Ramlila Festival is a popular festival of Varanasi celebrated in month of October- November with great enthusiasm and fervor. It is the stage performance, believed to have been started by great saint Tulsidas, presents various episodes in Lord Ram’s life, his trials and tribulations and his eventual victory over Ravan, the king of demons. Each episode is called a lila (play) and it is presented as as a cycle-play with the story varying from 7 to 31 days. The main Ramlila styles performed in the city are : the pantomimic style with a predominance of jhankis tableaux pageants; the dialogue based style with multi local staging; the operatic style with draws its musical elements from the flock operas of the region and the stage Ramlila of the professionals troupes called mandalis. Ramlila begins at 5 p.m. and continues until 10.00 at night on most of the days. This famous stage show has received a considerable global attention and has declared as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in the year 2005 by UNESCO. 

Ramlila Festival at Ramnagar, located 15 kilometers from Varanasi presents Ramlila in the most traditional style. Ramlila of Ramnagar, marked by detailed dialogues and impressive enactments, last for 31 days instead of 10 days. Permanent structures are built and spaces designated to represent the main locales of the story i.e. Ashok Vatika, Janakpuri, Panchvati, Lanka etc., transforming the whole township into a vast Ramlila ground. The audience moves along with the performers with every episode to the next locale. The non-use of electric lights, mikes and loudspeakers in the stage makes the presentation very realistic.