Was ramayan in Indian culture a true story?

[Son of leo]

Did it really happened? What are your views guys?

[Pacific Sage]

There wasn't an answer which ever satisfied this question.

I have come to accept it that it may have happened or may not have happened, doesn't really matter to me at this point of time.

[Dumuzzi]

The thing about myths is that there is usually a core which is a true story with real characters that were actually on earth a long time ago, but over the centuries it gets embellished and added to constantly, so that it becomes impossible to say what actually happened after a few centuries have passed. The Iliad is a typical example. For centuries people just assumed it was a story and that even Troy itself was a myth, completely made up. But then a german archeologist, obsessed with the story, went about to find Troy based on the clues in the epic itself and to everyone's amazement, succeeded. It now seems that the core of the story is actually based on fact and really did happen. I would say it is a similar story with the two great Indian epics, the core of it is a true story, but it was heavily embellished and added to over time. The length itself of both epics is a clear indication of that and the main plot is constantly interrupted by little side stories and musings that were clearly not part of the original. I think we can safely say that Ravana didn't actually have ten heads, but maybe he was indeed the king of Lanka and had the misfortune to be the villain of the story, so he was made ever more monstrous as time passed. Similarly, Hanuman is unlikely to have been an actual monkey, possibly he was from a group of surviving early hominids, at least that is my theory.