The book, while taking an overview of the Sanskrit epics as poetry, history and science, takes one through the dilemma that Dasaratha faces due to his denying kingdom to Rama and the latter’s going for vanavasa, the ethical and moral challenges that Rama faces in his war with Ravana and others, and in the ethical shift that Rama undergoes from his compassionate and self-sacrificing moral code to a more rigid dharmasastra and arthasastra-oriented mode of royal conduct in the last part of the epic. All this, looking back over the various situations, episodes and responses of the principal characters in the epic drama.