the characters of Sita and Rama are introduced.

The story of Ramcharitmanas is then underway. It begins with the meeting of two sages - Bharadwaj and Yajnavalkya. Bharadwaj asks Yajnavalkya to narrate in detail the story of Rama. Yajnavalkya begins with how Shiva came about retelling the story of Rama to his wife Parvati. (The story of Sati's self-immolation, the destruction of her father Daksha's sacrifice, the rebirth of Sati as Parvati and her marriage to Shiva). Shiva explains