes to him for shelter and asks in this way, he will protect, even if it is Ravana himself. He then crowns Vibhishana king of Lanka before any battle is fought.

The war has many turns. Indrajit binds the brothers with serpent arrows, and Garuda frees them. Kumbhakarna tells his brother he was wrong, and fights anyway, because Ravana is his brother. Indrajit shows an illusion of Sita being killed, and the vanaras despair. Lakshmana later kills Indrajit.

When Rama defeats Ravana, he says enmity ends with death. He tells Vibhishana to perform the full rites. Sita is then brought out, and Rama speaks harshly to her before the whole army. She asks for a fire and walks into it. The fire god returns her unharmed. Rama says he took this step because the world would have talked. Readers differ on that reason, and this page takes no side.

Uttara: the later book

Book 7 opens at the height of Rama’s reign. Sita is expecting a child. Rama hears from a friend, Bhadra, what the city is saying about her. He decides to give her up, and he sends her to the hermitage by the Ganga that she had wished to visit. Valmiki takes her in. Her twin sons, Kusha and Lava, are born there.

Years later, the two boys sing the Ramayana at Rama’s own horse sacrifice. Rama does not know they are his sons. Valmiki speaks for their truth. Sita calls on the Earth, her mother, and the Earth takes her in. Rama grieves. He never takes another wife, and a golden image of Sita stands beside him at every ritual.

Book 7 also holds a hard canto, in which Rama kills the ascetic Shambuka. Readers have argued about it for centuries.

The last promise

One day Time itself comes to the palace as an ascetic. He asks for a private talk, on one condition. Anyone who sees or hears them must die by Rama’s hand. Rama agrees and sets Lakshmana at the door.

The sage Durvasa arrives and demands to see Rama at once. He threatens to curse the whole kingdom. Lakshmana says the loss should be his alone, and he opens the door.

The priest Vasishtha says that a broken pledge lets dharma fall. Rama keeps his word, and Lakshmana is sent away. Lakshmana goes to the Sarayu river. Rama crowns his sons and walks into the Sarayu with his brothers and the city behind him.

How to use this at work and at home

1. Notice the cost before you give your word. Rama’s promises are kept, and each one costs someone.
2. Keep your word to people who are not in the room, as Sugriva finally did.
3. Treat opponents with fairness once the argument ends. Rama ordered full rites for Ravana.
4. Honour a person’s own choice. Sita refused to be carried home, and the poem lets her decide.
5. When you take a hard decision, say clearly who you are protecting and why.

What this means today

The strength of this half is that it does not hide the price of integrity. Nobody is rescued from consequences, not even Rama. Readers who admire him can still ask hard questions about Vali, about Sita’s trial, and about her exile. Valmiki leaves those questions open, and they may help you think about duty and fairness today. Many readers hold Rama sacred, and they may weigh these scenes differently.

Reading the source also corrects some familiar details. The honey garden and Sita’s refusal of Hanuman may be new to you. The animated episode shows the book and canto for each event. It takes about 27 minutes.