The fact that you are thinking about this at all says a lot. Most parents hand a child a book and hope for the best. You are here trying to get it right. That matters.
Here is how to think about it.
Start with the sample passage
On the order page, every age has a short passage from the same scene in the story. Read it aloud to yourself, or together with your child.
You are not listening for vocabulary. Every version of the book is written so the language sits comfortably at that age — the words should not be the obstacle. The emphasis is on the story, the choices the characters make, and the questions those choices raise. That is where the real reading happens.
What you are listening for is whether the story lands. Does your child go quiet in the right places? Does something in their face change?
A child at a level below theirs will enjoy it but coast through. A child at the right level will get slightly tangled — not on the words, but on what something means, or why someone did what they did. That tangle is a good sign. That is where the conversations come from.
If the story slides past without sticking, try the next age up.
A rough guide by what your child already does
Ages 5–6: read to them, together, probably more than once. The story here is short and warm and made to be spoken out loud.
Ages 7–9: they read independently and they ask questions after. The Ramayan starts to develop weight at this level. Let them go at their own pace.
Ages 10–12: they notice when things are unfair. They argue. They explain what they just read to you as if they have worked something out. The moral weight of the Ramayan starts to hit properly here.
Ages 13–15: they read widely and they want to be taken seriously as readers. This version treats the story as literature, which it is.
On younger children
Younger children do not need to fully understand the Ramayan. They need to know it.
You are planting something. The characters, the images, the feeling of the story — these will sit somewhere until your child is older. When they encounter the epic again at twelve, in a class or a conversation, something will recognise it from the inside. You cannot give that gift later. You can only give it now.
If you are still unsure
Choose the level that makes you slightly more excited than them.
A parent who is genuinely interested in the story is a better reading environment than any reading level. A good conversation about the story can happen around any version.