Uttara Kanda

Some scholars argue that the last book was added later to an older core. It goes back to tell how the Rakshasa line began, and the story of Ravana: his austerities, the boons he won, and his rise to power.

Sages visit Ayodhya after Ravana's fall and tell Rama more of the old stories, including more about Hanuman. Rama rules justly, and Sita is expecting a child.

Rama hears that people in the city are speaking against Sita's time in Ravana's house. He decides to send Sita away. Lakshmana takes her to the bank of the Ganga and leaves her at Valmiki's hermitage, where she is received. Readers have debated this decision for centuries, and many traditions retell it differently.

At the hermitage Sita gives birth to twin sons, Lava and Kusha. Valmiki raises them and teaches them the poem. Years later, at Rama's horse sacrifice, the boys recite it before Rama and the assembled people.

Rama recognises his sons and asks Sita to prove her purity once more before the assembly. Sita calls on the Earth, her mother in the text. The Earth opens, receives her, and she is gone.

The end of Rama's time on earth comes when a messenger of Time asks to speak with Rama alone. Lakshmana keeps watch, and when the sage Durvasa interrupts, Rama must send Lakshmana away to keep his word. Lakshmana gives up his life in the Sarayu river. Rama then departs from the world, and the text describes him returning to his form as Vishnu.