NAME COLLECTION
Ramayana characters
Characters of the Rāmāyaṇa, each identified in R. T. H. Griffith’s verse translation, with the book and canto where the name appears.
This collection follows names to their sources. It describes where a name comes from, not who uses it.
Characters whose names are recorded in Indian use
Rama
Born to Queen Kausalya: 'Rama, the universe's lord'; hero of the poem.
Griffith, book I, canto XIX
Name page →Lakshman
Born to Sumitra, a 'noble pair' with Satrughna, 'sharers in Vishnu's essence too'.
Griffith, book I, canto XIX
Name page →Urmila
King Janak offers her to Lakshman as bride at the nuptials.
Griffith, book I, canto LXXIII
Name page →Dasaratha
King of Ayodhya, father of Rama.
Griffith, book I, canto V
Name page →Hanuman
Best of the monkeys, son of the wind-god, 'like thunderbolt in frame'.
Griffith, book I, canto XVI
Name page →Janak
King who speaks in Canto LXVI 'Janak's Speech'; he found the infant Sita in the furrow of his ploughed field.
Griffith, book I, canto LXVI
Name page →Sugriva
The Vanar (monkey) king Sugriva, to be 'restored to kingly state' with Rama's help (Canto IV).
Griffith, book IV, canto IV
Name page →Sita
Found by King Janak in the furrow of the ploughed field: 'Named Sita from her secret birth'; later wife of Rama.
Griffith, book I, canto LXVI
Name page →Ahalya
Subject of Canto XLVIII 'Indra and Ahalya'.
Griffith, book I, canto XLVIII
Name page →Lava
One of the twin rhapsodists (Kusa and Lava) who chant the poem.
Griffith, book I, canto IV
Tara
Wife of Bali, who counsels him in the canto named for her ('Tara').
Griffith, book IV, canto XV
Name page →Bharat
Son of Kaikeyi, 'one fourth of Vishnu manifest'.
Griffith, book I, canto XIX
Name page →Bali
Vanar king whose power and might Sugriva describes to Rama (Canto XI 'Dundubhi').
Griffith, book IV, canto XI
Name page →Kusa
One of the twin rhapsodists (Kusa and Lava) who chant the poem.
Griffith, book I, canto IV
Ravan
The Rakshas king, doomed (Canto XIV 'Ravan Doomed').
Griffith, book I, canto XIV
Sumitra
Queen of Dasaratha; receives a share of the nectar; bears Lakshman and Satrughna (Canto XIX).
Griffith, book I, canto XV
Name page →Kausalya
Queen of Dasaratha; receives half the divine nectar; bears Rama (Canto XIX).
Griffith, book I, canto XV
Name page →Vibhishan
Flees to Raghu's sons (Rama and Lakshman) after Ravan's bitter words (Canto XVII 'Vibhishan's Flight').
Griffith, book VI, canto XVII
Angad
Son of Tara and Bali (Tara speaks of 'my Angad' to her husband).
Griffith, book IV, canto XV
Name page →Satrughna
Born to Sumitra, a 'noble pair' with Lakshman.
Griffith, book I, canto XIX
Name page →Indrajit
Canto XLVI 'Indrajit's Triumph' opens with the brothers (Rama and Lakshman) wounded and transfixed with darts.
Griffith, book VI, canto XLVI
Name page →Valmiki
The sage who hears Narad's tale (Canto I) and receives Brahma's visit (Canto II 'Brahma's Visit').
Griffith, book I, canto II
Sumantra
Dasaratha's minister 'skilled to urge the car' (Canto VII); in Canto XLVI he tends Rama's horses and acts as charioteer.
Griffith, book II, canto XLVI
Name page →Other characters in the same text
These characters are listed for completeness; the list does not say that their names are in use.
Kaikeyi
Queen of Dasaratha; receives a share of the nectar; bears Bharat (Canto XIX).
Griffith, book I, canto XV
Jambavan
King of the bears in Sugriva's host.
Griffith, book IV, canto XXXIX
Kumbhakarn
Subject of Canto LXVII 'Kumbhakarna's Death' in the war with Ravan.
Griffith, book VI, canto LXVII
Jatayu
The great vulture whom Rama meets near Panchavati.
Griffith, book III, canto XIV
Visvamitra
The sage at the Perfect Hermitage, greeted by the princes at his morning worship (Canto XXXI).
Griffith, book I, canto XXXI
Vasishtha
One of the two saintly ministers/priests of Dasaratha.
Griffith, book I, canto VII
Mandodari
Ravan's wife, whose lament over her husband gives Canto CXIII its title.
Griffith, book VI, canto CXIII
Guha
Chief of the Nishadas, Rama's friend.
Griffith, book II, canto L
Maricha
Rakshas transformed (Canto XLII 'Maricha Transformed').
Griffith, book III, canto XLII
Surpanakha
Subject of Canto XVII 'Surpanakha'.
Griffith, book III, canto XVII
Trijata
Rakshasi of 'Trijata's Dream' at Sita's captivity.
Griffith, book V, canto XXVII
Sources
- R. T. H. Griffith, The Ramayan of Valmiki translated into English verse (1870-74), Project Gutenberg #24869; Book/Canto numbering as in Griffith ↗ (opens in a new tab)
- Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899), Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries (local copy sources/cologne/mw.txt) ↗ (opens in a new tab)