Dandaka was the name of aranya or forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

, lying between the Godavari

Godavari River

The Godavari is a river that runs from western to southern India and is considered to be one of the big river basins in India. With a length of 1465 km, it is the second longest river in India , that runs within the country and also the longest river in South India...

 and Narmada

Narmada River

The Narmada , also called Rewa is a river in central India and the fifth largest river in the Indian subcontinent. It is the third largest river that completely flows within India after Ganges and Godavari...

. It was of vast extent, and some passages of the Ramayana

Ramayana

The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...

 represent it as beginning immediately south of the Yamuna

Yamuna

The Yamuna is the largest tributary river of the Ganges in northern India...

. This forest is the scene of many of Rama

Rama

Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...

 and Sita

SITA

SITA is a multinational information technology company specialising in providing IT and telecommunication services to the air transport industry...

's adventures, and is described as "a wilderness over which separate hermitage are scattered, while wild beasts and Rakshasas everywhere abound."

Dandak was also the kingdom , a colonial state of Lanka

Lanka

Sri Lanka is the name given in Hindu mythology to the island fortress capital of the legendary king Ravana in the great Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata...

 under the reign of Ravana

Ravana

' is the primary antagonist character of the Hindu legend, the Ramayana; who is the great king of Lanka. In the classic text, he is mainly depicted negatively, kidnapping Rama's wife Sita, to claim vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of his sister...

. Ravana's governor Khara

Khara

Khara can refer to* Khara, a character in the ancient Sanskrit epic the Ramayana* Khara-Khoto, the ruins of a medivial city in western Mongolia* Khara, Punjab - town in Punjab, India.* Khara, Nepal* Khara, Punjab - town in Punjab, Pakistan....

 ruled this province. It was the stronghold of all the Rakshasa

Rakshasa

A Rakshasa or alternatively rakshas, is a race of mythological humanoid beings or unrighteous spirit in Hindu and Buddhist religion...

tribes living in the Dandaka Forest.