Rama, eldest son and rightful heir of King Dasharatha of Ayodhya, is set to be crowned when a court intrigue, engineered by one of the king's wives calling in an old promised boon, instead sends him into fourteen years of exile in the forest. Rama accepts the reversal without protest, and his wife Sita and younger brother Lakshmana insist on accompanying him rather than remaining behind in comfort. Deep in the forest, the demon king Ravana of Lanka, whose sister Rama and Lakshmana have earlier disfigured after she attempted to seduce Rama, abducts Sita by trickery, luring the brothers away with an illusion before carrying her off to his island kingdom.
Searching for Sita, Rama allies with Sugriva, a monkey king seeking help reclaiming his own throne, and Hanuman, Sugriva's devoted minister, whose leap across the strait to Lanka to locate Sita and confirm she remains alive and faithful is among the most celebrated episodes in the whole tradition.
The abduction itself unfolds through a specific ruse: the demon Maricha, coerced by Ravana, takes the form of a beautiful golden deer to entice Sita, who begs Rama to catch it for her; once Rama pursues the deer and Lakshmana, hearing a false cry for help thrown from a distance by the dying Maricha, is persuaded against his own judgment to leave Sita's side as well, Ravana appears disguised as a wandering ascetic and seizes her the moment she is left unguarded.