At the outset, Kūmāradāsa's depiction of the city of Oudh can be contrasted with Kālidāsa's two depictions of Oudh. The latter depicts the city at the end of the epic to emphasise its depravity and deterioration. In contrast Kūmāradāsa describes it at the start to project it as an ideal capital city. Daśaratha and his queens appear conventional, but the poet has not gone overboard in his depiction of the King and his consorts. 

The following summarises each of the 20 cantos: 

1. The first canto depicts Lord Viṣṇu's assurance to the gods gathered there to tell to Viṣṇu about Rāvaṇa’s various misdeeds, that he would appear on the earth as Rāma to eradicate Rāvaṇa. 

2. The sun-down and moon-rise are depicted graphically in this depiction of Kūmāradāsa. It is a striking example of Svabhāvoktiḥ in Sanskrit literature. The bards address a eulogy to King Daśaratha in the last six verses of the canto to awaken him from his sleep. It corresponds to a similar address given by the bards in canto XVIII of this epic to awaken Rāvaṇa in the morning, as in Kālidāsa’s Raghu, Canto V, and Māgha, Canto XI. The main thematic contents of this canto are the depiction of spring, the love of sports in the pleasure garden, the rise of the moon, setting and elevation of the sun. 

3. In this canto of seventy-three verses composed primarily in the Viyoginī metre, Kūmāradāsa recounts a good portion of the Rāmāyaṇa incidents, like Daśaratha's performance of the Putrakāmeṣṭi sacrifice for having a son, birth and childhood of Daśaratha's four sons, are all described in detail. The great sage Viśvāmitra arrives and asks King Daśaratha for Rāma’s assistance in resolving problems in his Rākṣasa -ravaged hermitage. After the request is accepted, Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa, and the sage make their way to the abbey. There is a very moving description of the ravaged and desolate hermitage. Tāḍakā, Sunda's daughter, a fearsome demon, appears. The sage requests that Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa, not spare her even though she is innocent. 

4. The fourth canto concludes with the sage Viśvāmitra slaughtering the fearful demon Tāḍakā and bestowing divine weapons on Rāma and his brother. After putting an end to the deadly terror Tāḍakā, the sage Viśvāmitra and the other inmates of the hermitage can now breathe a sigh of relief. Viśvāmitra, the sage, enters his sanctuary with Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa. The first twenty-five verses of the canto describe Viśvāmitra's hermitage in great detail. 

5. This Anuṣṭup canto of sixty verses stretches the Rāmāyaṇa story up to Rāma being chosen as Sītā’s bridegroom after the former has broken Siva's great bow in the palace of Janaka, Sītā’s father, to a very moving depiction of Gautama's deserted and desolate hermitage. Viśvāmitra's eulogistic address to King Janaka and Viśvāmitra's graphic description of the city of Mithila are among the main contents of this canto. After all the Rākṣasas have been flushed out and destroyed, the entire hermitage has become quiet and peaceful, the sage Viśvāmitra, greatly relieved, departs for Janaka's capital Mithilā with Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa. 

6. This canto, like the previous ones, focuses on narrative details. But these narrative details, such as a sage's deserted hermitage and a fitting address from the sage Viśvāmitra to the sage King Janaka, are memorable for their uniqueness. Unlike Māgha, and Bhāravi, Kūmāradāsa has not narrated these topics to their most extreme or minute shades. His model is Kālidāsa, and like Kālidāsa, he has not overdone or gone overboard with any of these narrative details. 

7. The canto, which consists of sixty-two verses primarily written in Upajāti metre, is designated as depicting Sītā’s marriage in some South Indian manuscripts (Sītāvivāhavarṇana). The poet concludes that this drop was caused by the heat of the fire of love in Sītā’s heart or by the fire that was burning on the altar. The rest of the canto contains many details about the marriage ceremony, which can be examined in depth to create a social picture of the time when Kūmāradāsa flourished: these other two sons and the charioteer Sumantra.

 8. This canto of one hundred verses, mainly in Rathoddhatā metre, begins with depicting the newly married couple Rāma and Sītā's various physical pleasures (Verse 1 to 59). Kūmāradāsa may have spent too much time delineating the physical pleasures of the newlyweds Rāma and Sītā. The second half of this canto is devoted to narrative details such as sunset, moonrise, and the nocturnal beauty figure. 

9. This canto contains sixty-eight verses. Rāma, in the first verse, addresses Paraśurāma in an a-derogatory term like; Gopati (lord- of a herd of cows). In the second verse, he refers to Paraśurāma as a bird that is only good at catching fish and has little power to crush a serpent. Paraśurāma gave Rāma his bow, which was believed to have been used by Viṣṇu, and asked him to fit it with arrows. Paraśurāma’s pride was thus humbled. These two speeches—of Rāma and Paraśurāma—consisting of at least thirty verses in the latter half of the canto have some dramatic moments, but they fall short of great heights. The entire party returns to Ayōdhyā, and the canto concludes here. 

10. The previous canto IX is known as Sītāprasthānavarṇana, and this canto is known as Sītā Haraṇa (abduction of Sītā.). This canto contains many well-known incidents related to Rāma and concludes with Sītā's abduction. The first twelve verses are a speech delivered by King Daśaratha, who is already in his old age. The canto is called Sītā Haraṇa. The next ten cantos must be devoted to the rescue mission for Jānakī. Thus, Jānakīhāraṇa (Jānakī abduction) is a moot point in the epic, and it is from this that the epic derives its significant title. 

11. Kūmāradāsa’s epic Canto-X has covered the Rāmāyaṇa story up to Rāvaṇa. This Canto-XI continues the story up to Rāma's friendship with Sugrīva, the monkey chief, and the murder of Vāli, another monkey Chief and King, to install Sugrīva in his place. The remainder of the Canto is a detailed description of the rainy season. 

12. The current Canto begins with an exquisite depiction of autumn, which naturally follows the rains. Rāma then dispatches Lakṣmaṇa to remind Sugrīva of his promise to assist Rāma in rescuing Sītā. Sugrīva quickly recalls his promise and sends his monkey Chief in various directions to conduct a thorough search for Sītā. All of this constitutes the content of the current Canto, which consists of fifty-six verses. As in the previous Canto, the rains are described in two stages, one in general and the other as perceived by Rāma. Sugrīva, the monkey Chief, completely surrenders to Rāma and prostrates himself before him. According to the poet, Sugrīva’s act calms Rāma's temper and removes all his wrath.

13. The Canto's forty-six verses continue the Rāmāyaṇa story after the monkey-Chief dispersal in search of Sītā, as described in the previous Canto. The main topics of this Canto are the depiction of the majesty of the mountain and the delineation of the sublime aspects of love when in separation. Rāma is heartbroken because he has yet to learn the whereabouts of his beloved wife. He spends a few hours with the monkey-Chief Sugrīva, who points out the mountain's majestic beauty. At that point, Hanumān returns from Rāvaṇa’s capital and reports Sītā's exact location. This is a massive relief for Rāma and others. Hanumān then depicts Site's condition as a captive lady in the King's seraglio. Rāma and the monkeys then make their way to the seashore.

 14. The canto's eighty-four verses are mainly devoted to descriptive details. The poet uses the first forty-seven verses to describe the causeway Rāma's monkey army builds to reach Laṅkā, the capital of Rāvaṇa, where Sītā stayed as a captive lady. Nala, the monkey Chief, serves as the Chief Engineer in constructing this causeway across the ocean that connects Laṅkā to the mainland. The entire canto is devoted to a graphic description of the causeway that connects the city of Laṅkā to the sub-continent. The definition has moments of true poetry, but it is also tiresome and lacks any point of novelty. 

15. According to the previous canto, a causeway was built to connect Rāvaṇa’s capital, Laṅkā, to the mainland. Rāma's monkey army of thousands marches to Laṅkā to free Sītā from captivity. One monkey Chief named Aṅgada, known as Vali's son, is sent as an envoy to Rāvaṇa’s court to explain to Rāvaṇa, the Rākṣasa King, the exact purpose of Rāma's monkey army marching into Rāvaṇa’s capital. Aṅgada's speech, which comprises the first twenty-seven verses of the canto, is perceptive despite its didactic overtone. The lesson demonstrates that Kūmāradāsa can write several poems simultaneously, which bears the hallmark of Rāmāyaṇa-like simplicity.

16. The love-sporting of the Rākṣasas at night in Laṅkā's capital city of Laṅkā, and minstrels' panegyrics of the Rākṣasa king Rāvaṇa to awaken him in the morning are the two main themes addressed in this canto of seventy-four verses. Kūmāradāsa depicts the Rākṣasas' festivities. They have counterparts in the two entire Cantos V and VI of Māgha's epic, where the Yādavas' love sports and revelries have gotten an elaborate and abstentious treatment. Love sports take place at night, which is why the poet Kūmāradāsa first describes the arrival of night. The canto concludes with a series of verses sung in the morning by a group of minstrels to rouse the great Rāvaṇa from his slumber. The royal bards' song is similar to the minstrels in Canto-V of Kālidāsa’s Raghu and the bards in Canto-XI of Māgha's epic. In this canto, the bards pray that the Sun is rising over the crest of Meru Mountain (Sunrise Mountain) and that the morning sun is cool due to its contact with the moon. The minstrels' song consists of six or seven verses that stand out less than their counterparts in Raghu or Māgha. However, Kūmāradāsa's depiction of evening and night revelries in this canto provides some true poetry that cannot escape the attention of poetry connoisseurs. 

17. This short canto of forty-three verses can be divided into five sections. Rāma makes offerings to Agni before embarking on the war against Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa is also determined to fight Hama, and the monkey host makes offerings to the majestic Asura. Rāvaṇa’s appeal to his army reminds them of their previous accomplishments and his boasting about his previous war exploits over the gods. Some Rākṣasas from Rāvaṇa’s army are fighting with Rāma's monkey force, but the former is forced to retreat. At the end of the canto, Rāvaṇa orders his son Indrajith to battle. Kūmāradāsa has used rhymes and other tropes to give the great battle between Rāma, his monkey host, Rāvaṇa, and his Rākṣasa forces a grand treatment. 

18. This eight-verse canto is entirely dedicated to describing the battle between Rāvaṇa and Rāma. Kūmāradāsa, like Bhāravi and Māgha, has chosen the bandha kāvya, or Śabdacitras, to delineate the fierce battle. The poet uses all of the Bandhakāvyas with great astuteness to highlight the fumes and fury of war. 19. This canto, which consists of sixty-four verses, recounts Hanumān's story up to the fall of great Rāvaṇa and the holding of Sītā's character test in the fire. 20. This canto, which contains sixty-four verses, tells up to Rāma's return to Ayōdhyā and rule over the people.