"Ramayana and Mahabharata are called The Itihasas. Itihasa in Sanskrit literally means 'it happened thus'. So these are to be distinguished from the Puranas. Ithihasas were composed or written by those who witnessed what was happening so these are historical accounts. Valmiki lived during Ramayana period as did Veda Vyasa during The Mahabharata. Valmiki's Ramayana is in the form of poetry and is of great beauty. It is considered as the world's first poetry. It is set to Anushtup meter. It is the original version and there are several other versions written much later which were inspired from that of Valmiki.I am a scientist by profession and hence the type of treasure that I searched in Valmiki's great work and my view of things could be somewhat different and perhaps be of interest. So I decided to find out for myself such details.I was very much impressed to find so many rich details and interesting information on several aspects of Tradition, Culture, Astronomy, Geography and so on and which are not generally talked about. Valmiki's deep knowledge of Astronomy and Astrology is amazing. I was surprised to discover that iron was already in use in Ramayana period. Let us note that the westerners attribute a much later period for the use of iron and also claim that the knowledge of planets came to India from the Greeks!"
