The name Rāmāyaṇa is composed of two words, Rāma and ayaṇa. Rāma, the name of the main figure of the epic, has two contextual meanings. In the Atharvaveda, it means 'dark, dark-coloured, black' and is related to the word rātri which means 'darkness or stillness of night'. The other meaning, which can be found in the Mahabharata, is 'pleasing, pleasant, charming, lovely, beautiful'.[13][14] The word ayana means travel or journey. Thus, Rāmāyaṇa means "Rama's journey", with ayana altered to ayaṇa due to the Sanskrit grammar rule of internal sandhi.[15][16]
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