Short answers, pulled from the story.
Rama is the seventh avatar of Vishnu, the preserver god, and in many traditions, he is the Supreme Being himself. He is the male protagonist of the Hindu epic Ramayana and is depicted with a dark complexion yet embodies the most delightful virtues of humanity. His life is a complex narrative of a royal family torn apart by duty, exile, and war.
The primary source is the Sanskrit epic Ramayana composed by Rishi Valmiki, but the text does not specify an exact date of composition. The story has evolved over millennia into a vast mosaic of variations that have been translated and adapted across India, Southeast Asia, and beyond.
During the exile, Rama and his companions wandered through the forests, living a humble life and providing protection to ascetics who were being harassed by demons. They arrived at Panchavati, on the banks of the river Godavari, where the cycle of violence would escalate to its tragic peak.
Rama killed Ravana because the demon king kidnapped Rama's wife Sita to his kingdom of Lanka, believed to be modern Sri Lanka. The war that followed had many ups and downs, but ultimately Rama prevailed, killed Ravana and the forces of evil, and rescued his wife Sita.
The name of Rama is mentioned more than 2,500 times in the Guru Granth Sahib, and he is considered an avatar along with Krishna. In Sikhism, Rama is mentioned as one of twenty-four divine incarnations of Vishnu in the Chaubis Avtar, a composition in the Dasam Granth traditionally attributed to Guru Gobind Singh.
Depictions of Rama dying by drowning himself and then emerging in the sky as a six-armed incarnate of Vishnu are found in the Burmese version of Rama's life story called Thiri Rama. This variation highlights the complexity of the narrative, where the moral question is clear, but the appropriate ethical response is unclear or disputed.