The Rāmāyaṇam of Vālmīki — the Ādikāvya ('primordial poem') — recounts the life, exile, battle, and triumph of Śrī Rāma, the seventh avatāra of Bhagavān Viṣṇu. Comprising approximately 24,000 ślokas in seven kāṇḍas (Bālakāṇḍa, Ayodhyākāṇḍa, Āraṇyakāṇḍa, Kiṣkindhākāṇḍa, Sundarakāṇḍa, Yuddhakāṇḍa, and Uttarakāṇḍa), the Rāmāyaṇa is the foundational narrative of the Rāma avatāra for the entire Hindu tradition.
In Śrī Vaiṣṇava theology, the Rāmāyaṇam holds a uniquely privileged position. Rāmānuja and the Ācāryapuruṣas regard it as Veda-sāra — the essence of the Vedas presented in accessible narrative form. The celebrated saying "Rāmāyaṇaṃ Vedam eva" (the Rāmāyaṇa is the Veda itself) reflects the sampradāya's conviction that Vālmīki's text, composed through divine inspiration (maharṣi-vāk), carries Vedic authority. Piḷḷai Lōkācāryar in the Śrīvacana Bhūṣaṇam, the Mumukṣuppadi, and the Tattva Trayam cites the Rāmāyaṇa extensively — particularly the Sundarakāṇḍa and Yuddhakāṇḍa — to illustrate śaraṇāgati (Vibhīṣaṇa's surrender), the nature of bhakta-poverty (Sītā Pirāṭṭi as the archetypical prapanna), and Bhagavān's unconditional acceptance of the surrendered soul.
The Rāmāyaṇa is also central to Maṇavāḷa Māmunigaḷ's expositions and to the Tamil Rāmāyaṇa of Kamban (Irāmāvatāram), which the Śrī Vaiṣṇava sampradāya reveres alongside the Sanskrit original. The Rāmāyaṇa's six qualities — teaching dharma, the pursuit of kāma within dharmic bounds, the nature of avatāra, the supremacy of bhakti, the rewards of hearing it, and the protection offered to those who recite it — make it a living text in Śrī Vaiṣṇava anuṣṭhāna.